Education and the Buck Part One

In an age when education can cost you as much as a new car or in some cases, more than a new home, it's hard to believe that people don't want to get the most out of their money when it comes to learning. That being said, perhaps you know someone who is attending college, and the cost of that is enormous, even when they have scholarship money, having that additional home "out there" to help pay for, becomes something that many parents never anticipated (but they love their child being able to go). If you find yourself in that position, or you have a good friend in that position, this article will help you, or them, find a far more fulfilling way to achieve the same end.

Education in America has taken a hard right toward useless, in many colleges the theory is so strong that the practical can't come through. The shame of it is, they can't admit such, nor do anything about it, but those who have been there know that it is true. Even when we have been there, it's hard to convince folks that college is not going to help them much beyond basic knowledge. What then is the proper value to that education? My contention is that the education should be worth what you put into it, not just in terms of cost, but in terms of return.

Why are colleges and university systems incapable of rectifying their situation, because they don't call their own tune, they are rated and controlled by oversight bodies which control curriculum. As a result it is the accreditation boards of review which have control of the learning. You might not be aware of that, you might think that at a school with as much clout as Harvard that accreditation means nothing, but picture the headline on the day that Harvard loses their accreditation- can you imagine that one? So the pressure goes against them to maintain the standard expressed as what they will teach. Hard to believe but true- and it is making our system less than it ought to be. What's the answer- my contention is simple; the system is so wrecked that it must be left alone. What this means is that I advocate a person getting an education that will have value.

Let's talk plain value and education by saying loudly and clearly that what a person needs from a degree is the ability to be working or making an income from that degree. If you will agree with me about that then the rest of what we're going to talk about will make sense, if you stumble over that aspect of why complete high school then what we discuss is likely to seem without reason.

If you are on this paragraph you swallowed that pill and are ready to open your head a bit, and it will take that, we, learners, world wide, have bought into the system of education which appoints former learners and tellers and explainers of what they have learned. This is great, except we no longer exist in an age where such works, let me prove that to you, by saying that last year the picture based internet made people millions, the year prior to that, it made practically nothing, because business is changing rapidly. You will recognize the name Bill Gates, he founded Microsoft, his quote is that "business will change more in the next ten years, than it has in the last fifty." Gates made that statement in 1999 in his work "Business at the Speed of Thought." Millions purchased that book on its first outing (my copy was one of those), because they knew that Gate's knows a great deal about business. Since he made that statement it has come true in amazing detail. But the colleges and university systems of the world haven't altered their curriculum much at all- courses that they were teaching in 1999 when that book came out, they are still teaching in 2007, there is something wrong with that picture.

This article has been about the value of education - and we haven't gotten to the half of it, but we have to run, if you can agree with me that what you learn should have a very positive impact upwards on what you earn, if you feel that way for your children, then read the second installment to this article and see if my point isn't valid.