Michael Moths
ENGL 1301-B07
December 6, 2022
Despite cultural assumptions that proport the idea that you must go to college to succeed
in life, people today have found other ways to be successful, become more well-rounded people,
and build wealth. All without a college degree.
People have been inclined for generations to believe that a college education is essential,
which was true decades ago but, in today's world, it is no longer the case. If you look at
millionaires and billionaires now most of them are self-made, working long hours and taking
risks to make an empire. One thing you never hear them discuss was their degree’s role in their
success. That is because they did not use one. Most individuals in the top percent of Americas
highest paid people are college dropouts, high school dropouts, or have no real education of any
kind. Should this be telling us something? Today's Highest earners prove that people have been
looking at the equation wrong. In Ellen Shell’s article “College May Not Be Worth It Anymore”
she says, “We appear to be approaching a time when, even for middle-class students, the
economic benefit of a college degree will begin to dim. Since 2000, the growth in the wage gap
between high school and college graduates has slowed to a halt; 25 percent of college graduates
now earn no more than does the average high school graduate.” As time goes on the statistics
continue to change.
People think college is necessary for a significant income but fail to consider debt
amassed and or the task of climbing a corporate ladder. A good example of this are medical
students. Graduating from a medical school could leave a student anywhere from two hundred
thousand to almost three hundred thousand dollars in debt. Not even acknowledging the fact that
Michael Moths
ENGL 1301-B07
December 6, 2022
those students must also complete another two to four years of residency where salaries are only
around fifty thousand dollars. Quadlin and Brian Powell discuss the average college student debt
in their article “Four-Year Degree Worth the Cost?” In the article it is stated that “students often
leave four-year colleges with crippling amounts of debt. On average, public college students
walk away with about $30,000 worth of loans to pay back, according to the Education Data
Initiative.” Some people may barely make over thirty thousand starting out of college.”
Beginning work right after high school begins to help build a base for one's finances and you
begin debt free. Also, you can build experience and work your way up a company earlier than
when one would have finished college.
Climbing a corporate ladder can take years and there are many more factors to take into
consideration. Things like seniority, experience, favoritism, bias, and other factors that don’t
point to how effective one could actually be if implemented. Companies usually are not big risk
takers so to just give up a high-ranking position to someone who is “promising” is not likely at
all. Emma Patch made a great point in “Kiplinger’s Personal Finance” when she said “People
who become entrepreneurs certainly see an economic opportunity, but the bigger motivation is
that they want to be their own boss and set their own hours. You can structure your work in such
a way that you gain your own internal rate of return, with the benefit of adding value to your
lifestyle.” It is either you work for someone or for yourself. Getting a degree and then going to
work for a company is not going to give you any freedom or creativity. Going to school to get a
degree or to get a job is a safe and totally acceptable way to make a living, but the opportunities
to excel and profoundly change one's own life are limited. One increasingly popular “career” you
could say, is entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship or being an entrepreneur is starting your own
Michael Moths
ENGL 1301-B07
December 6, 2022
business and taking on a financial risk. When starting a business from the ground up the risk Vs.
reward ratio is much more elevated than just getting a job. A lot of finances used to get the
business on its feet are from the entrepreneur himself therefore he incurs the risk because he
cannot get the money back, but he stands to make more profit than any employee, investor, or
shareholder for that matter. In fact, in the article “Advantages and Disadvantages of Business
Ownership” there are numerous examples of advantages to owning your own business including
“As a business owner, you’re your own boss. You can’t get fired. More importantly, you have
the freedom to make the decisions that are crucial to your own business success. In spite of high
financial risk, running your own business gives you a chance to make more money than if you
were employed by someone else. You benefit from your own hard work. As a business owner,
you’ll be able to work in a field that you really enjoy. You’ll be able to put your skills and
knowledge to use, and you’ll gain personal satisfaction from implementing your ideas, working
directly with customers, and watching your business succeed.” Another notable example at why
more people should consider working for themselves. You get what you put into it.
People are looking for a stable career and feel that a degree of some sort is required but in
fact one could argue that there are more stable careers that don’t require a degree. Lots of jobs in
entertainment and marketing are stable and self-sufficient while also allowing for a touch of
creativity. Welders, plumbers, electricians, and carpenters are all professions that are not going
away anytime soon. These jobs are always in need and will be around for centuries the same as
doctors. A fitting example of a stable career is Montez King’s firsthand experience told by Dana
Wilkie. He said “At age 13, Montez King took a machine shop class at a Baltimore high school
that later landed him a job at what was formerly Teledyne Inc., earning $10 an hour. Back in
Michael Moths
ENGL 1301-B07
December 6, 2022
1991, that was pretty good money for a teen. A few years later, King was earning $16 an hour as
a full-time apprentice machinist, while Teledyne paid for him to attend community college two
nights a week. At age 18, he had saved enough to buy his own home.” Being able to afford his
own home at 18 is quite the stable career.
