Education

Degrees Are A Fun Scam

Underlying universities claim of ‘education’ is the real experience of drink, drugs, sex and partying.

Photo by Vasily Koloda on Unsplash

I’ve just completed a 4-year university course.

I started with hope, aspirations and expectations.

I leave with 15k of debt, a coddled mindset and an informed understanding of university life.

University/College/Higher Education can be incredibly beneficial for some, but for others it’s a certified waste of time and energy.

Seeing higher education for what it really is can help you make the right decision. Is University right for you?

Education In An Educational Viel

Our current perception of university is based upon biased parties who advertise for their own monetary gain.

High schools, universities and colleges are all in kahoots with one another. The proposed worth of a ‘degree’ is a sentiment reinforced by all educational institutions, but not for the benefit of your education — more for the benefit of their bank roll. If you have graduated, or are about to graduate high school then this will ring some bells:

“Getting your degree is the only way of getting a real job”

It’s a notion perpetually reinforced by all educational institutions.

Why?

Because they’re making metric shit-loads of cash in enrolment fees. Forget a few dollars here and there, they’re literally rolling in profit.

For example, Harvard had a surplus of $298 million in the year of 2019 alone.

Two-hundred-and-ninety-eight.

Million.

Surplus.

Regardless of their eminence, figures such as this aren’t uncommon:

“Among UK institutions, revenue is expected to reach around £40billion in the 2020–2021 year”

Higher education is a money making machine; a pinnacle of capitalism hiding under the veil of ‘learning and teaching’. It’s perhaps the world’s greatest scam as every year millions of bright, young, highly motivated students are coaxed in to the system.

For what?

So that like me, you can smile through bared teeth in your overpriced gown as you accept your $50k piece of paper.

So that like a million others, you can apply for shitty grad-jobs barely paying enough to keep you afloat — shitty grad-jobs held by gatekeepers who discriminate based upon academic achievement.

The hilarious thing is that university students, such as myself, can be definitively characterised as some of the laziest, unmotivated and unoriginal individuals in the work force.

The amount of people, including myself, who’ve sauntered through a course with minimal effort, barely scraping passes year after year, to finally put in 6 months of effort in their final year, to receive a first class degree and then be perceived as some generally smart and intelligent individual.

Degrees aren’t a representation of years of real, difficult, graft; more so a small implication that said individual is academically inclined.

To be honest, if your real goal was becoming a smarter, more intelligent, well versed individual then you’d be better off following tutorials from some Indian bloke on YouTube and reading everything you can get your hands on.

My distaste for university isn’t predicated upon my university or university experience; my distaste stems from the perfect picture higher education illustrates. A picture painted around education, information and understanding currently underpinned by drinking, drugs and partying.

Although i’ve spent the last paragraph bashing university, i believe there’s a few very good reasons that you might attend university — they’re just not what university would have you believe.

Real Reasons

1. You’re Exposed To New Opportunities, People And Experiences. Going from a smaller town to large university forces you into an environment with people of all backgrounds, identities, opinions and lifestyles. It’s an escape route from a closed mindset, offering you the opportunity to expand your views and opinions. You’ll be continuously surprised by how much you change through university — most of the time for the better.
2. Student Life Is Class. If you’ve seen any American Pie movie or college compilation on Youtube then you’ll know student life is hallmarked by drink, drugs, sex and partying. Although you can’t expect to rent beach-houses and ‘get laid’ for 24 hours a day you can expect a fair amount of self-indulgence. Take time in your formative years to explore the unrivalled hedonism — i doubt you’ll ever get an opportunity like it again.
3. You Find Your People. By joining different groups, clubs and societies you’ll undoubtedly find people that you define as your ideal friends. I joined the surf team and found friends for life. Although childhood friends can be sustained a lifetime, mates found in university are almost always more acquainted with your lifestyle, likes, dislikes, hobbies, desires, needs and wants. It’s a chance to meet those most like yourself.
4. It’s A Welcome Break. Having recently finished university, i’ve plunged myself in to the world of post-grad chaos. If i’d immediately finished high-school to jump in to full-time work i’m not sure how i would have handled the transition. University gives you a second to stop, breathe and evaluate. It gives you time to explore your own desires, hobbies previously unknown and aspects of yourself that you never knew existed.

Closing Thoughts

Let’s be entirely honest with one another:

1. If you want to become an entrepreneur listen to podcasts, educate yourself through the internet and start a business.
2. If you want to become an engineer, there’s a multitude of resources and apprenticeships available.
3. If you want to study history, art, philosophy or any other social sciences then library’s exist.

Perhaps the only professions truly unavailable to those who refuse to take the university route are doctors, dentists, lawyers and vets.

Maybe you should go to university, maybe you shouldn’t — it entirely depends on what your goals are.

If you want to make money, become an entrepreneur, become a software engineer, study the social sciences or anything likewise, then you don’t really need university.

You don’t need it, but it’s a fun scam to experience.

So before attending university, remember that it’s not what it’s made out to be by the people selling the course. If your intention’s to work hard and become a professional then forget university. If you need a few years to evaluate, discover and ‘find yourself’, then give university a shot.

What’s your experience at university? Have you graduated? How do you perceive higher education?

As Always,

Yours Honestly,

Commodore Pipas.

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