An Alternative To College Education
It has been pretty much indoctrinated into western society that the best thing you can do is finish school and then go straight to college, because once you have a degree it will open up a world of prospects. This is pretty much what my parents told me and what many parents today are telling their children.
But how much merit is there to this idea and is it really the best advice you can give young adults?
What Is The Common Advice?
As already stated, modern society seems to lay an awful lot of emphasis on college education, with the idea being that a degree or masters will set you up for life. You go to school, you apply for college and once you have a degree your prospects are so much better than if you don't get a third level education.
Politicians often state that they want to see more college educated people and that this will lead to prosperity and wellbeing. The reasons they state for this belief is that college educated people have a higher average income than non-college educated people. But is this the whole truth and can cause and effect be simplified that much?
In my opinion and experience the higher income of college educated people is not so much to do with the college education itself, but rather with the mind set of the average person that goes to college. My observations with graduates hired in the company I work for has been that they are ambitious and have a good work ethic, but I do not believe this is the result of college education. The reason I do not believe this is because their education is generally much too broad and they end up having to be fully trained for the specific jobs. And the lifestyle of the average college student is not exactly something that would be compatible with a productive job.