Careers, Schools And Degrees

What are the top reasons to get a degree for my cool career?

The top reasons to get a degree for a cool career are mainly because there are some fields where it is absolutely required. Nobody is going to let you perform brain surgery without a degree. Nobody is going to let you be a judge if you don't have a degree. My PHD is actually in education and the evaluation of education programs. I deeply believe that school, for most things, is the worst place to learn anything. There are massive amounts of learning. They cram tonnes of this stuff into your head for two years, most of which you will have forgotten by the time you need to use it, if you ever need to use it. Also, usually it's long on theory, and short on practice. It is what is called synchronous, which means your butt has got to be on a chair at and for a specified time to do your degree. For example, 7 to 9 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. They charge a fortune for that, your degree, because your tuition is subsidizing their research, their shrubs, their fancy administration buildings. I am violently against education. I use it as the last choice. Now I am fully aware that most people like school because you can meet with other people, and it's nice and structured. You don't have to be a self starter. The instructor says, “Read the textbook page 226 to 297" and "The midterm is going to be November 15th, in Stern Hall room 11”. People like the structure! But if you really care about learning, I would recommend that you forgo State U, let alone Private U, in favor of what I call You U. This is a combination of mentorships, short courses offered by professional associations, online course offered by different universities or again professional associations, reading books and articles and apprenticeships. You will learn more for your cool career at You U of value than at State U any day.

What are the top reasons to not get a degree for my cool career?

Because the degree, is usually 2, 4, 6 years. Do you know that the average freshman takes over 5 years to graduate? Over half of the students who start as freshmen never graduate at all! That kind of error rate! Imagine if there was an assembly line and more than half of the products fell of the assembly line before it was finished, they'd shut down that assembly line! And yet with college we keep sending more and more people to college even though many don't graduate. And today becuase we're sending such a high percentage of HS grads to college, we have more college graduate than there are jobs. There's a hell of a lot of people who have college degrees sitting on their parent's sofa with no clue as to how to get a job. It's not like employers are coming after them. It's no good. Degrees are the most over-rated product in America.

Does everyone with a cool career have a degree?

Of course not. We know millions of successful people who don't have degrees. I mean, I think about Steve Jobs of Apple Computer; he dropped out of college. Another guy, Case who started AOL dropped out of college. Barbara Streisand doesn't have a college degree. Alex Haley, the guy who wrote "Roots"; no college degree. Woody Allen dropped out of college. There are so many who dropped out of college, including Wayne Huizenga who founded Blockbuster Video. There are a zillion really successful people. Maya Angelou doesn't have a college agree. People give her honorary doctorates all the time, but she never finished college.

What is an important skill that most schools do not teach?

An important skill that most schools don't teach is a class on entrepreneurial skills.

What is a "career mentor"?

Well we all grow up wishing at some point that somebody is going to take us under their wing, and shepherd us through life to happiness, contentment, and success. Most of us will find that we go through life and never find that mentor. It is great to have someone shepherd you through the very dangerous waters, the political waters, especially when you're starting out. What to say to whom, how, where, and why. Where to get the best training. What to do to keep yourself motivated when you're starting to have doubts about yourself. Finding that person is critical, and the way you find them is in the following ways. Usually it's not a professor; those are people who are out of touch with the real world. We tend to think about using professors. They're the worst, generally, although there are always exceptions. It's finding somebody who that at a professional conference is a inspiring speaker; who seems like a kind person. It's somebody who didn't just give his speech and then storm off, but took the time to meet with people afterwards and chat with them. It's somebody who seems kindly. It is the combination of competence and kindliness that you're looking for. You'll often find them at professional associations; not just at the national conference. Even if it's at your local chapter meeting. That's a great thing to do, that's what you should do; find that career mentor.