STOP GOING TO SCHOOL!
The education system is broken. It's about putting people in boxes. It's about defining you and confining you. It's trying to shove you in between someone else's line. It's about what grades you make not what difference you make. It's about how well you mimic, and mime, and memorize not how well you craft , and contribute, and create. It's about chasing degrees not launching careers and right now, It's hurting more people than It's helping. Sometimes school is NOT the best place to learn. And where that's crystal clear. is America's college system.
So you need to stop STOP to school. You need to stop going to school cause it's gonna cost you too much money. The cost of higher education has increased over 500% in the last 30 years. Making today, right now. the most expensive time in history to get a collage degree. And when you spend all that money you're gonna be in alot of debt. Last year was a record year of student debt. $1.3 Trillion. It's gonna be $5 Trillion in 5 years. And everyone knows that student loan have awful terms. Most people spend their whole lives trying to pay off that debt. and the worst part of it is, the people who have the least are hurting the most. 60% of people who own that debt have net worth under $8,000. People of all ages, races and backgrounds are being crippled under the weight of student debt.
You need to stop going to school cause it's gonna take you too much time. it's taking people an average of six years now to finish collage. And even at flagship universities only 365 of students are finishing a four-year degree in four years. Now if you love what you're doing. then great. That's probably time well spent. But for most of us, we sit in classes we don't care about, to get a major we never intend to use. to get a job we never wanted in the first place. Now imagine if you spent those six years grinding on what you really love to do. And surrounded yourself with mentors and experts and confidantes who can help you, and teach you, and inspire you. How great could you become? You need to stop going to school cause it's not even gonna get you a job. Four out of five graduates don't even have a job lined up when they graduate. And that doesn't even take into account the tens of millions of underemployed people who have accepted jobs that are well below the hard-earned and high-cost degree that they paid for. And even if you get a job, you're not gonna be ready for it. Even though 96% of college Chief Academic Officers say that their institutions prepare their students for the workforce. only 11% of business leaders agree with that statement. That means nearly nine out of ten year future employers don't even think that high cost degree was worth it. You need to stop going to school cause sometime the entire school is a scam. Several of the leading for-profit and vocational schools have gone out of business overnight for literally scamming students. Hanging hundred of thousands of students out to dry. leaving 12 billion dollars worth debt on the books, and leaving people with a degree that has no merit. And most importantly,
you need to stop going to school because it's not necessary. Nearly two-thirds of the jobs that are available in this country right now don't even require a 4 year degree. And as someone who's spent nearly 15 years hiring people in both corporate sitting and the startup space, I can tell you first hand that employers don't care what classes you took or what your GPA was. We care about how well you can think and communicate, how well you can analyze and anticipate, we care about what your skills are and what you're passionate about.
And NO! online learning is not the answer. I know online learning is exploding right now. The number one online learning site has over 20 millions students. That's more than the entire enrollment of all U.S. colleges in the spring of 2017. And venture capitalists love it, they are pouring money into it. Last year was record year of EdTech funding - nearly $2 Billion. They love it because it's quick and easy to scale. Which means it's easy for them to make money. But online learning does not work. Even the best online learning site called ''MOOCs'', have a 90% dropout rate. Online learning cuts out the most powerful part of learning process. That human connection. That face-to-face with inspiring teachers and experts. That is where true learning happens. And that's the even something academics can agree upon. Princeton University came out with a study that said that 90% of knowledge is gained through experience and mentor-ship. And only 10% through formal and classroom training. So that 90% dropout rate makes a lot of sense now doesn't it?
And before you ask, Yes I din't go to collage! But I can honestly tell you I didn't learn anything in a (School)classroom. The life experience is what taught me alot. The people that I met, and the relationships that I had, the part-time jobs that I had, the organization and the extracurricular I was part of. That is where and how I learned. And that is what we need to preserve. And you wanna know some pretty successful college dropouts?
Mark Zuckerberg,
Bill Gates,
Oprah Winfrey,
Steve Jobs,
Elizabeth Arden,
Ellen DeGeneres,
Ralpah Lauren,
Russell Simmons,
Brad Pitt,
And Lady Gaga.
Not to mention of the founders of Dropbox, Spotify, Twitter, WordPress, Whole Foods Jet-blue, Dell, Mattel, Happy Lobby. To name a few. And most of those people went to school years ago. This is a new time with new technologies, and new challenges, and new opportunities. Te college degree that was a prerequisite of the American Dream just isn't required anymore.
We need a new path for learning. A Path that starts with what you'e passionate about, and ends with a job that you love. A path that's affordable, and accessible, and exciting, A path that's led by experts and who can teach you the skills that you need to succeed. An experiential, employment-driven path. And we're working every single day to build it. and with your help, I know that we will. But in the meantime, You need stop going to school and start going to learn.