Is College Going Out of Style: Is it Worth it?
Eccentric Billionaire
According to Peter Thiel, he thinks that college is utter waste of time, especially for his fellows. Peter Thiel gives 100,000 dollar fellowships to people straight out of high school that are working on ideas for businesses. There are some successful participants, for example the creator of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin. I could argue although that the fellowship is still not really money well spent especially considering that cryptocurrency is becoming more irrelevant as time goes on. First, it’s not a lot of money spent in the first place, as there have been 271 participants. That equates to 27,100,000 dollars which for a billionaire is about the cost of a house.
So, before I get on to my actual article, what could Peter Thiel do with 27 million that would be more impactful. He could be investing in young black men, the most alienated group of people in American society, not philanthropy (I don’t like what people mean when they say philanthropy by the way) but investing in the black youth to they have the basic skills to go to college and eventually start their own businesses. Peter Thiel, is not likely interested in such things though. I do not know him, but it seems to me that for someone who has two degrees from Stanford, he doesn’t seem to understand that there are some in this world that would never have a shot of launching a business at 18 years old because of circumstances out of their control. It seems fitting to me that instead of helping 271 people that were going to have success one way or another, he could helped 27,100 black men who were in danger of going to jail or worse to change the trajectory of their lives. That for libertarian like Peter Thiel is much better than big government initiatives to change societal problems.
I digress.
People See College Differently
The fact cannot be ignored that society is starting to view college differently. Especially for Generation Z. In some respects, I get the sentiment. For example, someone should not go to college because they have been told that college is what they need to do their whole lives. That in my mind is the wrong idea. But that does not mean that college is the problem, or is not desirable anymore. In my mind, yes there are some who could better spend there time learning trades (what Chris Cuomo seems to think is the answer) will well compensate them for their effort rather than spend four years and earn a traditional college degree. That does not mean that people should go to trade school just because I said it was a good alternative, or Chris Cuomo did. Even if someone is not the best student, they should still consider going to college. Even I was not the best high school student, but I learned there were reasons for that and in general and I did better in College than in high school.
Why though do people see college more as a waste of time and money? I can think of a few reasons.
Decreasing Desire for Self Improvement
College is really a place where you can become a better thinker and more capable. It very possible that because of the internet and these days AI, more people believe that they do not need the skills that colleges teach like reasoning, writing, and how to work on teams. In fact the last one is likely one most important for Generation Z because they out existing generations they are the least likely to know how to work on teams simply because they do not value interacting in person as much as previous generations. Working on teams is not something you learn how to do by going on the internet, but actually being apart of team. This is one reason why I am a big proponent of youth sports. I think it is something that separates the United States from other countries like China where school is all about math and science all the time. My Chinese friend and old roommate for example, is a math machine which makes him good at engineering but if you ask him about emotional intelligence he might look at you funny.
Foolish Employers
If people who society perceives to be smart, people like Elon Musk (I do not have anything against billionaires) stopped speaking out against college, there would be many less people who would be doing the same. Look at him and you will quickly find that not only did he graduate from a good university, but he also got into graduate school at Stanford. To be fair Musk’s argument is that skills matter more than a degree, but he is not right he is wrong. The ability to develop skills is what matters and that’s what you get in college, and that is what he’s been doing since he decided he wanted to become an entrepreneur (and live on mars). The thing is that many employers are saying similar things, honestly I just think they want employees that have skills and not the faculties to work for themselves which means they would not need them anymore. Basically, they do not want the critical reasoning skills which are not easy to develop, but instead skills like coding which can be taught to anyone (including AI models). In other words, even the employers are copying Elon.
Non-sense!
College is Expensive
Of course many can not afford college without taking out a loan. That is not their fault, because college is too expensive. This is talked about a lot as a problem and it is. My question is the cost of college really a significant deterrent to going because many people are still going and incurring debt. I would say that the return on investment is what actually prevents some from considering college. In other words, they think college is not worth it. They would be right if you consider some of the majors that people are majoring in. There could be some changes to the degrees offered so that degrees are offered are in areas that have at least some opportunity to provide a return on investment. For example, someone who majors in music theory (a valid major for those interested) should be geared toward a curriculum that best uses their knowledge in a career in the music field. In fact I talked about how a guy majored in music theory and then got an MBA in my last article. In fields very dependent on natural talent, people should be allowed to explore their interest but be prepared to do something different and meaningful in their field if original plans change.
