There Is More To Finding Success Than College

College is not always the answer for a high paying job
This week is college application week and many teachers are promoting their college experience. For some, though, college has been found not to be the answer.
This week is college application week and many teachers are promoting their college experience. For some, though, college has been found not to be the answer.
Photo Credit: Aydin Collins

Out of 51 million jobs, 46% “middle skill” jobs and 37% “high skill” jobs do not require a bachelor’s degree. 

The college attendance rate also drops at an average of 2.2% each year. With new jobs in social media appearing or work force jobs most of these work fields do not require a four-year university.  Success is a spectrum that can be measured by many things. Whether it be how you perform in school or something that you learn about life that can benefit you on the road to success, or failure, or the impact that you as an individual had on someone else’s life or the world.

These days with all the forms of technology around there are thousands of way to answer questions in the palm of your hand.  Some often think that performing exceptionally well in the classroom is one of the keys to success.

However, school is not for everybody, there are plenty cases where being not as “academically inclined” and not fitting the narrative of a future leader, turned out to just be limits people set on others.

— Jon Rozier

Sometimes people look at grades to define another person and confine them into a box. Many famous and rich people did not even attend college.  Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the founders of Microsoft, did not attend college and became billionaires because of their creative power.  Mark Zuckerberg, though he was a Harvard dropout, who co-founded the social media platform Facebook also was not the most successful in the classroom and did not go to college either.  

This is not to say that school is a waste of time and it really does provide the building blocks for what someone wants to be when they grow up.  Welding  and Real Estate are also other fields that do not require education just training. Plumbing and lots of other blue collar jobs can earn up six figures as well.  This argument is not to say school and education is a waste of time. I myself want to be something that when I grow up requires education. Doctors, engineers, architects, therapists and many other important career paths require a good education. Going through all kinds of education is beneficial in building good habits.  Schooling builds discipline especially when it comes to time management and consistency.  It also builds problem solving skills and helps with human interaction/social skills.  Some schools even offer courses that you will take with you throughout your entire life, teaching about taxes, budgeting, inflation, stocks, interest rates and more. 

So, schooling is important to development in many areas. At the end of the day it all depends on what your calling ends up being.  There are many ways to be considered successful with or without having the badges of education.

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