College/Education Bashing Marketing - Should We All believe the Pitch and become Dropouts?

Hahaha Tai Lopez is a joke man.

For me life is all about who you know not what you know. I view going to college as one of the best ways to increase your network and therefore chances of success in life if you can't partake in nepotism. The tuition paid is essentially a fee to engage in cronyism.

As for the angst amongst job-less degree holders....maybe they should have checked the Occupational Outlook Handbook and realized that a major in humanities would result in a minimal job prospects. These rising marketers are successful because misery loves company. Nonetheless, these videos are extremely entertaining. Thanks for the compilation.

Goodness... Just take a second and forget about these fucking noises bashing college.

A person graduating from highschool should simply ask himself what he wants to do with his life and what it would take to get there.

Most fucking kids from highschool don't have a clue what they want to do with their life after graduation, let a alone starting a business (are you fucking kidding me?) At least college experiences might help them find where their passion is.

I wasn't certain what I wanted to do with my life, but I was certain what I didn't like so I used process of elimination. In end the I picked a relatively technical field which likely offered decent amount of opportunities upon graduation.

If you simply choose the safe route, take easy courses during undergrad, and graduate with no marketable skills, it's your fucking fault for being a dumbass in the first place. These types of people would have not succeeded whether they had gone to college or not.

Gotta love all these schools of thoughts about college education when all a person has to do is really to sit the fuck down and lay out the plan so you will have a clear picture of whether college makes sense for you or not.

Lots of people who go to college really shouldn't be spending all that money, but they literally have nothing better to do.

Tai Lopez - the best way to make money on the internet is to sell courses to others on how to make money on the internet. He's a scam and creepy.

The issue is that in today's society college is viewed as a necessity and not an investment. High schoolers are too young and dumb to do a simple cost vs benefits analysis and parents want to tell their kids that they can do whatever they want.

Should you pay $120000 to party for four years and graduate with a sports marketing degree?

Should you take on a similar debt load for a degree in dance?

Meanwhile, manufacturing has a shortage of qualified workers because today's manufacturing jobs require a tech degree/skills. Manufacturing job openings are at 15 year highs while the number of manufacturing employees are still 11% below the pre-recession high. Yet, tech schools are frowned upon in society.

Where everything goes wrong is when the social stigma of society pushes the very marginal student to college when they could have had a much more productive life with much less debt in a trade.

Darren Hardy is another College basher. Also, you know what's funny? I mean, apart from these scam artists that were already stated (TED is a haven for those who have nothing better to do with themselves--I mean who in their right mind gives Monica Lewinsky the chance to give a lecture--yes she gave a TED talk if you don't believe me look it up on Youtube), most of these college bashers are somehow or other tied into the multi-level marketing movement that is sweeping certain industries. (I'm looking at you, PrimericaFinancial Services, Vemma--which was not so long ago in a legal battle with the FTC and Amway Inc.) There is a corolation between college bashers and the MLM movement in general, and this whole "drop-out to have your own business" movement. Its basically nothing less than a very clever marketing plot, which, unfortunately, has convinced a lot of people. One thing I do agree with that was posted above, is the terrible state of highschool graduates--the fact that people change majors 2 or 3 times (sometimes even in their senior year--which means they have to spend even more time in college) and then they complain about the debt--or else choose to study "Lesbian literature", (yes that exists), "Women's/gender studies" or some other crazy major like that and then complain about no jobs and barely making it. Its all because this whole thing is emotions driven--this whole idea of be whatever you want to be, and college is not necessary (on both ends of the spectrum), etc. and people forgetting that college is a business, and that academic advisors are not their friends--moreover, that if you don't have a plan college will just be happy to keep plying you with classes until you choose or you drop out, and then they complain. I'm sorry but 99% of people just don't make any sense, have no plans for their lives and who knows where they're even going--I've met college students who don't even know what they want to do--and are already at their junior year of college and of course the savvy marketers in the MLM and drop-out-of-college movements feed that and take advantage of them. (oh yeah and to comment on someone else's post above--Lopez isn't the only one I've seen doing that--there are tons of the best way to become rich is to sell courses about how you can become rich by selling courses about how you can become rich by selling courses about how to become rich.) (That's the basic MLM structure right there basically) Ironic isn't it, when those are the same people screaming about how greedy wallstreet people are and how we're all terrible greedy people making their lives terrible? They mess their own lives up, and then try to blame it on someone else and keep on doing the same terrible choices and falling into the same trap, and the cycle just goes on from there.

