These days, I often come across articles urging kids not to go to college (written by college graduates). I find this very sad. Their arguments make sense if we look at college as a job training school, but that’s not what college should be about. There are a lot more amazing, fascinating, and beautiful things in life to learn than the skills required to make a living or to be rich. In our late teens, we should be given the opportunity to devour these incredible things, and explore the possibilities of life, without having to worry about how to make a living. What we gain by doing so at that age will supply the fuel for our passion for the rest of our lives, the passion that will make us want to get up every morning. It is so much more important than learning skills that would become obsolete in several years. College is not for learning how to live but for learning why you want to live. If you do see college as a job training school, or if you just don’t want to go, then yes, just skip it. But no kids should be discouraged from going to college. College I consider is a basic human right.
