Most of us spend our youth going to school for about 12 years to learn the basics of the world. After that, we are presented with a choice of heading straight to a trade or going to college. But is attending college worth it anymore? Read on to find out why I don’t think degrees are important anymore.
The Schooling System
During our youth, most of us are forced to attend school. Whether it be public, private, or homeschooling, we go through years of learning basic math, history, sciences, and more. Throughout this period, we’re supposed to figure out what we want to study and be for the rest of our lives.
If you think about it, it’s a lot of pressure to make a decision that’s that big at such a young age. I can tell you my brain wasn’t fully developed when I was younger, and I made many stupid decisions. That’s what led to me changing majors countless times.
Attending College and Choosing the Right Major
You’ve had all this time to decide, so what will you study? For some people, they do know. Maybe they were raised doing one thing their whole life or want to take over a family business. For others, it becomes an expensive trial-and-error system.
Growing up, I loved filmmaking; it’s all I did. So, naturally, I thought I would study film. However, university after university denied me from their film program. I ended up going with a backup plan I had, which was video game design. I had an addiction to video games, so I thought I wanted to make them. If you want to read about my video game addiction, check it out here.
Shortly after being in that program, I realized it wasn’t for me and switched to hospitality management because I was working for Disney and decided I wanted to be a manager. This was also not for me, and therefore, I ended up dropping out of college because I didn’t know what to study.
I should mention that right out of high school, I did obtain my AA degree. The above scenarios were the following years after I obtained my Associate in Arts.
The Bottomless Financial Pit
Many people take out massive loans for school, while others have scholarships that pay for it. Either way, if you’re not set on what you want to study, schooling becomes a bottomless financial pit for you.
Anytime you change major or fail a class, you take a step back. That’s another class, or set of classes, you now have to take. With college being expensive, it’s no wonder many people drop out. Being an expensive endeavor, it’s important to know exactly what you want to study and follow it through to its completion even if you don’t want to.
The Potentially Worthless Degree
You’ve obtained your degree and are ready to tackle the workforce. You apply but don’t hear anything back. That’s because, in my experience, many companies don’t want inexperienced people.
It doesn’t matter that you have a degree from whatever prestigious school you attended. What’s truly valued is work experience. I will mention that for most large corporations, a degree is still needed to move into a management role, so keep that in mind. Attending college isn’t completely useless; however, you must start at the bottom when you enter the workforce.
Trust me when I say that you won’t be happy when you spend years studying and end up with a basic job in the field because you lack experience.
What Attending College is Good For
In my experience, attending college is great for networking. You may not remember half of the information you learned, but you will have networked and made friends in the same field you were in.
Aside from networking, college is good for having access to many valuable resources. If you know what field you’re getting into, perhaps you’ll have access to their labs and professors, which can be invaluable.
This is also a time for experimentation. I believe college is about finding out who you are. You probably didn’t have a choice of which high school you wanted to attend. But for college, that choice is up to you. Once you get there, there’s an abundance of new information to obtain, activities to experience, and people to meet. Use your college time wisely and figure out who you are.
My Take On Attending College
If you know what you want to study or have a full ride for playing sports, then attend college right after high school. However, if you have a tiny bit of doubt or don’t know what you want to study yet, hold off for a bit and continue reading.
As mentioned before, knowing what you want to do for the rest of your life can be challenging. With so many things out there, it can be hard to choose just one, so here are the three options I recommend:
Get Vital Work Experience or Experiment
Your late teens to early twenties might involve a lot of partying; therefore, school wouldn’t be a priority. It’ll be an expensive endeavor at this point, trust me… I know. That’s why I recommend you go straight into the workforce. Get your hands dirty and start doing those jobs that people with degrees would have to begin with anyway. Some jobs even end up paying for your school as a benefit (take advantage of this).
This option gives you vital work experience and lets you begin to learn what it’s like to be an adult. And for those unsure what they want to learn, it lets you experiment in different fields and see if anything catches your interest. This is your trial and error time in your life.
Study a Trade or Get Into an Apprenticeship
Trades are specialized crafts that don’t take four years to complete. You essentially take hands-on classes related to that field and don’t have to go for your general education unless it’s needed.
Apprenticeships and trades are essentially the same, except that in an apprenticeship, you’re learning the trade while under a journeyman’s watch. For example, I’m a mechanical apprentice for Disney. The program is four years long. I attend a night class once a week. I’m obtaining years of experience and seniority, receiving benefits, and promised a decent-paying job if I can complete the program.
This option gives those who want to get into a certain field a new skill. If you want to get into mechanical engineering, perhaps start as a mechanical apprentice and see if it’s right for you.
If you’re interested in finding an apprenticeship around you, check out this Government Apprenticeship Finder.
Combine School and Work
If you don’t like the options above, try a combination of both. Getting my AA right after high school was perfect for me because it just felt like an extension of high school. I like to refer to them as 13th and 14th grade because you will study basic math, science, history, etc. If you obtain this degree right out of high school, it sets you up for any degree in the future, give or take a couple of prerequisites.
While attending school, you can go out and get part-time work in a field to see if it’s right for you. While this is most people’s party time in life, it’s also a time to figure out what you will do for the rest of your life, so have a balance and enjoy life.
Conclusion
I’ve mentioned a lot about attending college. College is a valuable resource; I just believe that many of us mess up the timing of when we attend. We end up attending college too early and creating a financial pit that makes many people drop out. Others are scared to attend because they had a rough time in school and have seen others struggle to find a job after graduation.
To avoid financial hardship from school, you should use your early 20s to experiment and find out what you truly want to study. This is also a good time to save up or find a job that will pay for you to attend college.
If a four-year degree seems like too much for you, gain skills in a trade or experience an apprenticeship. These are perfect learning environments that give you experience in the fields that you want to study.
The most important thing out of this article is to enjoy your life. Don’t stress or compare yourself to others. Be happy with your own journey and take it one step at a time. If you’re getting depressed over school or have family that’s giving you a hard time, take a breath. At the end of the day, it’s your life, not theirs; live it how YOU want to live it.
If you’re depressed, check out this article I wrote about Alleviating Depression.
What are your thoughts on attending college? Do you agree or disagree with my plans? Do you have advice to add on? Let me know in the comments below. Thanks for reading!