College Or Not, This Is The Question

How much do you think your experience in college back you up in the real world?

First of, I went to college and "luckily" graduated from it. My experience in public education was a mess after middle school. Having scored poorly, I had to go to a junior college instead of high school where I dropped out and and returned 3 times, was expelled once for a fight and still couldn't finish unless for another school year for a makeup class. It was then I took a leap of faith to take a transfer exam and actually got into FJU with two more years left. To be honest, if I have to evaluate and compare in details, I'd really have to say that for those 10 years of "advanced education" was "necessary but redundant". See explanation later.

What is the purpose of going to an university? Now, close your eyes for 10 seconds and think about this question.

...

...

...

Let's assume that your answer was [so I can get a job]. Let's reexamine your college years. What was your major and what were the key skills that you learned and actually need for your job now? How many of you studied things you don't need but like? I remember having taken "Chinese Poetry Reciting/Singing". You see what I mean? Where in the world would I ever use this ... skill? However, is it useless when something isn't put in actual use? We have accounting, history, PE, or even Bible reading...etc. but we haven't become an account, historian, athlete or priest, have we? Were these classes without meaning then?

[To pursue higher education], one may say for the purpose of going to college. This is more like the real reason, yes, to go deeper in the fields of one's interest and learn holistically. Learning to take responsibility, work and figure out our own selves are part of the college experience. After years and years of testing, following rules and taking orders, we finally get to see the value of ideas(how an idea is valuable)" or "the idea of value(what is valuable). We can then make plans and live with the consequences. Some put too much focus on part-time jobs, fail the class and lose more money; some concentrated only on studies and later find it difficult to find jobs. All of that and beyond, made up usually 4 or 5 of one of the most crucial moments in life. College could be a tipping point to decide the start of one's career. Is it necessary for those who already have a career though?

Finally, some may also say that perhaps the most important purpose of going to college is to [build a social network, to find the key people, future partners or lifelong friends]. Who doesn't need friends? Some people don't like people and some others even prefer working alone. Nonetheless, we are still in this world together. I believe that there has been a decade of misdirection of education which people taught one another to be selfish, to care for ourselves and to only do what we desire. Like it or not, we are interconnected. What happens elsewhere will happen here as well. We stand by bad things when it occurs and it eventually gets us. Learning to get along with other young adults of all kinds surely plays a key role in college.

For me, having gone to college(plus junior college) was definitely a was waste of time but a necessary waste... In the ten years of the so-called higher education, I developed ideas, skills and attitude that can only be reflected later. "The success of my failures in life", I call it.

• If it wasn't for the failure to graduate from junior college, I would have stopped once acquired an associate degree and wouldn't have transferred to FJU to obtain a B.A..

• If it wasn't for FJU, I wouldn't have gone to Hungary where I met my wife nor Ukraine where I gain tough teaching experience

• If it wasn't for the failure to stay in Ukraine, I wouldn't have gotten the job as a manager right after returning to Taiwan. That was actually my first official job.

• If it wasn't for the failure of continuing working in the cram school business, I wouldn't have realized that all my life I chased the wrong dream and believed in a false education that is in fact business.

• If it wasn't for the failure of attempting to work for Teach For Taiwan, I wouldn't have worked for Arts&Science Kids Villa where I found a new chapter in education as "co-learning".

• If it wasn't for the failure of working in CHEERS due to their bankruptcy and that of trying to hold language exchanges, I wouldn't have had the motivation to start the brand of FreeTheLanguage.

• If it wasn't for the failure of Tianmu Team due to the conflicting parents, I wouldn't have left ASKS and met the current team and join a new organization with them

• If it wasn't for all of the failures above, I wouldn't have found the perfect way of life and something that truly is the purpose of my existence.

The failure continues and these are just how much I could grasp so far. As the late Steve Jobs once said in the commencement speech in Harvard, life is about connecting the dots,

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart even when it leads you off the well worn path; and that will make all the difference.”

College or not, I think the answer stands clear for me in hindsight. College is a must for personal growth but if you think it is just for the entrance of jobs, save the money.

What about you?

#education

#selfreflection