Why a college degree is worthless?

If you are like me who doesn't want to be an employee, who wants to be their own boss and have a desire to create or build something, then your college degree is worthless to you.

That is a bold statement, but if you give one minute, I will tell you why it is worthless.

We all have been told since childhood to study hard in school so that you can get accepted into college, a well-reputed one, the better the college the better your life would be, well is it? Let me tell you a brutal truth about life.

A college degree doesn't make you successful in life.

Does that mean I should quit college? No, unless you have a really really good reason to quit, but what I am saying is just because you are going to college that doesn't necessarily mean you will become rich.

To those people who want a good job in a multi-million-dollar company. This article is not for you, but those who want to build that multi-million-dollar company you better keep reading.

What college does to you?

College is a factory that produces employees.

College teaches you how to become a good employee. How?

By limiting your mind, teaches you to do what you are told to, your mind gets involved in your lectures and assignments you stop seeing opportunities, you study to pass your exam not to gain knowledge.

Education

The true definition of Education is to gain knowledge, skill, values, beliefs, and habits. Today's definition of education is "It's a means of getting a job which makes you financially free and matches the social standards of society."

To get a job, they need a degree, and from where can you get this degree "college".

Poverty is a curse which many poor people want to break through educating their children but providing food for their family is in itself is a struggle and even they send their children to study at government school there are no proper facilities, teachers are not well-qualified.

There is a woman in Bengaluru, who works as domestic help and her husband is a daily wage worker, their monthly income is around 20k-22k, have two daughters who are studying in private school whose annual fees is 40k not including books and uniforms. She borrows money from microfinance agencies and her parents to pay the school fees when asked why she did not consider government school she said: " I want them to learn well, study English and get a good job unlike me". They trust private schools can give their children a bright future.  

People who can't afford to educate their children are sending them to private schools and colleges through loans.

Student loan

Not only poor people but the middle-class families also have to take loans for their children's education. The unemployment rate in India is 23.5%, the highest level on record, and considering the huge competition for jobs, we can say that school nor college can guarantee them a job.

Formal education VS self-education

There is a famous quote from goodwill hunting " You spend $150,000 on an education you could have got for $1.50 at the public library."

A generation ago this quote would have felt stupid because the education was way different than today, but today this quote makes more sense than anything.

If today I ask you something you studied from the last two years of your life, will you be able to answer? I bet you hardly remember anything because today's education system doesn't ensure you learn anything, they just test your memorization skills. In college, you will be able to pass maybe with the highest marks, but you will soon forget it.

On the other hand, when you search a topic or read a book with the intention of learning not memorizing you are able to absorb that information 5 times better because you begin to ask questions about that topic and you're so keen on finding the answer.

There is a man who was born in1971, at the age of 10 when computers were a new thing for everyone he developed an interest in computing, just by reading he taught himself programming and at the age of 12 build a game and sold it for 500$. He also didn't take any formal education of rocket science, by reading and asking peoples he became a rocket scientist and opened his own company known as SpaceX, now you know who I am talking about. He is the greatest example of self-education, he proved that you don't need a college degree to become great or to build something, you just need enough passion and commitment.

What to do 

Discover your talent, what do you want to do? Do you want to open an online store or are you going to start your own blog or YouTube channel or maybe you want to start your own digital marketing agency? Start reading books and watch YouTube videos.

A ton of information is available at your fingertips, you just have to tap into it. You can learn almost anything. Do you want to learn how to cook or learn a different language, you can access anything for free and what you will have will be worth far more than any college degree.

But you will say what about poor people?

Let me tell you something they are not far behind you, most of them are on Tik Tok, yes it's true if they can make videos using a filter, and all do you think that they don't know about YouTube and google.

You don't lack resources, you lack motivation.

Final word

Everything is served for you, don't be too lazy to put food in your own mouth. Utilize these resources don't put a limit on yourself or blame your circumstances, you have the power to change what you don't like.

A degree does matter for people who want to become doctors or dentists but not for business. My emphasis is on learning not memorizing. A good skill is more valuable than a degree.