A couple weeks ago I was browsing Twitter and came across a blog post written by Mark Cuban, entitled “The Coming Meltdown in College Education & Why The Economy Won’t Get Better Any Time Soon“.  Read it if you haven’t yet.  I’ve thought and thought about this topic for quite sometime, but never actually realized the bubble, nor did I see the connection it had with the housing bubble. The other day I was watching 60 Minutes and it had a segment on the very issue, just from another spective.  You can see the segment on it here.

A few months ago I saw an info graphic on where Google’s Ad revenues come from.  This is when it really made me think: the top 5 spenders in the “Jobs & Education” section are all private institutions that are for-profit, whose degrees are practically worthless.  People are taking out loans to simply get a degree, no matter of the degrees actual value, and because of this, private companies are feeding on them.  If you think of the original point in college/university, it was to educate you and learn and give you an advantage.  In general, this is nolonger the case.

Now, I’m not saying college/university isn’t worth it, and you should drop out, but in general, it isn’t a good thing anymore. There is also a lot more to college than the education.  It is an experience you can’t really get elsewhere.  I graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering from one of the most highly rated public universities in the US, but I did it for the experience and because I enjoyed it.  The opportunity to do amazing things is too great to pass it up.  I don’t regret taking out loans for the degree or a minute of the experience, even though I don’t even use my degree currently.

Additionally, *in general*, college has become a waste from an education perspective. There are still quite a few excellent schools that will not only teach you what you need, it will also get you a job you like and you will make a lot of money doing what you love.  In general, unfortunately, this is not the case. But that doesn’t mean all college education is bad. College now costs way more than it did in the past, yet its value is declining.  This is why we’re seeing these trends and prominant people thinking that college isn’t worth it.  Prices are going up and the actual value is going down.  It is a shame, but this is the bubble that people are talking about, and it doesn’t seem to have any solution in sight. So, think about it.  There are a lot of things in todays rapidly changing world that are outdated, even though most people still follow old traditions in life.  Question everything, and make an effort to think about things from every perspective.  Read “10 Life-Changing Decisions We Make Without Thinking” for some outside thoughts – whether they are right or wrong.

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Patrick

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I write for fun, I travel for fun, and I enjoy learning. I hate sugar-coating things. Understand the world in reality, not by dogma. Question everything.
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