Many of the people mentioned by OP are shysters trying to get more views on their YouTube channels and blogs and sell eBooks. On the whole, their advice shouldn't be trusted. However, they are on to something, in a sense.

For many people on this forum, it's difficult to imagine that not going to school would be better than going to school. If you're going into finance, even if you don't make it into IB, you're going to be making, at minimum, $50k a year, regardless of where you are working. In that case, it makes sense to go to school. However, I'd say at least 50% of kids who go to college have no clue what they want to do and never really figures things out. That's a problem. If your reason for going to college is that "it's the natural next step to take" and you aren't working toward some specific goal, there's a solid chance college will be an expensive waste of time for you.

Nevertheless, the biggest flaw with the "anti-college movement" is the surfeit of reasonable alternatives. Many talk about starting a business, but that's not a viable option for most people. Doing some generic internet marketing, dropshipping, lead-generation, etc. business is a crapshoot and many of those industries are filled to the brim with fraudsters and con-artists. Becoming a tech entrepreneur also isn't possible for most due to a lack of knowledge, connections, and family money (the last is especially important; notice how most successful young tech entrepreneurs came from wealthy families that provided them with a large safety net in case their business didn't succeed.) Starting a service-based business (consultancy, financial services, etc.) is impossible for most due to a lack of needed skills, and starting a more traditional business (restaurant, laundromat, franchise, etc.) is impossible due to the large upfront capital requirements. Trade school is a viable possibility that more should consider. However, the trade school system is weaker in the US compared to many other developed countries.

Now we got a new flavor of school bashing... Prince Ea, House of Evangelical Bashers (Dude's doing alright view-count wise because he uses professional production and YouTube edit screen hopping to appeal to the frustrated and angry millennial audience. Offers no solutions though besides 'buy my stuff'):

This is what happens to Fishbowls on WallStreet (Wolf of WallStreet with cameo from Richard Hendricks [Silicon Valley - HBO]):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaPbhFcoGK4

Holy fuck do TED talks make me want to stab motherfuckers. Shit is the worst.

we interviewed one of these "teachers" on WSO awhile back, before I knew better. wso sniffed him out pretty quick http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/blog/interview-with-a-wandering-day-trad…

How to bash your alma mater (Georgia 'fucking' Tech) for realizing universal truths:

https://centralparadise.net/2017/01/10/fk-georgia-tech-how-to-hate-the-…

Gatech could do better but they choose not to. Margins are fat just like the administrators, why bother?

Agree wholeheartedly with @dcrowoar" and Gangster Putin.

99.9% of people are talented enough to do anything useful straight out of high school and ought to go to college and learn some things 95% of people are not talented enough to build something useful straight out of college and ought to join a company and learn some things 90% of people are not talented enough to run their own fund and ought to remain analysts and learn some things

On and on it goes...

Also, remember that for all the "Zuckerburg, Gates, Page/Brin" dropped out stuff, many of these people would not have stumbled across their brilliant ideas if not for the influence of college. The Harvard Connect stuff was what got Zuckerburg thinking about social media. Google started as a PHD project (which means, btw, that Page/Brin actually did more college than 95% of the population).

A college degree proves many things about you, including your persistence, work ethic and willingness to excel in a system. Obviously not everything you learn in college is directly applicable to being a top tier PE brah with More Money Than God, but it's still a necessary prerequisite to proving you aren't a complete fuck.

For what it's worth, I didn't bother with college and I run this motherfucker, so...

Seriously, though, I'm giving my kids the advice (ages 12 & 13) that they don't have to go to college. At the rate I see automation taking over it seems like a ridiculous waste for all but a handful of professions (and finance, by and large, ain't one of them).

