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once was a lawyer who had a broken toilet, so he called a plumber. The
plumber checked the toilet and said he could fix it for $250. The lawyer,
wanting his toilet fixed, told the plumber to proceed. After 15 minutes the
plumber returned and handed the lawyer a $250 invoice. The lawyer, quite
perplexed that he had been charged $250 for a 15-minute task, questioned the
plumber, “You only worked 15 minutes. Why does it cost $250 for 15 minutes?”
The plumber replied, “Five dollars for the part and $245 for knowing which part
needed to be replaced.” The lawyer, a little agitated about the price, replied
“I am a lawyer; I don’t charge that much to see a client for 15 minutes!” The
plumber paused for second, looked at the lawyer and said, “I didn’t charge that
much either, when I was a lawyer.”
I hope you got a chuckle. Is college for everyone? There isn’t a definitive
answer. I think it depends on one’s ambition. Certain careers require college
degrees (doctor, lawyer, engineer, accountant, teacher, etc.) and other
careers, like our plumber, do not. Statistics tell us the median income of
someone with a degree is more than someone without one, but this is an average
that might not apply to a particular degree from a particular institution
earned by a particular person.
Is the degree itself the determining factor for success? I don’t think so. I
think the most significant factor is ambition. As I use this term, I mean the
confluence of dreams and vision with drive and motivation. I think the college
degree statistics reflect that most of those whose ambitions require a college
degree carry that ambition into their careers and earn more money.
When I discuss the value of a degree, Bill Gates and Steven Jobs are often
mentioned because they built business empires and became billionaires without
a degree (though both attended college before they went into business). I
usually respond “I agree. Now when your kid builds the next-generation
computer in the garage or writes the code to shift satellites in orbit, then
maybe we don’t need college.” It gets back to ambition, not a degree.
My mother was a good example. She was a Japanese war bride who suffered the
bombings of Tokyo during WWII, yet married an American serviceman. She came to
the US, saw opportunity for women, and built her business. Although she could
not read or write English, she was an astute businesswoman and died a
millionaire—with properties, gold, and diamonds. I’m blessed that I inherited
a lot of her ambition.
Although I am a staunch advocate of a college education, in reality, you don’t
need college to learn and you don’t need a degree to earn a decent living.
However, the degree provides “credentials,” the proof that you have the
intellectual capacity to learn and complete a major milestone in life. Is it
required? In certain fields, you just need the ambition to do what it takes to
obtain what you want. If what you want requires a degree as credentials, then
you go to college. If not, then have a goal, a plan, and execute.
A prime example of an industry that doesn’t require a lot of degreed workers
is medicine. Yes, medicine! To be a doctor, you have to go to college, but the
vast majority of people who work at a hospital or in the industry do not have
four-year degrees. Patient Care Technicians, Medical Records Specialists, Lab
Technicians, etc., provide professional services and make good incomes.
This doesn’t mean your schooling stops. These people had to train anywhere
from 6 weeks to 2 years. You will still need more education, training, and
experience regardless of what you pursue. Some jobs require formal training,
others require on-the-job training, and most require both. You will always
need to acquire more knowledge and skills to maintain and advance, regardless
of your career. Even the lowest paying jobs require someone to show you what
to do and how to do it, and an expectation that you will get better at it.
There are a huge range of opportunities for those who choose not to go to
college. These include sales people, dental hygienists, medical assistants,
police and fire fighters, transportation workers (including pilots),
electricians, heating/air conditioning technicians, auto mechanics, food
services, and a host of other options. Degrees are not usually necessary in
many industries and job sectors such as real estate, insurance, public
service, banking, travel, automotive, trucking, and personal services.
At the same time, you need to understand that at some point you might
encounter a “glass ceiling” that you won’t be able to move past without a
degree. In the corporate world, most entry positions require a degree and
often require an advanced degree to move up beyond a certain point. Other
positions do not require a degree to enter, but require a degree to advance.
Outside the corporate world, there will be the industry’s own version of glass
ceilings where you cannot advance unless you have additional training or
certifications, so the education, learning, training, and the need for
credentials really never ends.
Electricians, plumbers, vehicle operators, healthcare workers, and anyone who
has to use technology require consistent training, and often the credentials
that go with it. Truck drivers need a Commercial Drivers License (CDL),
computer specialists require certification on new software, and even the cable
guy requires certified training. Most community colleges offer vocational
training and there are many vocational-technical schools that offer training
opportunities at a reasonable cost. (I would shy away from the more
proprietary schools, which I think charge too much.)
However, most “techies” are self-taught. Most of the people who build
websites, master the internet, and build computers teach themselves, don’t
need a lot of formal education, but have a passion to learn, discover, and
even invent new things. Indeed, in the computer technology field, by the time
it’s in a textbook, it’s obsolete.
Often, when parents approach me with this question, I recommend the student
consider a stint in the military. There they will have a chance to mature,
learn and experience new things, take on responsibilities at a young age, and
have a “paid for” college education in their back pocket when they finish.
Many employers like to hire veterans because they are usually more mature,
experienced, responsible, and self-motivated than their peers. Plus veterans
have a huge pool of federal and state resources to draw upon for education and
employment opportunities.
Finally, sometimes earning a college degree is an ambition in itself. We read
stories of people who achieve their goal of a high-school diploma or college
degree later in life. We had a 92-year-old gentleman graduate from our high
school because all his adult life he wanted to finish his high-school diploma.
In my own home, my wife, who was a high-school dropout when I met her, will be
graduating from Harvard University this year. It has been a long, tough road
for her. She certainly ?doesn’t need the degree to get a job, but she always
had the ambition to be a college graduate. The determination to earn a Harvard
degree speaks for itself.
So, to answer the question . . . it depends on the student’s ambition and what
he or she is willing to do to achieve it.
