Think Twice About That Education...

I understand that some fields require a specific degree as a passcard, but the more I know about and experience education, the more I think the current system is ineffective for many people.

This article, America's Most Overrated Product: the Bachelor's Degree from The Chronicle has some fascinating statistics and observations about the massive amount of people who bust their butts and drain their savings to earn college degrees – when they probably shouldn’t. It won’t pay off in the long run. Not because an education isn’t valuable, but sometimes it’s not as valuable as those whose hyped-up penchant for an enlightened society would have you believe.

To illustrate, my undergraduate degree in voice performance and comparative literature was a four and a half year pricey musical and literary tryst. There was a piano in every classroom and for final exams I would sing songs, or dress up and put on plays. I used to swoon over graduate assistants spewing over Beethoven and wrote papers about my visions of glistening moonlit pools upon hearing Debussy. I cheered on the academic parade of nonsense being taught: vociferous lesbians whose research exposed the underpinnings of female sexual repression in American folk music, or Buddhist vegan professors devoted to the obliteration of the self through short stories and the study of zen.

What I actually came to accomplish was to learn how to sing, and how to pursue it as a career.

Unfortunately I was too young and inexperienced to realize I wasn’t getting those tools as I romped from class to class. It probably won’t shock anyone that there wasn't a single course offered on the business aspects of a career in music.

I would be remiss to leave readers thinking I felt I learned nothing of value. Quite the opposite, I became drunk on fascinating information and relished each minute of my studies. It was electric to be able to say, "I'm studying to be an opera singer" and rattle off the roles I'd be singing soon. However, studying to be an opera singer is very different from the work of becoming a living, breathing, fiscally solvent performer.

My most valuable education came after I graduated. I experienced the painstaking trial and error of proper vocal study, bargained with my dreams of stardom versus the realities of needing a steady corporate paycheck, moving in with my parents and wondering how I was going to make a satisfying life for myself.

Though my degree was clearly irrelevant, I got an awesome job at a Fortune 500 company and immersed myself in the practical and grounded world of finance. Now I'm halfway through my Master's in Finance, and enjoying every other minute, but I sometimes wonder, what will I be doing with it that I couldn't do without it? I'm sure a lot of what I'm learning I could have gotten climbing corporate ladders, but I'm hoping to skip some rungs, if not get off the ladder all together. I guess time will tell.

I'm grateful for both paths I've taken - so, what’s the lesson?

To be honest, you may not need an education to be successful. While I'm sure my music studies gave me a great phone voice and confidence in front of a room, they weren't the dealbreakers for my job today. Hard work and dedication to learning industry-specific skills were.

I’m not arguing for the hackneyed college drop-out Steve Jobs illustration - he’s an anomaly, and you are not him. But even though we’re not all destined for genius, we can all be destined for success, with or without undergraduate or advanced degrees. I know a man who pulls seven figures. He boasts his less-than-stellar GPA and giggles about how the A students all work for him now. He’s not vindictive, he’s right. Not all career paths warrant a costly education, or academic perfection. I think that if know your shit and work your ass off and you’ll be just fine.

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