Do You Really Have to Go to College?

Dale Stephens:

This is the time of year when high school seniors across the country are checking the mail obsessively. They're rushing down the driveway whenever an unusually loud car goes by, hoping the letter carrier has delivered that all-important, life-altering piece of paper: the acceptance letter to their dream school.

You should know, however, that not everyone is paying attention to the mailbox. Some teenagers are making plans to engage in self-directed learning.

All your life, parents, teachers, and guidance counselors have drilled the idea into your head that you must go to college. It has been made clear that if you don't get good grades and attend a four-year college, the rest of your life will be a dismal failure.

I'm arguing that all of this is wrong. The social cues that defined what you thought about education ought to be questioned.

There is a community of people who are making a different choice. Instead of going into debt, they are taking the future into their own hands. They are using the real world to find mentors and learn practical skills. They are traveling, volunteering, interning and apprenticing.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at March 13, 2013 2:46 AM
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