Breaking Barriers

I have come to a strong realization that in today's world, a college degree is no longer a necessity...if you can use your creativity wisely.

Over the past few months, I have met kids in middle school, high school, and college working and creating work for themselves using skills NOT learned from school. Instead, they have learned from the internet or experts in the field, or simply spending long hours thinking and composing different strategies and ways to achieve their end-goals.

So, I do question, in a world of rapid internet and social media which connects you with all sorts of people with different skills from around the world, is school education even a necessity?

Gary Vaynerchuk, an entrepreneur, investor, author, public speaker, and internet personality, believes not.

In fact, he argues that school is actually a way to dumb down and destroy the creativity of students. It teaches and trains them to stay within the box and often discourages them from trying to take a look outside of the box and try something different.

With so many rules and regulations and a drive to only perfect your GPA, it's easy to see how our creativity and potential is decreased in our years as students. We often learn to figure out how to master exams and test-taking skills rather than enhance our knowledge and skills for what we hope to change or create one day. Often leaving amazing ideas without fuel to actually become what they were dreamt to be.

I've had days where I was afraid to take a step outside of my shell simply because I was afraid of what I would lose if I did. Life is about risks, and one thing I've learned is that people who are afraid to take risks often are left unable to see the beauty of what the risks bring along.

So, although I will not say you should drop out of school, because having an education is a good thing, there are things teachers and the administrations should consider about how they are training their students to be. For a more creative and technologically advanced world, we should be working on allowing students to break the barriers, trying something new, and creating something amazing!