Every middle school in America emphasizes “college for everyone”.
There are very few middle schools without college banners, college themed days, college information nights, or other “college propaganda” littering the hallways and classrooms.
At my school, we even have a “Where Did You Go To College?” board displaying the alma maters of the teachers.

Students often stop by to take a look at the prestigious and impressive institutions our staff has attended.
Many teachers get into the mix in their respective classrooms as well.
I am no different.

When I first began my teaching career in the Fall of 2004, I was a “college is great” blowhard, dispelling the virtues of the importance of a college degree to every kid who crossed my path.
With 12 years in the classroom, and 3 years as a business owner under my belt, it’s shockingly obvious:
There is nothing inherently wrong with college.
But college isn’t a requirement for success.
And in many cases, it could be what’s holding you back from reaching your full potential.
The Problems With College
Problem #1 ==> “Inside The Box Thinking”
Perhaps the most glaring issue with college is continuation of the educational system which has been arbitrarily placed on us since birth.
What used to be a means by which to learn the necessary life skills for job performance has become a massive conglomerate to teach compliance and passivity.
From the minute a child enters the classroom, they are told to “sit down, shut up, and work hard”.
They eventually move on to middle school, where someone (like me) tells them to “sit down, shut up, and work hard”.
In high school, they are told to “sit down, shut up, and work hard” so they can gain admittance into a great college.
When they walk onto campus for the first time, they are told by EVERYONE to “sit down, shut up, and work hard” so they can get an entry level job upon graduation.
Guess what happens when they (maybe) land that gig?
Yup. “Sit down, shut up, and work hard” to get a mediocre raise, which likely isn’t even a cost of living increase.
If the purpose of a job is to earn money, and the purpose of money is to purchase back your time and your freedom, there are better ways to increasing your earnings than being a corporate slave.
But with the “college mindset”, outside the box thinking is rarely utilized. Your professors may claim “outside the box thinking”, but if they really thought this way, would they be at a university, or running their own company?
After completion of college, I never even dreamed I would one day own an online fitness business which would be running laps around my teacher’s salary.
I didn’t even know it was possible.
College sure as hell didn’t tell me this.
Problem #2 ==> Excessive Debt
When I was 15, my Dad asked me the infamous question every teenager dreads:
What are you going to do after high school?
He informed me I didn’t have to go to college. But if I didn’t, I would start paying rent after high school graduation.
College it was.
I had 3 options, according to him.
- Get an athletic scholarship.
- Get an academic scholarship.
- Apply for loans.
Through a combination of #1, and #3, I had roughly half of my college expenses paid for while attending school.
I also went to an inexpensive college (Eastern Michigan) which gave Ohio residents in-state tuition (score!).
I still graduated with $25,000 in student loan debt.
My wife graduated from the University of Michigan with $80,000 in student loan debt.
I know many people who are graduating from universities, going directly into graduate programs, and graduating with well into the 6-figures of debt.
All for a job with a starting salary of $40,000.
This madness must stop.
We need to start paying our way through college, choosing colleges based on finances instead of their football teams, or looking for other ways to accumulate life skills.
My wife and I made decent salaries starting out – my wife more so than me. She’s a computer engineer, and I’m a teacher.
Even with the solid combined income, a modest suburban house, and frugal lifestyle, we were both only able to make minimum payments on our student loans.
We have two children, and lots of bills. We really didn’t have tons of extra money to pay the debt down.
Luckily, my side business boomed and we’ve been able to toss nearly all of the extra revenue at the student loans, and we’re now paid up.
It took us 12 years to get rid of that debt.
It takes many people 30 years or more.
College provided me with a salary, which was all but eaten up by “life” – mortgages, car notes, student loans, and daycare bills.
It was only when I started utilizing skills I learned outside of college that our family’s financial outlook began to change for the better.
Problem #3 ==> Drinking
I feel so old saying this.
I watched a documentary recently on Ohio University and the drinking problem many of its students have.
As I watched the documentary, it was glaringly obvious: The documentary was pretty much about me from 1999-2004 as I completed my graduate studies.
We got over our hangovers from the previous week on Sunday. By Tuesday, we were back at the bar with trivia or karaoke. Thursday and Friday nights were bar nights. Saturday night was reserved for house parties or frat parties.
This replayed itself about pretty much every weekend for 5 straight years.
By the time my senior year rolled around, the instances of “drunken stupor” were thinned out a bit, although they still happened.