My 13 year old finds school easy, has elected to take all the honors classes offered to him, and plans to go to college and realizes he needs to set himself up for a good one. My 12 year old, on the other hand, couldn't give a good shit and would be perfectly happy as a cook or a firefighter or an HVAC repair guy. His passion (at least now) is cooking, and our local JuCo is one of the best in the nation for that. Why would I waste ~$120,000 of my money and 4 years of his life pushing him in a different direction?

I hate anyone who calls themselves an "entrepreneur". Talking about all those tools with social media presence mentioned above. Those moronic motivational pictures of some stupid buzzword phrase (oh let's see, here's the first one that showed up when I Googled it: "Eat shit for 24 months and eat caviar for the rest of your life") imposed over a muted photo of a guy in a suit with a gaudy/tacky watch trigger me beyond belief.

I'm not completely dumb and I'm pretty sure all these guys know how dumb the stuff they spread around is - they're just there for the money. But like reality TV, it's so obnoxious it bothers me.

While I'd associate this more with hustling idiots than startups, startup culture (with actual VCs and people who know how to code) is just as bad.

I used to think that finance culture was dumb and that startups were the holy land. Then I went to an event hosted by Sequoia where they spent the whole time bashing everything that wasn't a 5-person "disruptor". Even Google wasn't spared from the mocking. If you didn't join a tiny firm, you were a risk-adverse loser who would never change the world. Never mind that most of these ideas revolved around "Uber for X"... wow man I can push a button on an app and someone will clean my loft??? DISRUPTION!!! I mean at least the guys pushing CDOs knew they were full of shit.

Anyhow, all those stereotypes you see in the media were in full force at the Sequoia thing. You ever watch Silicon Valley on HBO, or that episode of Parks and Rec where Aziz Ansari has his startup? It felt like I was walking onto the casting of it. Loft with funky lighting, check. DJ playing house music, check. Ping pong tables, check. Endless amounts of company "swag" from places that wouldn't exist in 8 months, check. An endless supply of self-important tools pitching how they're changing the world, check.

That brought my "tech startup" misconcpetions down to Earth real fast. And from that point forward, I decided a few things. If something or someone has hype, they're probably full of it. Travis Kalanick, Elon Musk, Zuckerberg, they don't call themselves "entrepreneurs". Grown men don't need motivational Instagram photos to work on something they want. Very few people ever change the world, and those who do don't need to convince you they are. And probably the most important lesson of all: if people really want to believe something, they will lie to themselves, their parents, and the world about it to convince themselves.

This is an Australian-centric point of view. College here is paid for by government however the total cost is relatively low and you start paying back after you earn around $56,000.

When i was in School, there was a mining boom in town. I had friends who would go and receive a scaffolding or carpentry certificate after 2 months and repeatedly pull in around 15k a month for doing manual labour work.

One of my friends continued this while I was at college for 4 years studying and barely paying off my dues. He worked hard and eventually started his own construction firm (small at first) but through his connections at the respective mining company was able to secure contracts. It's quite funny because now he employs a mid-tier accounting firm which many of my colleagues would probably love an internship at.

I guess what I'm trying to say is it really depends on your alternative options, and what you want in life. A-lot of individuals that go into high paying low-skill jobs (I'm sure these exist in the US as-well) could technically do better than college graduates if they are careful with their finances. However the benefit with a college degree has traditionally been that you had a "back-up" incase something goes wrong.

However gone are the days when you could walk in and grab a job. My Neighbour literally got his job at Macquarie Bank by walking down to the office and asking if they had a position. He went the next day for an interview and was hired soon after. He barely had a 2 or 3/4 GPA however back then in Australia education was limited for generally the wealthy/upper classes.

So again it depends on your best alternatives and where you live. If you have an idea for something you want to pursue and if working at Maccas getting paid ($50k-60k, Yes our labour wages are high p.a) helps you reach that 150k required in saving for a deposit to open up your first franchised Maccas then that's a better option than going to University. You'll learn skills relevant for your goal working the ropes, and if it's accounting and business acumen you need well I'm pretty sure with all the stuff of on the internet you can get that for free.

However for someone who has no idea, It's a lot tougher question especially with the de-regulation of previously government funded degrees and high-costing degrees. I think the harsh reality but clear answer is to try preparing or having an idea of where you want to be as soon as you can.

