Why College is a Good Investment
In this day and age when most universities are dominated 2/1 by women and many people question the value of a college education, there are still a few important factors that justify the time, effort and expense. In the Paramount TV series Tulsa King, mobster Sylvester Stallone lectures his headstrong young driver about the purpose of college. His thoughts on the real importance of college reflect almost word for word my long-held conviction about getting a degree:
“You think anyone really gives a shit about what your major is, English Literature, Biology, whatever? The whole point of a college degree is to show a potential employer that you showed up someplace four years in a row, completed a series of tasks reasonably well and on time, so if he hires you there’s a reasonable chance that you’ll show up every day and not fuck up his business.”
It’s why the first two years of college is essentially a re-hash of everything you learned in high school. There’s just the added bit of a little more critical thinking required to get a good grade. But mostly, the first two years are to weed out the unmotivated, uncommitted and unqualified. The last two years are where you really learn something on the intellectual scale.
It’s also the time when you really begin to solidify your friendships and acquaintances. Almost no one thinks about this at the time, but what that really means is you’re laying the foundations for future opportunities you may not even imagine yet. You see, college is about getting to know people who will become influential in their careers and all kinds of endeavors.
Being part of a house, a club, a sports team, or any kind of program is about building fraternal bonds. Athletes, frat boys and sorority girls form connections that last a lifetime. These are groups you will bond with and have interchanges with throughout your life. They will influence you, your decisions, what and how you evaluate something and someone as valuable, and who you can go to for advice, an inside tip, an introduction. In short, these people will help you leverage and elevate your standing in almost every part of your life. Because they choose to complete college and commit to your group ‘fraternity’ they are more than likely people you can count on. They committed to the things you committed to, and that’s usually good.
I’m not saying those kinds of connections can’t occur elsewhere or during the life of your career, because they do. But college can give you a jumpstart on forging connections that will have value and present more opportunities in the future. You remember, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” We sometimes think of nepotism as a bad thing, but I disagree. It’s part of everything we do in life. It’s always about who we know, because who we know shapes everything in our lives. We are always being influenced, even if we don’t believe it. No one goes it alone.
The class part of college is the dry stuff, the intellectual stuff. Granted, there are fun and important things that can be learned in class, but to my mind the real value comes in the fraternities you are part of and the friendships you create there. The extracurricular stuff is every bit as important as the class stuff. Forming bonds with others is why I believe athletics, clubs, band, intramural activities are as important as class and grades. The more relationships you can create the larger your circle of influence will become.
It’s about connecting the dots, our life experiences. The more dots we have, the more opportunities we have to explore, to grow, to improve, to become. College is a great way to begin thinking more abstractly about your life, your path. Majors don’t mean nearly as much as people think. I read once where only 50% of college grads end up in a profession that reflects their major. Sounds about right. Think about opening doors by attending college, and remember those doors really revolve around building relationships with people. That’s where it will always count.
