People like to equate college success with earning potential. The truth is somewhat more complicated than that. For weeks, I have listened to advertisements from Nevada schools claiming that you can earn more with a degree than without one, and while that’s possible, it’s not guaranteed. Although there are things for which a college education is requisite, it is not necessarily true that a college degree means that you will earn more money or that it will help you be more successful in life. What a college degree mostly does is give you options.
Many of the most successful never finished college. Both the founders of Facebook and Twitter dropped out of college, but they rank among the richest people in the nation. We still haven’t seen the president’s transcripts, yet he’s the most powerful man in America. At least one Nevada Congressman dropped out of college and lives an opulent lifestyle. Plus, I don’t know if Steve Wynn or Donald Trump have degrees. They certainly aren’t needed for their particular endeavors. I have a friend from HS who drives a dump truck for a NV gold mine who earns over $80K per year. I met the mechanic for the mine, and he earns six figures. Plumbers, electricians, and a whole slieu of trades have apprenticeships in lieu of college, and many of them earn more today than I ever will in education.
Many jobs require college education but not a degree. The JUMP START program offered through NSHE prepares people to work for the government contractors in Nevada. It doesn’t require you to complete a degree, although you get more money automatically if you do graduate. The program trains you in specific courses for the job (sort of like ITT Tech but cheaper), and then it turns you loose to work. Other jobs require skills or math or other things without a full degree. In fact, that’s why community college programs were originally created, to provide initial job placement training for people who didn’t require an actual degree. The US military considers it qualifying for any officer applicant to have a degree even if the degree is unrelated to the MOS. They see that as a qualification for officer candidacy and use it to train the officers for their own needs after college graduation.
Some jobs require a specific degree as training. Classically speaking, many prominent jobs require certain educational programs. Doctors, lawyers, and other professionals frequently gain their licenses only after they complete a collegiate program that arrives thereat. However, contrary to popular belief, law enforcement does not require a degree at all, and I know from personal experience that they do not think that an advanced Biochemistry degree is helpful if you don’t ride along or take some classes in criminal justice. You can’t become an accountant or nurse or an engineer usually without a degree in those areas, but many jobs do not require a bachelor’s degree.
Pay is not commensurate with your diploma. I have coworkers who earn more than I do because they have worked for the state longer than I have, regardless of their qualifications or contributions. The president of the university earns more in base pay than the president of the united states. However, he makes far less than the CEO of GE or Facebook, the latter of whom is a college drop out. While you may find yourself locked into lower pay without an advanced degree or in a lower rank, it does not necessarily follow that just because you have a higher degree you must earn more or will earn more.
A college degree is not a golden ticket to wealth and success. It is a passport out of obscurity and poverty for people who are not entrepreneurs or part of the GOBNet. In fact, most of the highest paid jobs are from associations rather than qualifications, as people surround themselves with cronies rather than the most qualified individuals. What college degrees do is give you options. If you have one, they cannot take it away, even if you decide to do something other than accounting or nursing when you graduate. I know a woman whose husband earns $250K working in the oil fields of North Dakota who barely finished high school. Pay can be linked to your education, but only in jobs that equate pay with education. In other jobs, your pay is frequently linked to other things. You are either paid because you are a boot licking toady or because you create so much value that they reward you with more pay (bonuses) for a job well done.
No comments:
Post a Comment