To Believe or Not To Believe

To Believe:
In regards to the article by William McGurn, I agree that college is not for everyone, and that people can still make equal or more than the national average without a college degree. For this, I will use evidence from my own experience. My wife, who works for an engineering firm that lays pipelines for natural gas, works in a position that’s paying 25$/hour, equating to approximately 52k/year, totaling slightly more than the national average. Like Mr. McGurn said, to obtain these higher paying jobs without a college degree, one must go through some form of technical or apprenticeship training, which is exactly what we did. We decided to pay 700$ a class, totaling to roughly 3,000$ (4 classes) so that my wife could receive the technical certifications to become a draftsperson. With that 3,000$ investment, she can now live comfortably without worrying about the thousands of dollars of debt that college goers usually face once they graduate, not to mention the compiled bills and living expenses to get by on a day to day or month by month means. Another very good example in my opinion, again of a personal nature, is similar to the story told by Mr. McGurn in his article. My uncle, once out of the Marines decided he wanted to move to Texas, and open a landscaping business. He started with 2 lawnmowers, the pushing kind, a few rakes, a few shovels, and one weed eater. Seven years later, Danny McQue is the proud owner of a multi-million dollar landscaping company called Grass Masters Landscaping based out of New Caney, Texas. When he started his company he didn’t have any type of training in the art of landscaping, but he still managed to accomplish his “American dream”. He has since then acquired classes in his trade, which has only helped him further. My main point here is that you can find prime examples of people who did not need to sit in a closed off box, secluded from the outside world for hours upon hours, year after year, to grasp the “American dream”.

Not To Believe:
In response to Mr. McGurn, and his claim that college isn’t for everyone, and that you can live just as good without a college degree as you can with, I cannot agree. If one were to use evidence of successful business persons who are very well off, or successful individuals who managed to work hard over time to attain a position at a workplace that pays equal or above the national average, I will tell you that is a case by case basis only. Those lucky individuals who actually make it, are exactly that, lcuky! Approximately 80% of businesses fail within the first 5 years, and most businesses never really turn into those that people often dream about owning, turning over profits in the hundreds of thousands to the multi-millions. Usually it is enough money to get by, living month to month, similar to pay check to pay check. All the jobs out there that pay exceptionally well all require, at a minimum, a four year degree. Some of those well paying jobs go on to require masters and PhDs. I myself am going to school for my masters degree in accounting, after which I will attain my CPA and live a very nice life, or at least that is my “American dream”. To accomplish all that I desire, I could not do by working a minimum wage job. To just pick up and learn a few skills and hope you find a good position working somewhere in hopes that you’ll eventually get lucky and make a nice living at some point down the road, is to waste valuable time that you should have been spending obtaining an education towards your passions in life so that you can have and support a family one day. The “American dream” has changed over time, but the idea is still the same, and to accomplish this task, and make a dream come true, you should get an education.