I am the only one of my siblings so far to not pursue a bachelor’s degree. Every now and then I think back to the decision I made 5 years ago to enter the workforce instead of studying for 2 more years. For me it was a pragmatic decision that was made with little malaise. I wanted my bank account to go in a certain direction and I had an unusually fitting local opportunity. I always did want to be a college kid, but there I was working 9-5 as a 19 year old, and loving it.
There was always the question about going back but now that isn’t so conceivable with my growing family. The decision that I made seemed straightforward back then. I perceived that university was utilitarian towards a skillset and then ultimately a good salary, and I lacked the wider concept of it as a framework for personal development. If a skillset is desired, perhaps an apprenticeship should be considered as the most efficient route. That was enough for me. But is a skillset really all that is offered to us by the ancient institutions? Or should we enroll in these universities and stroll their halls with books in tow expecting a deeper and more fundamental change to occur in our composition?
Character, beliefs, personality, worldview, communication and intellect are not dials that are easily turned, and yet these are the metrics that will be most seriously considered by future employers and most coveted by future selves. We are talking about the essence of a person. Their substance. Their constitution. We are talking about the quality of the stuff they are made of. Are not these outputs the aim of education?
I think the kind of fundamental change to a young mind that can occur on campus is superficially considered or clumsily compared to that of the office. At face value, writing a research paper and drafting proposals can appear like similar engagements. However, experience tells me that it would be foolish to expect the early practitioner to find anything close to the growth environment enabled by university. Even a highly motivated self-learner who scrounges for spare evenings to spend with books in their hand can only go so fast and far, especially without guidance. The well-intentioned workplace may try their best to provision such an environment, but they are only offering kindling during a shortage of logs. Progress is going to be slower, and I assume that’s why we decided to put kids in school first, not the other way around.
I don’t know much about the science of brain development, but it does seem like the deepest, most robust properties of a person are mostly settled by 25. In our day and age, how often is this time fumbled, causing lifelong effects? Higher education has not always been a consideration that people needed to make. Yet here we are, and we must try our best to be prudent. It is not clear to me now what I would advise my 19-year-old self had I a time machine, but I would be lying if I said there wasn’t a part of me that occasionally worries about the trade I made. Ages 20-25 were great years for me, and I love my job, but I can already feel the cement beginning to cure—maybe I’m being dramatic.
Of course there are plenty of objections to be brought up and debated about the institutional rot in universities brought on by secularism—but I think I’ll leave those discussions for the people with degrees. My point in this letter can be narrowed to this: Don’t assume that only benefits await in skipping college. Give serious thought before throwing the baby out with the bathwater. When making your decision, consider what type of person you want to become. Consider the foundational parts of you that you want to grow—not just skillsets you want to obtain. Weigh out the environmental differences between the university and the workplace and envision inhabiting each during some of your most critical developmental years. Perhaps what I am saying is to—at the very least—take the decision more seriously than I did.
And after that, resolve to be a lifelong learner, and continue feeding the fire with whatever fuel you have available.