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Why Education is Irrelevant |
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Contributed by Dan McHicktock
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Wednesday, 01 March 2006 (read 2551 times) |
One of the most persuasive beliefs of this so-called "modern age" is
that education is supreme: that nothing matters more than an advanced
degree from a top drawer school. Like most "enlightened" beliefs that
everyone supposedly believes in, it's total hogwash.
 Take a look at virtually every successful businessman or entrepreneur,
and most successful people in general, and you'll notice an absence of
one thing: an advanced (or any) degree from any so-called "top
school." They don't have one, they didn't need it, they wouldn't
use it. It's a waste of money for millions of people who could
much better spend their time and money learning a trade or
profession. No, I'm not talking about doctors or other
professionals (except trial lawyers, all they need is an ambulance to chase):
they obviously need advanced education. But for the vast, vast
majority of those who mindlessly attend institutions of so-called
"higher learning" the experience is nothing more than an expensive
exercise in drunken debauchery, punctuated by bouts of liberal
brainwashing, meaningless exercises in "creative thought" (whatever
that is supposed to be), and dangerous experimentation with illicit
drugs. The only reason most people attend anyway is because they
feel they "have to." Well you don't "have to" go to college, and
society as a whole would be much better off (and richer economically)
if you stopped wasting your time and your parent's money and did
something useful.
Stay home, find a job, learn a trade or profession, or get an
apprenticeship. Build the skills that will help build a family of
your own, without putting yourself under mountains of unnecessary
debt. Automation, improvements in technology, and useless job
eliminations have made Corporate America accessible to everyone: how
much so-called "training" does it take to climb the golden ladder in
the modern American corporation anyway? Nothing you'll learn in
business school, let me tell you. The jobs have becomes vastly easier
and the wages have corrected accordingly, and thanks to
improvements in technology and outsourcing, there is virtually no
barrier to entry. Trust me, just about ANYONE could do the vast
majority of jobs in most companies today. It takes a Yale degree to
shuffle papers, do what your boss says, and sit in meetings? This
is nothing more than a superstitious holdover from a bygone era, nobody takes it
seriously anymore. Why not just climb aboard?
If you're honest with yourself, you'll realize that the real qualities
that employers look for in their employees are never anything you
learned from your hemp-soaked, mollycoddling college hippie professors anyway. Sure,
he may have taught you how to play the role of "the Marxist
artisté," or taught you bong
lighting lessons, but how's that supposed to help in the corporate
world? Obedience, ambition, loyalty, following orders,
self-reliance, personal responsibility: these are the marks of
character that will help you get ahead, improve your own condition and
that of your family, and ultimately help society and your fellow man
the most. That you got advanced training in illegal drug use isn't
helping anyone, not even yourself, Mr. Pointless Philosophy Major.
Still, you'll hear the hippies extol the vague "virtues of education"
by claiming their committment to teaching so-called "critical thinking
skills," which when you boil away all the communist overtones, becomes
nothing more than questioning your betters. Just what we need in
this country: MORE questioning of our leaders; more useless, pointless
distractions from common sense public policy decisions. Frankly,
I can't think of anything more disruptive to civil life than MORE
baseless ridicule of our elected leaders. There's the real legacy
of the 1960s: the wholesale disintegration of civics and civic
responsibility foisted on society by reefer-ridden profs and their
overtly socialist "critical thinking" courses.
What we need is MORE support of our elected officials, not less, just
because some coke-addled professor brainwashes our children into the
blind questioning of authority. Yes, sir: if you really want to
see the road back to traditional civic values, start by realistically
evaluating the value of education in your life and career, and then
choose to do something vastly more productive with your intellectual
and physical capital. Start a business, raise a family, support
your leaders, get a corporate job. It's really not as complicated or hard as you think.
Dan is IRREVERENT's Senior Conservative Commentator. He lives in Northern Wisconsin, near the border with Canada.
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