My freshman year? As an 18 year old fresh out of a Catholic high school?
It wasn’t pretty.
Binge drinking is the norm in a college campus. It’s a strange period of time where if you don’t binge drink, you’re seen as strange.
Alcoholism is 100% normal during this stage in your life.
Drink like that in high school, and you’ll be sent to a counselor. Drink like that post-college, and your friends will have an intervention.
But drink like that IN COLLEGE? And you’re just another college kid, doing what college kids do.
It’s a remarkable that I am still alive.
When intoxicated, it’s easy to make dumb decisions. We’ve all done it before.
With the blending of alcohol and schooling on college campuses not likely to cease, it may be time to look at alternatives to on campus housing.
Problem #4 ==> Entitlement Mentality
People often have to learn life lessons the hard way.
I am no excpetion.
When I was in college, ironically, I changed my major from business to education halfway through my freshman year.
I decided I didn’t want to work for “the man”, and I wanted to teach others.
In a bit of twisted fate, I ended up working for the public educational system, which is more “the man” than any corporation on earth. (More on that at a later date.)
Michigan used to have excellent salaries and benefits for teachers. When I was in college, a teacher on year 10 would be earning $80,000 with zero health care cost and premium coverage.
Combine that financial package with the excellent teacher pensions, and it was a deal that couldn’t be beaten.
A lot has changed since then.
The laws all changed.
I’m in year 12, and that $80,000 is right around $50,000.
Insurance sucks and we pay 20% of the costs.
We pay 7% of our salaries into our pensions.
Our pay scale has been frozen without increases numerous times.
And here is where I get controversial.
I don’t disagree with these changes. They are for the better good of our state’s finances.
This may make some of my fellow teachers upset with me, and I’m fine with that.
It became crystal clear to me a few years into my teaching career that the “gravy train” was almost over. The Democratic Governor and State Congress were swept out of office by the right winged contingent, and the hits started coming.
Decreased spending per pupil, mandatory insurance costs, increased pension contributions, etc.
I spent about two years worrying about my future, yelling and screaming for more respect (and money), and crying that I was worth more than I was making.
After wasting an enormous amount of time, energy, and heartache making lots of “noise”, I took a different approach.
I decided to try to earn money on my own, and opened my own business.
Opening my own business has helped to erase the mindset that education, specifically college, had instilled in me.
For years, we are told that if we “sit down, shut up, and work hard”, all will be great.
And this is often a blatant lie. It won’t always be great.
You aren’t entitled to anything.

A college degree means you have a piece of paper that may get you an interview somewhere.
That’s about it.
It will be up to you to take it from there.
Best,
Jason
College graduates on average earn $17,500 per year than those who do not graduate college. They live longer and have less health problems throughout their lives. Are there the Mark Zuckerbegs and Jason Helmes of the world? Sure, but for the vast majority college over no college is a better bet for lifetime earnings, health, and longevity. The trick is don’t go into great debt to pay for it. Don’t go to Vassar ($51,000 per year), instead go to Brigham Young ($5,100) if you can’t afford it. There are many many more good reasons to go to college besides earnings and health, but these are reason enough. The problems Jason identifies are not specific to colleges. One can (and many do) have problems with drinking outside of college. Drinking problems are not caused by or specific to college. Take a look these data, the evidence is overwhelming.
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2014/02/11/the-rising-cost-of-not-going-to-college/
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/02/11/study-income-gap-between-young-college-and-high-school-grads-widens
http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/site/ataglance/2015/07/education-and-mortality-study-finds-less-education-reduces-life-expectancy.html
Correlation? Or causation?
Is it the COLLEGE that creates the person, or the person who determines if their college education will be “worthwhile”?
If your alternative is the couch in mom’s basement and a marijuana pipe, of course college is a better alternative. But if you have a solid work ethic, you’re analytical, and you’re motivated, it’s unnecessary.
Data can be skewed, I’m not even opening the links.
I’ll say again – the most successful people I know DID NOT graduate college. I’m not talking about Facebook creators and tech start up guys, either. I’m talking plumbers, electricians, general contractors, nursing home owners, car shop owners, daycare owners, etc.
We for sure see eye to eye on the debt aspect. Crippling.
I really appreciate this insight as a father of 3 young children too, I am thinking deeply about the possibilities of no college, etc. You’re not alone out there and good to know I’m not either.
