To school, or not to school...

A student came into my office today, worried about her grade. After giving her a bunch of advice on how to improve the grade in the short time we have left, I asked, as I always try to ask, what her major was: biochemistry. This was an alarm, as biochemists need to be very good at chemistry. Then I asked what she wanted to do with her degree. Cosmetology. 

What she really wanted to learn is how to formulate her own products, so she could customize lotions and care products for her customers. Her example was a lady with cancer who needed something special for her skin while undergoing treatment, which wasn't available.

My advice completely changed: get hired by NuSkin or some other company and learn formulation on the job. I think this was one of those cases where a college degree only gets in the way, especially when the opportunity costs are considered.

Mike Rowe has been teaching through his media channels that there are a lot of good jobs which don't require any university degrees or certificates. And there are! Tons of them. Some are high skill jobs, like welding, which pay very well.

Today this video was posted on YouTube by a Thomas Sowell fan:

I think a trillion dollars of student loans and a massive skills gap are precisely what happens to a society that actively promotes one form of education as the best course for the most people. I think the stigmas and stereotypes that keep so many people from pursuing a truly useful skill begin with the mistaken belief that a four-year degree is somehow superior to all other forms of learning.

Mike Rowe

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