I had an interesting thought the other day about the value of my college education and what the University of Illinois gave me the past 3.5 years. Sure I learned quite a bit in college. But who is to say I wouldn't have learned a lot if I didn't go to college at all?
I'm currently studying to take Level I of the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) Exams in June. It's a self-study program where I have to master the topics of Ethics, Statistics, Economics, Financial Statement Analysis, Corporate Finance, Analysis of Equity and Fixed Income Investments, Derivatives, Alternative Investments, and Portfolio Management all while reading textbooks made from my friends at Kaplan. Maybe it's Kaplan's easy-to-read, easy-to-learn style, but I think I've learned more about statistics and economics in the past month than I did in my three economics and one statistics class in college. That's a bit sad.
This got me thinking about what the value of college was. What are students paying thousands upon thousands of dollars for a year anyway if I could learn just as much from reading a book on my own? Maybe college gives the structure that students need to succeed because they wouldn't actively try to learn on their own. That's a reasonable thought. But what is the point of taking electives anyways if I already know what I'm interested in? Classes about Spanish literature and hazardous weather were a big waste of my time. Sorry U of I, I did not become a more well-rounded person because of them. If I was truly interested in Spanish literature, I could have read a book like that it my own time. If I really wanted to learn about a tornado, I could have watched a documentary. The fact that I memorized ten lectures right before a test did me no good and was not beneficial to my learning. Maybe I would have learned more if I didn't cram learning into a few days. Valid point. But the fact that I didn't want to learn about the weather was still there so it would not have made a difference. There needs to be some interest in what students are learning for the information to actually sink in. I think it would be a much better idea to start taking your major classes right away (if you know what you want to major in) and then after you grow up a bit, then you can choose to take other classes outside of your major that interest you. That makes more sense to me.
Ok so now I'll step off my soapbox about general education classes. What about my business classes? I will admit that I learned a great deal from my business classes. But how much could I have learned in 3.5 years if I didn't go to college? What if after high school I got a part-time job, maybe as a bank teller, and bought a bunch of books and just read. What if I read books about economics, about statistics, finance, accounting, investments and learned all what I learned about in college. In addition, what if I was constantly reading the newspaper and watching the news to see what was going on in the world today (something that most all college students are severely lacking). And I did it for about $120,000 less than if I went to college. Is a person who learned this way somehow less qualified than a person who got a degree from a four year university? That's a good question. I'm convinced that if a person was motivated enough, a student could learn more on his or her own than what a student could learn in a classroom, at least from an information stand point.
So what's the point of college? Well I have come up with a few things. One is obvious. The fact that having a degree from college means something to society and future employers. It holds some weight. Completely understandable. But is a C student who coasted through college more prepared for the real world than a kid who graduated high school, got a part time job, read constantly about business related topics and was up to date on current events? I find that hard to believe. But that C student has a college degree and college degrees are worth something these days. It symbolizes that you have learned something. The other thing I thought college may help with is connections and networking. Networking to people who can help your career. But its not like a high school grad can't talk to people, can't set up informational meetings with people, can't go to career fairs. It's just a lot easier in college. Another thing college helps with is developing soft skills. Those people skills and presentation skills that naturally develop in college. And lastly, college gives students structure, which is good for those who aren't that self-motivated enough. (For some non-business majors, such as science majors, I think the value of an education is much greater because they often need equipment and resources that would be much harder to acquire by one's self.) So do all these things justify the price tag of college? That's up for debate. All I know is that I know I will learn more in the next three years studying for the CFA Exams than I did when I was at U of I. Maybe because this is something I really want, so the motivation is there. But I keep coming back to the thought of if my degree was worth the price to go to U of I. Obviously I can say that it was since I have a good job now straight out of school, but who's to say that the other route wouldn't have led me on a better path? Maybe that's why so many of the extremely rich people in this world never got college degrees. College slowed them down. Now I am not comparing myself to Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. I'm just saying that maybe a college degree isn't all that it's cracked up to be.
Mark Twain once said, "Don't let school get in the way of your education." It's a quotation that has been hanging on my cork board for quite some time now and it's something I try to live by. I'm not disappointed by what U of I gave me. I just find the whole idea of the value of a college education and what one learns in college to be an interesting topic. What part of college is actually valued by society? Because if it's what we learn, there could be a lot more bang for your buck elsewhere. Or maybe our education system just needs a facelift.
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