The vast majority of people believe you should go to college, that has been true for decades now and the vast majority of people accept it. There is a well-established sense of solidarity between people in the working world over the looming burden of paying off student loans. College degrees are seen as a prerequisite for most high paying jobs to the point where people will put forward a degree in a completely irrelevant field of study just so that they can have one.

And through it all, we raise up people like Elon Musk and Steve Jobs as people to aspire to be like, as pinnacles of success. But there is an inherent problem here, many of the most respected and innovative entrepreneurs got to where they did in the world through a combination of luck, intelligence, and ingenuity rather than a prestigious education. So why is the focus always so heavily on education and schooling?

This is in no way an attack on the education system nor am I necessarily saying that people should not go to college. There are obviously many professions in which a degree is absolutely necessary to enter the field. That said, in speaking with business owners and other professionals it is also clear that schooling itself is not what makes them good at their jobs and often times their degree, or lack thereof, played a very little part in attaining their current job.

For instance, Steve Jobs was mentioned above. Jobs famously dropped out of college prior to founding Apple. He made his way in the world largely because he had a good idea and knew how to market it. The man was the quintessential entrepreneur.

Yet despite this, many people still spend years of their life and thousands of dollars on a degree in entrepreneurship completely missing the point that the greatest assets that most actual entrepreneurs had were the freedom and time to build their business and their ideas.

The very freedom and time that tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt rob a person of.

Another excellent example of this concept exists in writing. People who like to write often pursue creative writing or other English majors because that is what they know and that is what they are good at. In many cases, such as if a person is planning to teach English or creative writing, where this makes sense.

However, it should be noted that if a person’s intention is to be an author in some capacity their best bet is to just write their story. In this case, one obviously has to have a pretty detailed knowledge of how to write a compelling story and many other things of this nature. But most of that can be understood just fine by the people who just read a lot. It is even told to people who aspire to write stories that the best thing they can do for themselves is to read.

Furthermore, in almost every discipline, there is a similar story from the people who excel in their particular field.

That story is that they met the right people and made the right impressions to rise up the ranks and be recommended to people higher up when there is a job opening. In many cases, it is a matter of doing good work for an employer and having a good track record that matter far more than grades or education specifically.

In short, many people will say that education is not a substitute for experience.

So where does that leave us? It is wrong to say that education, particularly higher education, does not lead people to succeed in their careers. However, it is also wrong to say that it is the only path to success. Ultimately it comes down to people doing what it takes to get what they want.