Is College Worth It?

 
 
 
 

Vocabulary

fan (2)	pretty (2)	investment
escape	figure (4)	pretty much
devil	sounding	give/gave/given
loan	hold dear	package (2)
double	detective	interest (2)
cost	concern	pay/paid/paid
deal (2)	mean (2)	wonderful
justice	criminal	scholarship
crazy	minority	degree (3)
gender	consider	waiting tables
sign (3)	plumbing	fall/fell/fallen
plus (2)	nonsense	orientation
toxic	senior (4)	masculinity
anyway	obvious	worthwhile
against	sincerely	encouragement
pursuit	boatload	don’t get me wrong
cool (2)	selection	circumstance
passive	major (3)	not to mention
waste	cautious	responsible
earn	squander	send/sent/sent
reject	dear (3)	impressive
planet	paradigm	make sense
solve	take away	break/broke/broken (3)
expect	miss (3)	sounds like
fun	welding	rite of passage
rule (2)	journey	has anything to do with
funny	academic	earn a living
require	stack (2)	according to
dot	trades (3)	finance (2)
victim	essential	parade (2)
goal (2)	mindset	opportunity
achieve	practical	believe (2)
silly	stay away	get in return
delay	stuff (2)	choose/chose/chosen
debt	graduate	know/knew/known
fall (2)	disappear	curriculum/curricula
safe (2)	space (2)	jump into (2)
rush	immune	spend/spent/spent (2)
skill	campus	make a difference
deserve	attitude	go a long way
earn	develop	appreciation
likely	privilege	put up with
BS (2)	syllabus	leave/left/left (2)
mind		turning point

 
 
 
 
 

Video

 

 
 
 
 

Transcript

Hey — I’ve got a great investment idea for you: You give me $100,000 and four years of your life, and I give you . . . hmm . . . pretty much . . . nothing.

No, I’m not the devil.

I’m Mr. College.

And I’m here to help you finance this wonderful opportunity. I have a whole package of government loans and impressive-sounding scholarships to make it all possible.

Of course, you’ll have to pay interest on the loans, which will double the cost over time . . but that’s a problem for “future you” and need not concern us now.

Do we have a deal?

Of course, we do!

You want to succeed in life, don’t you?

How can you do that without a college degree?

But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a good time. Are you a movie fan? We’ve got a degree for that. How about criminal justice? Be like one of the cool people on the TV detective shows.

And, we offer a whole selection of minority and gender studies programs. Learn why you’re a victim and deserve to be angry all the time.

What are you waiting for?

Sign on the dotted line.

Classes begin in the fall. Don’t miss orientation — especially if you’re male. You don’t want to be parading your toxic masculinity around the campus.

Definitely not cool.

.     .     .     .     .     .     .     .

Sound crazy?

I don’t know why it should. Millions of college students make that deal every year, usually with their parents’ encouragement and financial support.

Now, don’t get me wrong — I have nothing against going to college. I sincerely believe it can be a worthwhile pursuit — under the right circumstances. If you want to be a doctor or an architect, for example, it’s obviously a necessity.

But look through the typical college syllabus and it’s clear that most of the majors, not to mention classes, are a waste of time — and money.

So why do responsible adults, who only want the best for their children and are usually cautious with their hard-earned money, squander it on such a bad investment?

Worse, why would they send their son or daughter to a school to learn to reject the values they — the parents — hold dear? On what planet does that make sense?

It doesn’t. It’s an old paradigm, and we need to break it. Before it breaks us.

.     .     .     .     .     .     .     .

How do we do that?

Here are two solutions that would go a long way to solving the problem.

One: Ask yourself if you really need to go to college.

Most of us go to college because it’s simply expected that we do so. Our parents expect it. Our friends expect it. Plus, it sounds like fun — a rite of passage; an escape from Mom and Dad and all their rules.

But none of that actually has anything to do with getting an education or earning a living after you leave college.

Maybe you’re not the academic type. What’s wrong with that?

Nothing!

According to a Georgetown University study, there are 30 million jobs paying over $55,000 a year that don’t require a college degree. Learn a skill like welding or plumbing or a dozen other trades and you’ll never be looking for a job.

The jobs will be looking for you.

We’re talking $50 an hour or more. Six figure income after five years and no debt.

Consider the military. You learn essential skills and, again, no debt. Or go into sales. You don’t need a sociology degree for that.

If you are going to college, then have a goal and a plan to achieve it. Your college journey will cost you and, or your parents a boatload of money.

What are you going to get in return?

Choose your courses with a practical mindset. Stay away from the silly stuff.

.     .     .     .     .     .     .     .

And if you don’t really know why you’re going to college, consider answer . . .

Two: Delay college for a year or longer.

If more graduating high school seniors would do this — not jump into college immediately after high school, college curricula would improve, and nonsense like “safe spaces” would disappear.

Why?

Because students who had spent a year or longer in the real world wouldn’t put up with it.

Get a job — any job — for a year before starting college. What’s the big rush, anyway? One year isn’t going to make a difference as to whether or not you succeed in life

But waiting tables or stacking boxes or whatever you do for a year will almost certainly change your attitude about a lot of things — like how hard it is to earn a dollar and how easy it is for the government to take that dollar away.

You will also develop a new appreciation for the privilege of going to college. And you’ll be much more likely to be immune to the BS.

Don’t be a passive investor as a student or a parent. Your education is too expensive and too important to be left to Mr. College. He might have your money.

Don’t give him your mind.

I’m Charlie Kirk, founder and president of Turning Point USA, for Prager University.

*     *     *     *     *     *     *

 

Questions

Civil Engineer. These days, all young people graduate from high school, attend university, get a bachelor’s degree and have successful careers or businesses. True or false?

Nurse. Can only rich or very smart individuals can attend university?

Chemist, Biochemist. University students only study professional majors, like medicine, law and engineering. Is this right or wrong? What are some subjects that students major in?

IT Specialist, Software Engineer, Programmer. “Worse, why would they send their son or daughter to a school to learn to reject the values they — the parents — hold dear?” What does this mean? Give examples.

Office Manager, Business Administrator. Why do most young people attend university?

Accountant, Finance Manager. Only university graduates can have a successful career or business. Is this correct or incorrect?

Airplane Pilot. What two recommendations does the presenter offer?
 
 
 
Carpenter. What have your parents, relatives, teachers, counselors, leaders said to you regarding university or college?

Electrician. All my classmates and friends will, are or have attended university. True or false? What do they plan on doing after high school? What did they do after high school?

Plumber. I know many successful people who do not have university degrees. Yes or no?

Mechanic, Machinist. Do you know any college (university) graduates who do not have “successful” careers, or who are not “successful”?

Electronics Technician. Do you agree or disagree with the speaker? I totally agree, I generally agree, yes and no, I’m in the middle, I disagree or I completely disagree.

Chef. What might happen in the future?