Why I Chose No College

I feel certain I'll step on a few toes today, but really, has that ever stopped me?  Hardly.  And I will begin by prefacing myself.  No, I am not encouraging people to forgo higher education.  I will encourage my children to go. These are merely my observations after watching friends and family rack up huge loans, only to find out that their expensive education got them bumpkis.  I've seen people who had the opposite experience, too, but far fewer.

I've received a lot of slack over the years about my having not graduated from either a conventional high school, or a college.  I heard over and again that people who go to college make more money than those who do not. That is my number one reason for not going to college.  Certainly, there are some fields that do pay graduates higher than non-graduates.  (I, for one, would never go to a doctor who did not have a few degrees hanging on their wall!)  But, going to college is no guarantee that you will even get a job, let alone a high paying one!  Someone very close to me has 2 college degrees.  He had a job utilizing said degrees.  A superior informed him that they were hiring someone to take his place.  Why?  Because the new employee had no college education, but just as much real life experience.  They could pay him less.  So, really, who came out on top?  Joe Blow who worked his butt off learning from the real world...at least he had a job!

Which brings me to my next point.  College grads loose a few years of honest-to-goodness real world experience, while others are out there just learning the ropes.  They spend those 4 years racking up debt that will take forever to pay off.  And, really, what is better than starting off life thousands of dollars in debt!? I'm being sarcastic!  Consider investing that money!


Higher education.  I really hate that term.  There was a time when only a select few went to college.  That certainly gave them the edge on the great jobs.  But, these days, everyone and their dog has a college degree. College degrees no longer separate you from everyone else.  I've seen college graduates working at McDonald's, because their chosen fields were full.

But, here is probably the biggest issue I have with people who have a college education.  They become too "smart".  Not too intelligent, too smart.  Too smart for common sense.  Too smart to consider the opinions of anyone.  Too smart to trust God for anything.

Some of the world's brightest minds and highest paid people either chose not to go to college, or dropped out.  Quick!  Someone tell Bill Gates he could make more money if he had a college education!  Hurry, Mark Zuckerberg!  Go back to school so you can get rich!  Let's go back in time and tell eight Presidents of the United States that they could get a better paying job if they would go back to school! Of the successful people I know, most did not go to college.

As I was looking around, researching this a bit, I was surprised to see how many people this world deems successful with no higher education.  Eight U.S. presidents.  A plethora of TV personalities, news anchors, actors and musicians.  World leaders, world changers and authors.  Winston Churchill had no college education, nor did Mark Twain, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Benjamin Franklin, John D. Rockefeller or Andrew Carnegie.  I know its going back a ways, but even Leeuwenhoek had no formal education.

So in my opinion, not going to college has served me much better than if I had gone.  I've always had good paying jobs.  To this day, I have no desires to return to school.  I'm quite happy where I am at in my life.  Sure, I will encourage my kids to go to college, but I'm not going to force them.  You can shove a horse's head into the water, but that doesn't mean it will drink!  Likewise, I can force my children to go to college, but that doesn't mean they will learn a dern thing...the sure as heck might drink, though.

A few things to consider:

But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 
(James 1:5)


But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
(1 Corinthians 1:27)