Week 23 – Why we need to rethink a college education.
Greetings!
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Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Cheryl
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Why we need to rethink a college education.
Last week the Hay House World Summit came to a close and I received several messages about my interview with Reid Tracy (my publisher). During our conversation, I talked about the ridiculously high cost of a college education and I suggested that, at this point, parents and young adults needed to seriously consider alternatives.
I have fourteen nieces and nephews and a grand nephew on the way. It makes me crazy to think of these children taking on debt the size of a mortgage only to come out of school struggling to find a job worthy of their investment.
There’s no doubt that a college education is a good venture for some, but to many students (those who are lucky enough to even go), it’s turns out to be a burden that leaves them feeling vulnerable and fearful about the future.
Twenty-five years ago I heard the poet, Robert Bly, say that expecting a high school graduate to make a decision about his or her future at eighteen years old – a future that required four years of study and thousands of dollars – was a crazy idea.
And a college degree was a bargain back then.
Instead, he suggested we send children out into the world to try a variety of jobs in order to discover what excites them, to figure out how to survive in the world, and to get to know themselves better.
Then they would arrive at their thirties ready to make a sensible investment of time and money in a college that would allow them to study something they were passionate about.
I still love his idea today.
The world is changing. We need to give children the permission and guidance to find a new way to gain the skills and experience necessary to build a good life, not just a successful career.
The days of memorizing useless facts and studying subjects they’ll never need are slowly coming to an end. Just imagine the kinds of opportunities a young adult would be privy to if he or she knew how to:
- Manage his or her mind.
- Develop discipline and focus.
- Use time, energy, and resources wisely.
- Make a plan and follow through with it.
- Stick with a project when the going gets tough.
- Effectively deal with disappointment, frustration and setbacks.
- Communicate skillfully with all types of people.
- Build respectful, mutually beneficial relationships.
- Speak effortlessly in front of others.
- Manage money in a responsible way.
The CEO’s and entrepreneurs I’ve coached during the last twenty-five years would love nothing more than to work with people who have these skills (regardless of the degree or school attended, by the way).
Truth be told, I don’t have a college degree. I think of myself as a lifelong student enrolled in a self-directed education program. I read like crazy – a variety of both fiction and nonfiction. I study documentaries and biographies of great thinkers. Keeping a journal for over forty years has taught me how to write. And I use the Internet as my own personal university, one that allows me to take virtual classes on demand.
As this year’s graduation ceremonies come to an end, I dream of a new kind of school, one that takes high school graduates and helps them to find jobs, to get out on their own, to foster an entrepreneurial mindset, and to develop an inner strength and spirit that’s not afraid to challenge the status quo.
It’s coming and not soon enough.
Ok, rant done #x1F600;.
This Week’s Video
I love how companies are getting more creative with their advertising. This one will give you a good laugh! You can watch it here.
