Is a University Degree Necessary to Success - Essay Example

Relevance of Degree Over the years, education has been considered an important part of people’s lives and fora long time its value has not been disputed. Education has been related to success and it is expected that advancing educational status increases chances of success in life. However, in the recent years debates regarding to necessity of education to success have sparked with some people arguing that education is not essential for success. More specifically, debates have increased in relation to post high school education and its relation to success. Critics argue that post high school education status such as university degrees, masters and doctorates among others are not really essential for success. Recent years have seen significantly many cases of success that are not directly linked to university education such as degrees. For example, some of the most successful people in the world such as Marc Zuckerburg and Bill Gates dropped out of college and only sought a degree later while already successful. This implies that a success is not dependent on a university degree. There are significantly high numbers of people in the world who are successful yet their success is not based on a university degree. In fact, the most successful people in the world today are not dependent on degrees. In the modern world, there is arguably more to life in relation to success than a university degree. Business oriented practices form the basics of success and effective business practices are not necessarily tied to degrees. The basic education offered up to the high school level is enough to offer knowledge on some of the most important dynamics of a successful business. Post high school education mainly lays emphasis and advances already known facts in relation to business. Additionally, a significantly high number of people in the modern day do not engage in careers that are directly linked to their majors in the university. For example, there are people who majored, say, in history yet their career is based on something different like a social media coordinator. There are many more people with a similar situation yet they are faring exceptionally well. In such situations little of the knowledge and education acquired in the university is applied yet in most cases performance is brilliant. This implies that degrees are not essential for good performance that consequently constitutes to success but rather determination and effort are crucial. The amount of resources spent acquiring university degrees are too high and can be used in an alternative way to acquire more success. With the rising costs of living post high school education is becoming unaffordable for many people. Additionally, despite the harsh economic strains, cost of education in most parts has been on a constant increase making it even harder to cater for all necessary fundamental necessities in relation to college education. For example over the past five year’s costs of college education has increased by 77% in Arizona and by 75% in Georgia (Sanchez 2014, para. 1). This implies that college education costs are becoming more and more unaffordable with advancement of each day. Is it really necessary to go through so much strain to get a degree? Are there no other alternatives that are less strenuous? Such questions must have been repeatedly asked but only few people have the courage to examine and tolerate such thoughts. This can be attributed to the arguably misguided notion that success has to come from advancing education levels to at least get a degree. This might be true and it is obvious that people with a degree have a higher chance of landing a better job. However, there are alternatives to success more than just relying on employment. Less than half the amount of money used to cater for college costs can be used to start a successful business and consequently attain life success. Furthermore, the levels of student debt have significantly increased with the debt levels reaching $1 trillion mark in 2012 (Gillen, Selingo, and Zatynski 2013, p.1). This is arguably too much of an expense for something with an alternative. There is a wide range of business activities people can engage in depending on the individual likes and capabilities. With such an alternative the only requirement is business acumen and discipline through which success is inevitable. Additionally, strain brought by trying to cater for education costs will be reduced significantly. Therefore, people should to dare test other alternatives other than university degrees in striving for success. In addition, too much time spent in acquiring a degree only to spend more time looking for employment. Most of the people who go through college education are dependent on employment on completion. However, there is no guarantee of employment soon after college life is over. In some cases some people go for several years before getting suitable employment opportunities. Combining this time with the amount of time spent in college constitutes relatively long periods of time. Additionally, some of the most coveted positions in reputable organisations require some work experience and new graduates hardly get such positions. This implies that even with a degree there are high chances of getting a job that is not fully satisfactory. Conversely, the long periods of time spent studying can be used for alternative practices and land a better income than some of the people with degrees. Time can be saved with alternatives of impacting knowledge such as learning on a more practical platform such as organisations. According to Preffer and Fong a consultancy firm can produce a two-year learning experience in colleges in three weeks (qtd. in Xie and Steiner 2013, p.3). Moreover, with the recent advances in technology, people can learn a lot of material online that can be used to get income and consequently success. There are a relatively large number of people who have acquired great skills by engaging in self-tutoring using either online resources or library books. In individual learning time spent is much less than time spent in universities to acquire degrees. Additionally, there are higher chances of becoming more efficient and better skilled. This can be attributed to the fact that individual learning is based on individual interest and people get to learn at their own pace hence increasing chances of understandability. For example, computer related careers such as programming and web design among others are heavily dependent on individual interest and arguably very little is covered in the college syllabus. This implies that for maximum performance and efficiency there is need to more than what is taught in institutions of higher learning (Bennett and Wilezol, 2013). Therefore, instead of spending too much time and resources in higher learning institutions, people can depend on readily available material and gain knowledge and consequently start a successful enterprise. For example, Bill Gates started Microsoft Corporation without a degree and yet it turned to be a successful enterprise. This implies that great knowledge and skills are not dependent on university degrees and so is success. In the modern day, there has been increased focus on automation and this has led to increased unemployment levels. As most of the organizations are turning to technology, many gaps presently filled by human labour have been replaced by use of machines. As a result, there are high levels of unemployment hence reducing the relevance of university degrees. This implies that the safest and best way of attaining success is through self-employment. Self-employment is not necessarily dependent on university degrees and people can therefore there is an alternative. Nevertheless, university degrees offer great opportunities for success and therefore should not be considered important. For instance people with a degree have a greater opportunity of getting employment than people without a degree. Statistics show that only 5.2 % degree holders are unemployed compared to the 13.2 % rate of unemployment among non-degree holders (Yee 2014, para. 3). This implies that a university degree plays a vital role in landing people jobs. Additionally, knowledge acquired in higher learning institutions has a wide range of applications and can be used to cultivate success. Moreover, time spent in institutions of higher learning is opens other alternatives and holds many important life teachings that are useful in improving the society. For example, college life changes peoples’ attitudes creating diversity and view hence increasing a person’s importance to the advancement of the society. However, university degrees do not determine the levels and opportunities of success. Concussively, life success is not dependent on university degree and there are other alternatives. There are many successful people in the world whose success cannot be attributed to university degrees hence it is fair to conclude that they are not necessary for success. Additionally, resources spent in acquiring degrees can be allocated to other ventures and produce relatively better results. For example, with the rising cost of education, money spent in catering for higher learning expenses can be used for alternative purposes such as staring successful businesses. Time spent furthering education and seeking employment is too long and it can be put to better use. Moreover, since most degree holders are dependent on employment, there is risk of unemployment especially with increased focus on automation. Therefore, it is fair to conclude that university degrees are not necessary for success. Works Cited Bennett, William and David Wilezol. Is college worth it? : a former United States Secretary of Education and a liberal arts graduate expose the broken promise of higher education. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2013. Print. Gillen, Andrew, Jeff Selingo and Mandy Zatynski. “Degrees of Value: Evaluating the Return on the College Investment” American Institute for Research. Sanchez, Claudio. “How The Cost Of College Went From Affordable To Sky-High”. 18 Mar. 2014. Web. 1 Dec. 2014. . Xie, Chuanyin and Susan Steiner. “Enhancing Management Education Relevance: Joint Creation of Knowledge between Business Schools and Business”. Business Education and Accreditation, 5.2, 2013. Yee, Krystal. “Personal Finance: Do you need a degree to be successful?” The Star. 11 Oct. 2011. Web. 1 Dec. 2014. . Read More