Another notion people seem to follow is that college shapes you into a well-rounded
person. Seeing current media and going off college stereotypes that are true I do not see how that
is the case. College could be considered four more years of high school just without supervision.
Students have easy access to alcohol, drugs, vapes, and other forms of delinquency. On the
contrary, avoiding college gives those people the experience of the real world. Working towards
what one wants to do is the best way to make them a well-rounded person. Living alone,
budgeting money, allocating time for important things, and worrying about yourself makes you a
well-rounded person. Chris Myers talks about how entrepreneurship made him a better person in
his Forbes article. He says “I’ve experienced my fair share of pain, including disappointment,
betrayal, and countless failures. Rather than make me bitter, however, these experiences have
made me more compassionate towards everyone I encounter. If something I worked on wasn't
successful, I simply gave up and moved onto a new focus. I did not have the grit necessary to
keep moving forward in the face of adversity." Another word for it is being humble. In the
academic journal “Becoming a More Mindful Leader” it is said that “But mindful leadership
goes well beyond giving the impression of being a good listener. It also requires that you become
more reflective about your communication and the messages you get from others.” This is
important because if everyone sat and thought about whether college would get them where they
wanted to be in life, we would have more successful people. Both the academic journal and Chris
Michael Moths
ENGL 1301-B07
December 6, 2022
discuss how we interact with others and how we reflect on ourselves; crucial details to being a
more well-rounded person.
Becoming a well-rounded person has a lot to do with one's morals and ideals which are
not where they should be during college. Being a well-rounded person begins with a desire to
become a better person. Another part is attitude. Many people in college or that are sitting at
their corporate job have terrible attitudes. They live to see the end of the day. Theres no
ambition, no drive, just a lack of motivation to become the best version of themselves. These
people are like this because they do not genuinely enjoy what they do. People go to college to get
a degree that has specific jobs that degree encompasses. A lot of people finish college and jump
at the jobs that are offered to them, inadvertently beginning their career in something they do not
love, and those people stay at that job because they have to support themselves. Antonio
Centeno, former Marine Corps Officer with a BA in Evolutionary Biology and Philosophy and
an MBA from The University of Texas at Austin gave his opinion on the matter. He said “A
college degree won't guarantee you a high-paying job. It won't even make you a skilled leader
with a shot at the corner office. Developing skills such as leadership, decision making, people
and resource management takes real practice and experience. These are skills which cannot be
acquired in the classroom.” This is further proof of what college won't teach you. People are not
being prepared for the real world so better to learn sooner than later.
In essence, Cultural assumptions are nothing more than folklore that we continue to
believe and in order to become wealthier, more successful, and better more well-rounded people
we must learn to access what's in front of us based on our own needs and desires.
Michael Moths
ENGL 1301-B07
December 6, 2022
Works cited
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“Becoming a More Mindful Leader.” Academic Leader, vol. 22, no. 2, Feb. 2006, pp. 2–3.
EBSCOhost, https://search-ebscohostcom.kidd.blinn.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=19568507&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
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Centeno, Antonio. “5 Reasons College Does NOT Equal Success.” Real Men Real Style
Stories, https://www.realmenrealstyle.com/college-degreenecessary/#:~:text=A%20college%20degree%20won't,be%20acquired%20in%20the%20
classroom.
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Myers, C. (2017, September 8). Three ways entrepreneurship has made me a better person.
Forbes. Retrieved December 6, 2022, from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/chrismyers/2017/09/08/three-ways-entrepreneurship-hasmade-me-a-better-person/?sh=186641967489
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PATCH, EMMA. “More Workers Are Going out on Their Own.” Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, vol.
76, no. 12, Dec. 2022, p. 12. EBSCOhost, https://search-ebscohostcom.kidd.blinn.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=159967485&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
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Quadlin, Natasha, and Brian Powell. "Four-Year Degree Worth the Cost?" USA Today
(Online), 07/11 2022. ProQuest; SIRS Issues Researcher,
http://kidd.blinn.edu:2048/login?url=
Michael Moths
ENGL 1301-B07
December 6, 2022
https://explore.proquest.com/sirsissuesresearcher/document/2718717704?accountid=7015
.
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Shell, Ellen Ruppel. “College May Not Be Worth It Anymore.” The New York Times, 17
May 2018, p. A23. EBSCOhost, https://search-ebscohostcom.kidd.blinn.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsgit&AN=edsgit.A5385970593&site=
eds-live
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Wilkie, D. (2022, September 7). The blue-collar drought. SHRM. Retrieved December 6, 2022,
from https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/all-things-work/pages/the-blue-collar-drought.aspx
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[Author removed at request of original publisher]. (2016, April 8). 5.4 advantages and
disadvantages of business ownership. Exploring Business. Retrieved December 6, 2022, from
https://open.lib.umn.edu/exploringbusiness/chapter/5-4-advantages-and-disadvantages-ofbusiness-ownership/
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