I might not be a great person to answer this question definitively since I have both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree and thus can’t speak from personal experience, but I would argue that no, post-high school education is not a necessity to lead a productive and fulfilling life. HOWEVER, whether you’ll be successful without it depends on a few key factors, in my not-so-humble opinion:
- How you define success. If you want the corner office by the time you’re 25, it’ll be a lot harder to do it without a college education. That being said, if you start working toward that corner office at 18, four years ahead of all of the suckers attending university, you may have a leg up after all.
- What you want to do with your life. If your dream is to be a doctor but you don’t want to go to school, well, there’s kind of a disconnect there. But if your goal is to provide for your family and yourself in a job that satisfies you, then you have an awful lot of options that simply do not require a college degree.
- How hard you’re willing to work. For folks without that bachelor’s degree "or equivalent," which is a major requirement for many job applications, you will need to have either strong experience or some exceptional skill to prove that you’re worth hiring. This is where trade schools and vocational training come in really handy.
Is it possible to run your own business without a college degree? Sure! Both of my parents do it. I have lots of friends doing it. And of course there are people like Simon Cowell, Bill Gates, Rachel Ray, and Steve Jobs who all have extremely successful careers and not a college degree among them. This list of 15 entrepreneurs who didn’t need college, from College Startup, is kind of inspiring if you ask me.
In his “We Don’t Need No Education” Contest (which, just so we’re all clear, is no longer accepting entries), Bosshatch’s Jim Gordon asks readers to explain WHY college is unnecessary, HOW it distorts your goals, and in WHAT WAYS are people prepared for entrepreneurship straight out of high school.
I’m not going to get into all of that right now, but I do want to talk more about this in the future. What I do want to say, though, is that not everyone is cut out for college. Not everyone is cut out for a corporate job. Some people are great at being employees, work hard, and do a good job, and they don’t NEED to learn how to run a business — they just need skills to work. And you know what? That’s okay.
There’s this huge pressure in America to go to college, to get a graduate degree, to pursue post-graduate education. Teachers and school counselors put the fear of God into these kids, making them think that they’ll be homeless bums without higher education. But you know what? The world needs landscapers, hairdressers, truck drivers, teaching assistants, massage therapists, schoolbus drivers, grocery store stockers, deli workers, receptionists, and dozens of other professions that don’t require a college education, and there are lots of people who are perfectly happy in those careers. And rightfully so, because they are dignified, respectable work.
And this is not to say that if you don’t go to college, you have to do one of those jobs I mentioned before. Running a business takes savvy and common sense, and a few supplemental resources like a class or two on specific skills like bookkeeping or contracts might not hurt either. But there is no reason your average, everyday person must have a 4-year liberal arts degree to be capable of running a successful business.
What do you think? Is higher ed a requirement for success in life, or is a high school education all you really need? Leave a comment.
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(photo via SXC.hu)
Tags: women and business, women in business, business advice for women, do you have to go to college to be successful, do you need a college degree to get a job, is higher education necessary, is college necessary, college degree, undergraduate degree, graduate degree, career, job, simon cowell, bill gates, rachel ray, steve jobs, biz chicks rule, kristen king
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