...That is the question!
Or is it??
In my opinion, whether someone decides to go to college or not go to college is not the issue. Yet, as a nation, we spend more time, energy, money, emotions, and thought into choosing the right educational platform that we overlook the importance of choosing the one platform that works for us. It is as if we are the blind leading the blind..."Graduate high school, go to college, get a degree, get a good paying job, work for 40+ years, and then retire..." I don't know about you, but that doesn't seem to be working so well for most people, for 2 reasons:
#1. There are currently 1.5 million people already unemployed, and another 30 million people coming into the workforce... what makes you think "going to school and getting a degree" is going to allow you the right to get a job? Not anymore, not in this nation.
#2. There is no hope in that. The majority of us are living life according to someone else's standards versus living the life that we want to live. I hate to break it to you, but no college, no degree, and no job is ever going to make you feel satisfied if it isn't something you were born to do.
I didn't go to college and yet, I am a young entrepreneur with 3 businesses. My husband has a fire science degree and he never did anything with it. The owner of Wolfgang Puck stopped going to school at age 14. Walt Disney dropped out at 16. Ty Warner (the guy who developed the Beanie Baby) actually dropped out of college. So did Steve Madden, the shoe guru. Simon Cowell (yep, you guessed it, American Idol producer and judge) dropped out of high school. And I could go on and on... Not to put down education, because I do think it is important but to show you that college has nothing to do with becoming successful. People have proven that for years!
Am I saying to do away with college entirely? No, absolutely not. Do I think college is a good thing? Sure... for some, but not for everyone. In complete honesty, I am a bit partial in thinking that college creates robots, it does not create innovation, crazy creative thinking, and uniqueness. All things that are quite necessary for a business to sustain itself through the ebbs and flows of the economy. College tells us to do what's always been always been done just because it has always been that way. It tells us there is a right and a wrong. It tells us to learn the system and stick to the system. It's all backwards...
At the end of the day, it's not about whether you have a degree or not. It's about knowing who you are and what you want. Without knowing those two things, you will "chasing the dream" until the day you die. Instead of playing this game of "go to college or not go to college", why don't you ask yourself these questions... and then make your own decision.
Do you already know what you want to do with your life? What excites you, what are you passionate about, what gets you up in the morning? Does it take a degree to make that happen?
What is your learning style? Do you learn best by being "taught", or by teaching yourself? Are you a book smarts type of person or does real world interaction increase your learning curve? Are you a visual learner, or do you learn best by listening? Do you have a history of excelling in school, or did you struggle?
What do you hope to gain from your career choice? What do you want YOUR life to look like? Do you need a college degree to get you there or a series of mentors? Would an internship be of better use to you then a degree?
In finding the answers to some of these questions, you may just surprise yourself! Stop living for someone else and start living true to YOU.
Julia Gentry
The Ultimate E
[http://www.TheUltimateE.com]
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