Do Americans truly believe College is essential? (extremist, compared, economic)
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Good for him, he's providing jobs through his business and also to build and maintain his home and toys. Insurance is definitely a field where an uneducated person can do well. My father in law also rose to president of a life insurance company and was well loved by his employees, many who also had no education but had a drive and a willingness to help other people.
He also had one of the largest homes in his city, with the pool and plenty of space to entertain for business events. Sadly, he passed away at 47.
And that's a reminder to balance everything, career, education, health, relationships.
One thing I have always heard perpetuated by Americans on social media, In the media itself since I was a kid was that you need to go to College to not end up impoverished. Even In TV and movies growing up you would see that if a high school student wasn't accepted into a College it was seen as the end of the world. In Europe and here in OZ/NZ this way of thinking is very strange to us. There are PLENTY of well paid skilled occupations that don't require university. In fact leaving school at 16-18 is quite common where many may go on to learn a trade for example and earn a salary higher than many who go to University.
Is the College obsession in the US really a thing or just something we see In the media? It's just something I'm alien to and wanted to see if it's actually a thing.
If your goal is to make money to survive then a trade should be your path.
For many people right now, my advice is to learn a trade and buy all your stuff (house, car, boat, whatever) then pursue a 4 year college online. There is some value in being able to talk to people without sounding/thinking like a 12th grader your entire life.
Most parents hope their children will have a better life, and want to help them prepare for success in life.
But sometimes, life gets in the way.
Here is a different neighbor of mine. He's an interesting fellow. He never went to college; by the time he was 19 years old he was married, had two daughters, and his wife had fled them never to be seen again. He worked at an insurance agency, literally starting in the mail room, and was inquisitive and learned a bit about insurance.
Fast forward 30 years. He successfully raised his two daughters to adulthood. He owns his own insurance agency, focused on selling annuities to retirees. He's expanded to turn his sales system into legitimate Field Marketing System which he licenses to independent insurance agents across the nation. He has about 20 employees.
He never went to college, but his daughters both graduated from a Cal State campus (for those not in California, there are two public universities: the flagship University of California for the academically inclined, and the lower-end but still OK California State system).
Here's HIS house in my neighborhood. About 14,000 sf:
Now, IMHO he went a bit overboard. For example, he drives his Rolls Royce into his garage... and a car lift raises the car into his Master Bedroom. He's a single guy, never remarried, yet the Master Bedroom has two king-sized beds pushed together. Every single drawer and cabinet in the house is motorized and has its own IP address so he opens it with a few taps on his iPhone. He had so much home automation in the house he ultimately bought the home automation company.
Another outlier. What does his typical non college educated agent make? Not the type of bucks the owner is that’s for sure. To imply anyone can do what he did is absurd.
In general, some sort of post HS training is the best way to some level of success in today’s job market. That can be trade school or a college degree. And in both cases the more education the better. The fewer people who can do what you do, the more in demand you’ll be and the better paid. Regardless of your educational path, the laws of supply and demand still apply.
Most parents hope their children will have a better life, and want to help them prepare for success in life.
But sometimes, life gets in the way.
Here is a different neighbor of mine. He's an interesting fellow. He never went to college; by the time he was 19 years old he was married, had two daughters, and his wife had fled them never to be seen again. He worked at an insurance agency, literally starting in the mail room, and was inquisitive and learned a bit about insurance.
Fast forward 30 years. He successfully raised his two daughters to adulthood. He owns his own insurance agency, focused on selling annuities to retirees. He's expanded to turn his sales system into legitimate Field Marketing System which he licenses to independent insurance agents across the nation. He has about 20 employees.
He never went to college, but his daughters both graduated from a Cal State campus (for those not in California, there are two public universities: the flagship University of California for the academically inclined, and the lower-end but still OK California State system).
Here's HIS house in my neighborhood. About 14,000 sf:
Forget the house. Suddenly I'm really curious about this neighborhood you live in, that has these insane megamansions in it. Where is this?? lol Why did these people choose that particular neighborhood for their grandiose home designs?
But in spite of the occasional, and relatively rare, success stories of people who never went to college, Americans do believe college is essential. It gets drummed into them by media articles citing statistics that claim to show that college grads make more than non-college grads. Even though the stats don't really show, that a significant percentage of 4-year-college grads end up in low-paying jobs.
Thank you, let's stick to that original line of inquiry.
Short answer, no, it's not essential, one may succeed quite well without college. Some can actually thrive. Some go on to great success. Some.
For the overall masses of people a college education provides a number of benefits, most of which have already been stated.
A college education by itself doesn’t provide or guaranty anything except consumption of time and money.
A college or university diploma does noticeably increase on average the probability of higher wages or salary or business income when mixed in with other personal talents and skills.
If your goal is to make money to survive then a trade should be your path.
For many people right now, my advice is to learn a trade and buy all your stuff (house, car, boat, whatever) then pursue a 4 year college online. There is some value in being able to talk to people without sounding/thinking like a 12th grader your entire life.