In someways, the solution to picking the wrong major or one that will not give return on investment is simply to get more education. This costs more money and may or may not solve the original problem of picking a “bad major” that will not give a return on investment. Notice that I use the term investment, because college like all investments may not pan out. A downside of college that people do not talk about. Instead some proponents of education talk about education like it is a fundamental right, which it is not in America. My opinion is that all college students should be educated about the risks of college before going to college. To not do so is irresponsible of colleges and high schools.
The Creator Generation
The desire for a non-traditional work schedule, to work from home, not to have bosses, and to make money doing what they are passionate about are some of the reasons why people are opting to be influencers rather going down a traditional path. Some might say that these kinds of people really just do not want to work and use work-life balance as an excuse to be an influencer.
I happen to know an influencer, and he works extremely hard. That is because he doesn’t have the normal boundaries of a “9 to 5” normally has. My cousin’s father is actually a lawyer, and he realized at a young age he didn’t want a job like that because of my uncle’s struggles as a lawyer (which are common). My cousin is a college graduate, but I think he works harder than lawyers do. Lawyers may work weekends, but they are traditionally not working in the middle of the night on weekends (you see that only in big law). So, I would say that influencers are willing to work hard they just are not interested in a traditional career path. An influencer without a college education, may be successful, but how they think and how they make decisions could only be improved by graduating to college.
The only thing that I will say about the creators are that they do technically have an employer via the social media companies facebook, Google, Snap and so on who profit off the ad revenue that is generated from people looking at their content. They are not an employer in the sense of being a boss the fdirects or controls them, but they really have control over all aspects of what they can create on their platform.
Lack of Direction and Covid
Many of the current classes going through college or who are in high school lack a sense of direction. There are many that do not know what they would even study in college, or if they are in college, maybe they struggled with their chosen major and have had to choose a different one. People who really do not know what they want to do in their life may not risk going to college in the first place. Some of the financially well off may opt to travel the world and try to experience more before making a big investment like going to college. Although, many are not fortunate to have such experiences. For many young adults if they are not in college they will likely be home with their parents
Covid for some reason changed the way that people think. People were forced into engainging with an online currculum and, now they prefer an online currculum. It is not just at the college level but at the graduate level as well. Some colleges have adapted to this and provided an all online curriculum, but other schools stuck with their traditional in person programs. My question is knowing that colleges are going to charge the same amount for online curriculum, why is it that some are still willing to pay for the online study. Maybe it is because online courses give them more flexibility, saving on the commutes to school or otherwise and school housing. Personally, all considering I think it’s more valuable to go to school in person. Though, some Millennial and Generation Z students might disagree with me, but I would add that younger generations seem to value human interaction less and less which is frankly disturbing.
A Solution
I think a solution to the issues I have mentioned and especially the college prices is outside funding. For example, you may not know this but if you get into Johns Hopkins undergrad tuition is free. This is possible because an alumni of Johns Hopkins, a person named Micheal Bloomberg, gave 1.8 billion dollars to Johns Hopkins as a gift. Maybe the solution is more generosity in America. Then again, it’s nearly impossible to get in to John Hopkins undergrad programs anyway, unless you are Archer from the TV show Archer.
Conclusion
College really is going out of style in the eyes of the public, but it is unwarranted. Though college prices are high, the bigger problems are a lack of direction for some, and the narrative that is not a good investment. College is a good investment if you put in the work, but it may not be something everyone is interested in which is okay. It certainly does not help the billionaires are partly responsible for this perpetuation, but it is more concerning that employers are part of the problem as well. Of course, there are valid alternatives like trade school where you can learn skills that also pay good money, but if you get involved with a trade you have less flexibility to pivot if you do not like your job(s). Overall, colleges need some curriculum changes, but there needs to be a focus on outside funding of education. .