Fantastic article, Jason. I think we often forget that education is a business that sells ideas. It’s free for a while, but you definitely are exposed to a strong sell. Then comes the point where you really pay up (college). Most businesses have customers to please, must adjust to what’s working and what’s not and grow or shrink based on the viability of their product. Sadly, the business of education doesn’t have a lot of that because of it’s connection to government funding.
I think college is definitely on it’s way out (as is) or must morph considerably! If customers (students) could rate their products (degrees) like we rate on sites such as Amazon – I’d give a teaching degree a solid 3 out of 5. You got a job that without a degree you could not get (thanks to government licensing). However, your product did not perform as advertised. Overall, I still think you choose a fairly good product. There are many many degrees I’d give a 1 out of 5 – those don’t perform anywhere near what they are advertised as! And we are used to rating items that cost us very little! Something as massively expensive as a degree should have much much more careful and thorough review!!
I am very glad that you are being so open and honest about this topic. Just because we are exposed to these idea sellers from childhood (there are others besides education!) doesn’t mean we just accept them. We do need to evaluate carefully which products we want to buy.
I think that for jobs that don’t require a government license (there are many that do: health care, teachers, engineers, just to name a few) then definitely and without a doubt there are many other less expensive ways to get there than college!!
Cheers, Anthony. These are tough decisions, no doubt. Ultimately, it’s their life. But you’ll always want what’s best. Thanks for reading.
Awesome – I like that. Rate your degree……..I have LOTS of friends who would give ZEROS – not even using the degree!
A very good, thought-provoking article. I’m not in total agreement with everything but I don’t disagree entirely, either.
I’m a few years older than you. I’m still single and without kids, probably missed my window for both so my life is very different than yours and thus, I’m sure the way I look at it is.
Until I was late in my junior year of high school I wasn’t sure I wanted to go to college. In hindsight, I picked the wrong (too expensive) school and probably not the best major. Like many kids that age, I didn’t really know who I was or what I wanted to do. I think people who have a better idea of those things probably do better and get more out of the experience.It takes some people a while to figure those things out. Maybe I would have been better off entering the full-time workforce after high school and going to college later, if at all. Perhaps more people would benefit that way,, though I don’t know how feasible it is for some people.
Was college worth it for me? Yes and no. There are some experiences I had and people I met that I can’t imagine my life without them. I have a career I enjoy, though my pay isn’t great and it took me a while longer than I thought it would to get where I am.
With the debt thing, one of my favorite cartoons in recent years showed a kid moving back home after college. His father said “What’s wrong with kids these days? When I was your age, I started out with nothing.” The kid, carrying a big bag that said “student loan debt,” replied “I wish I could have started out with nothing.” That’s all I have to say about that. I wish I had a solution, but I don’t.
Your observation about drinking is dead-on. I never drank in high school. College was a totally different story. When I hear of kids dying from binge-drinking episodes or accidents, I can’t help but think “There but for the grace of God go I.”These days, I very rarely drink because I have to drive everywhere and the last thing I need is a DWI arrest. The best way I know to avoid that is not to drink at all; if I’m driving.
I have mixed feelings about the entitlement issue. While I don’t think people deserve something for nothing, I do kind of regret that the days when people typically worked for the same company for their entire adult lives are over. I think between an employer and employee, loyalty should be a two-way street. It is a political issue and I’m sure our politics are somewhat different because our lives are different. No point in arguing about that.
I also understand we have to live in the world as it is not the world as we wish it would be. Apparently, that’s what you figured out.
I don’t know how much of that made sense, but thanks for your work.
Steve,
Awesome reflections, appreciated. I do understand that you can’t take one decision in isolation and pretend like it doesn’t effect everything else in your life. Without going to college, my life would probably be drastically different. Different location, different job, different wife/kids, everything.
And my parents, who are retired Baby Boomer millionaires, both had ZERO student loan debt. Zero.
The difference there cannot be understated.
Thanks for reading.
Jason
Great article. I’ve felt like this a long time. At the end of the day college is a social rubber stamp of approval that you’ve gone through the motions. It’s a way to weed out job candidates really. I’m 34 and work in IT and haven’t had one job in my career that a 15 year old high school kid couldn’t be trained to do. Medicine and law and architecture are different stories, but barring a few very specific professions, a college degree is not necessary.
I have 3 kids and I do want them to go to college, but I want them to choose they can afford AND start a business that can create real wealth for them.
Awesome, Raza – cheers, my man. Good luck with those kiddos of yours. 🙂