I’d like to continue debunking the college myth. The more I
think about the issue and the more I begin to prepare for my future and the
more I think about the way other people have lived their lives, the less I can
vouch for the merits of a college education.
People are inundated with choices and decisions. Primarily,
they wonder how to live their lives, how to achieve their goals, and how to be
happy. There are many different paths to these things, few involving a college
education. There is one type of person that greatly benefits from a college
education. It is the type of person who wants the assurance of money in the
bank, a comfortable home, a wife and kids, and plenty of money saved up for
retirement. It is also the type of person who values a dignified, respected
career – someone who wishes for the respect of his peers. Essentially, I’m
talking about middle-class Americans. They are best served by a college
education.
What about the rest of us? College can be useful, but we
have to make it useful. It isn’t useful on its own. That is, we must use a
college education and the college environment to its fullest potential. We must
explore the surrounding city, talk to people in our field, attend lectures and
seminars provided by university services, and take action beyond completing the
required courses for a degree. For middle-class Americans, a degree is enough.
It’ll get you your job. But for people who want to become masters of their
craft, they must make it a part of their being.
People with the desire to be masters of their craft don’t
necessarily need a college education. Many have such an overwhelming desire,
perhaps even necessity, to
become
masters that they give themselves a much better education than they
could have
had in college. College only serves as a guide – a kind of prod for
those who
are less likely to learn on their own. People like Woody Allen or
Michael Dell feel caged by the restrictions of the slow and regulated
process of
fulfilling the requirements of a degree plan. They want to learn and then to create.
In addition, people are so confused about who they are and
what they want that a college degree doesn’t help them in the least once they
figure themselves out and what they want. Two perfect examples are my parents.
My dad spent several years in a Mexican seminary learning about theology in
anticipation of being a priest. He has a master’s degree in theology. Forty
years later, what is he doing? He’s immensely happy working as a maintenance
worker in rural North Texas. He has a wife (been married
for twenty-some odd years), two brilliant kids, a nice home with a big
backyard, and a new Chevy truck that sports a killer sound system. My mother
spent four years in college in Mexico,
graduating with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. Not once has
she used it. Upon coming to America
with my dad, she became a nursing care worker. Now she is a middle school
teacher. She teaches Spanish to 7th and 8th graders. My
cousin Martha went to UT Arlington. She left after a couple of years. One of
the wisest people I know when it comes to American cinema, she is a district
manager for Blockbuster. Did she need her college degree? No.
The reality is this: some people have a spark for life. They
have a desire to become something. They aren’t lazy. They might not be
incredibly brilliant, but they are competent. And they care enough about
themselves to try just that little bit harder. It is the difference between
that intelligent but lazy shift manager and the shy but industrious rookie. Ten
years down the road, he might have a college degree under his belt, but he’s
shuffling papers apathetically for local business. She, on the other hand,
learned on the job how to become a commanding presence in business and started
her own ice-cream business and lives happily selling ice cream to children and
their families. She might not have gone to college – but she knew that nothing
can replace the personal nurturing of one’s talents, faith and confidence in
oneself, and closely paid attention to one’s own happiness.
Am I saying education is unimportant? Not at all. I value
education above just about everything. It is the key to reaching one’s own happiness.
My argument is that there are many ways to become educated. Give me a library
card, and I’ll never need to go to college. Once we have decided that we have
some purpose, some meaning in life, it is only a matter of time before we act.
Some, like me, might go to college. Others might become apprentices. Still
others might go out into the world to discover their paths on their own. No
path is “better” than any other. It is hopelessly wrong to judge people who
take “unconventional” paths in respect to the path one has already taken. It is
even worse to believe that the source of one’s own happiness is also the source
of everyone else’s happiness. One can only have faith that said people are walking
paths in search of their own happiness.