A lot of parents are going to be mad at
me for saying this but someone needs to say it. So here goes: not every
kid should go to a four year college. My rule of thumb would be if you
have to borrow money to attend a university DON’T DO IT! I know a lot of
millenials who are currently in debt $200,000 for their college
degrees, who are now bartenders or telemarketers and living at home.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you don’t need an education to be
successful, all I’m saying is there are plenty of other places to get a
cheaper and better education than in the ivy-covered halls of a name
brand university.
We have placed far
too much emphasis on college degrees and not near enough on education
and hard work. Many young men and women who have no idea what they want
to be when they grow up would be better off attending a trade school,
junior college or joining the military and letting the government help
pay for their education. I know many prosperous entrepreneurs who never
set foot in a college class.
I’d like
to tell you about four young brothers I’m close to. My young friend Eric
worked in a pump shop during high school and went to work for Exxon
straight out of high school. He worked offshore as a mechanic on the
west coast and in the Gulf of Mexico. The company loves him and he loves
the company. He’s got a job for life making more money per year than I
ever did.
One
of Eric’s younger twin brothers was a little lost after high school and
I remember a discussion we had in which I urged him to join the
military. This made his wonderful mother mad at me but now that he’s a
Marine in charge of 30 other Marines and doing extremely well, you’ve
never seen a prouder mother. College was the right path for the other
twin who graduated with a petroleum engineering degree from the
University of Wyoming and he too is doing extremely well. A fourth
brother is following in his father’s giant footsteps.
I
never had such options after high school. My parents said my brother
went to college and I would too. Period. Of course they never gave me a
dime to do so. I think the only reason my brother went to West Point,
and later MIT, was because he didn’t have any money saved after high
school like I did. It would have been a huge waste of his genius had he
not gone to college.
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