Hmmm that makes no sense to me. What would someone get out of a 4 year online college degree that they can't get from a library of knowledge already available to them? There is plenty of Philosophy ready available for people to study. What would college give them that would prevent them Sounding like a 12th grader that a study of literature themselves couldn't do? I mean even someone who doesn't study literature at all but through their own life experience may have more social skills and common sense than someone with a college degree.
Hmmm that makes no sense to me. What would someone get out of a 4 year online college degree that they can't get from a library of knowledge already available to them? There is plenty of Philosophy ready available for people to study. What would college give them that would prevent them Sounding like a 12th grader that a study of literature themselves couldn't do? I mean even someone who doesn't study literature at all but through their own life experience may have more social skills and common sense than someone with a college degree.
A 4-year college will expose a person to things that they didn't even know existed before, while "self-education" would likely be more limited to learning more about things you already know, or know about. College isn't there just to reinforce your beliefs, but often challenge them. And then there is a matter of motivation, slogging through something that's uninteresting is no fun, but often necessary to understand certain topics. Required readings can get people past an initial lack of interest/motivation, often being necessary to fully introduce and comprehend all aspects of topics and issues. There are a lot of self-taught "experts" that really don't know what they are talking about because their "research" is limited by their selection bias, and by a lack of discourse with others who have different levels of knowledge and understanding.
I have a family member that is a voracious reader, but with no college education. I jokingly call him "the worlds greatest expert" as he "knows" about pretty much everything and loves to tell me how things "really are" or how they "really work" and how school educated experts "aren't that smart." While he knows a little about a lot of things, and I listen to him sometimes, when he went off telling me how the space program "really works" (I have 30+ years of aerospace and government/international experience) I finally had to cut him off and tell him he absolutely doesn't know what he's talking about (not that it stopped him). I figured as a reader he might be interested in knowing more about my perspective, so I gave him a bunch of reading material that I thought was helpful and interesting and entertaining - and this guy who literally reads almost everything gave them back to me unread weeks later saying he wasn't interested in them. As I said, selection bias and lack of discourse throws a wrench in the works when it comes to self-education.
Forget the house. Suddenly I'm really curious about this neighborhood you live in, that has these insane megamansions in it. Where is this?? lol
Las Vegas. But that's just my summer home neighborhood. Las Vegas is very much a "blue collar town" where ~65% of all employees get up in the morning and put on a name tag that says, "HI, My Name Is..." and where education is not a priority. It isn't as bad as it used to be, but in the old days when The Mob ran everything, parents would actively encourage their teenaged sons to drop out of high school & get a job in The Strip resorts. A no-skill parking valet could easily take in $80,000 per year in cash tips. That is pretty good when you're a teenager. Waiters & waitresses in high end celebrity chef restaurants earn $165,000 and up in tip income (a fair bit more since the recent pandemic-inspired inflation). Experienced kitchen staff will earn nearly as much. My neighborhood also has educated people, BTW -- for example, the national defense attorney for the Hells Angels; he's a Harvard College/Harvard Law School attorney admitted to practice law before the US Supreme Court.
I contrast that with my winter home in Park City - a ski resort, where ALL my neighbors and friends are highly educated with advanced degrees. All are retired. The people who actually work in Park City are low-paid. Many have college degrees and are bright, but for personal reasons have decided to live in Park City for the lifestyle (skiing, hiking, biking, etc.) and take any old job just to pay the rent. During the peak ski season, the ski resorts rely upon J1 visas - people come from South America & Australia & elsewhere to work in the resort industry just for the season, and are not paid much money either. They frequently jam a dozen twenty-somethings into a 2 bedroom apartment.
But in spite of the occasional, and relatively rare, success stories of people who never went to college, Americans do believe college is essential.
Yes, of course. The purpose of my anecdotes was to challenge the orthodoxy.
If I were starting out again, I would do many things differently, but at the end of the day, I still would opt for college & grad school. I had the good fortune to take classes from numerous Nobel Laureates, and I wouldn't want to change that.
It is also important to note that neither of these homes are mega mansions. They are not even mansions. They are large homes, but far from the threshold of a mansion.
There is no "bright line" that separates mere houses from mansions, but a reasonable test is how many people can live in it. Clearly, the TV show Downton Abbey showcases a mansion, where there is a household staff of ~20 or so employees who live inside to support the half-dozen actual family members and their guests.
But there is a home that arguably meets the mansion definition in my neighborhood, although I've never been in it or on the grounds. County records list the home at 37,000 square feet, with 33 bedrooms and 25 bathrooms. But that is just the main house; there are several other buildings in the compound including a couple guest cottages. It was built by the founder of eBay, although he doesn't actually live there. He visits the home a couple times per year but lives in Hawaii. He has a half-dozen full-time employees that maintain the property some of whom supposedly live on the property.
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