"No man who worships education has got the best out of education....Without a gentle contempt for education no man's education is complete." -- G. K. Chesterton
I will set this up by saying I would be the last person to say that education is not important and I have in fact gone the fairly traditional route of high school-to-college. I’m also writing this with the understanding that going a “non-school route” is not a luxury for everyone, whether they are in the United States or in a developing country. My intention is more to gently critique our concept of what education is and what it does, from the perspective of an almost-college-graduate who has, in fact, enjoyed her college experience.
When I was in high school, the thought of careers and similar real-life decisions seemed pretty distant, and yet it still encroached on my life as an insecure sixteen-year-old who’d just gotten a driver’s license and a first job. I was being asked about colleges, and what I want to study, and what I wanted to do. It seemed ludicrous—I couldn’t keep up with my laundry or legally drive past midnight, but I should be thinking about where I wanted the rest of my life to go. Whether it’s intended to or not, it creates a lot of pressure.
I don’t regret my decision to go to college at all. I loved learning, and I loved the school I ended up attending. But there was nevertheless an uneasy feeling that if I didn’t go to college, I would be in some way failing.
Fortunately, I think we’re gradually moving away from the idea that bypassing college is out of the ordinary or unwise. Gap years are becoming a more normal practice after high school, and I personally know a number of people that lead very happy, productive, college-degree-less lives.
I don’t think the problem comes from encouraging education. I think the problem comes from a limited view of where education comes from and not understanding a college education’s limits. Because sooner or later, you will realize that there are things that college never taught you. In the last four years, I’ve learned how to prioritize friend’s needs over assignments, how to maintain (or not) a sleep schedule around multiple jobs, and that the rest of the world lives quite differently than I do. And I didn’t necessarily need a four-year university to teach me that.
I could have learned hard work and time management through working after high school (and those are things that will probably be retained better than a lot of what was taught in my science classes). I could have saved money and traveled for a few years, and it wouldn’t have been any less legitimate than my decision to do that now, with a college degree. My disposition to learn doesn’t have to be tied to my status as a student.