P.S What the fuck is it that Entrepreneurship has to be Tech? I have quite a few friends who've been successful with Entrepreneurship but their businesses are retail/bricks & mortar/restaurants.

I think the main message here is that college isn't your ONLY option. You should look and see what OTHER OPPORTUNITIES are available to you. However these guys go the extreme saying COLLEGE BAD I BIG FAT MAN GAGA LOOK AT ME; Hell not to mention once you start considering colleges, in the US and Australia there are so many "Mickey-Mouse" Universities that won't give you a good education let a reputable degree, but that's another discussion.

Let me give a perspective from a bit older(not old, just older than you college kids).

My background is that I have a liberal arts degree from a highly specialized school. It's the kind of school that is a leader in a few specific fields(pre-med, military) but not that great outside of those areas.

The first thing I'd offer is that a lot of the "college bashers", while not particularly brilliant, have a point. I disagree strongly with the notion that college makes you smarter. While it may have been true at some previous point in time that college helped you learn how to think better that simply is not the case. We have moved away from any true liberal arts education that has a foundation in studying the great logical thinkers, then applying their lessons to the study of civilization by debating and analyzing the contemporary writings of different times. However I will say that some schools still do this well. some B-schools in particular preserve the essence of this method by providing some logical strategies(part of the core curriculum in my program) and forcing students to debate and defend their position during case discussions. My undergrad did NOT provide this in spite of a major that should have, nor do even most prestigious schools appear to judging by what I hear coming out of them and by the debating ability of their recent alumni(anecdotal, but even Ivy League econ/public policy/etc majors seem to think you can win a debate by just screaming louder and being more insulting than your opposition).

Furthermore it simply IS NOT NECESSARY to go to college in order to have a great life and career. While in the Army one of the sergeants I worked with had cleared over six figures as a plumber, in a great mid-tier low COL city, as a partner in the business. He only quit for the military because his partner had left and needed immediate income. I've also met roofers who own their own (huge) houses, oil workers who made enough money that they were able to move into IT by living off their earnings while getting a CS degree, and road construction workers who live a decent lower middle-class lifestyle with their winters off.

There are two cases in which the situation changes. The first is if you know exactly what you want to do and need a degree to do it. Guess what? You will NEVER be a doctor, banker, engineer, etc. without a good GPA in a high quality degree program. For me it was necessary because there is absolutely no such thing as an armored officer (the guys who command tank units) without an accredited bachelor's degree. In this case college is a necessary step. The other situation is if you do not know for sure what you want to do and can earn a useful degree without the debt burden limiting your options. In this case a good business/STEM degree can open a good amount of opportunities and doesn't really close any, although I would specifically recommend that those who are truly on the fence take an extra year and dual-major in business/STEM(pick a discipline from STEM) with an internship in each area. That path gives you an enormous selection of high paying job opportunities afterwards.

edit: in my case, I still would have gone to college but not the way I did. My university was good for what I ended up doing but extremely limited my flexibility outside of that career path. It would have been better for me to go to a good engineering school, major in a generalist STEM degree, and get the social/leadership aspect by participating in a regular ROTC unit and greek life.

It's funny, really. I can name three people off the top of my head who are successful millionaires I went to high school with. Only one actually finished college, the other two saw it as a waste of time because they were able to create success in their efforts (small/med business).

Being in an Asian community, you see this often, a lot. Entrepreneurship is something that is highly encouraged in my area, and my family does own a small business that has been around for about 16 years already. I know I am not going to be working for someone forever, and actually am planning to purchase and start another business while working full-time. It's quite exciting!

Point being, college is what you make of it. A lot of people I know who has less then a middle school education are banking in 300k-1m per year.

People are going to be PRO or AGAINST education (abortion, etc). Let them, it's their life and their time, not yours. We go to college so we can at least get the opportunity to live a higher standard of living instead of being broke. I wouldn't waste my time listening to these folks. They're not the ones paying my bills, are they?

Wtf did I just read?

If you aren't capable of looking at the overwhelming evidence in favor of having a degree...I don't know what to say. Also, show me the job postings that say: "HS diploma" or "HS diploma preferred"

This isn't even a question and let's just say for the sake of stereotypes that an unmarketable degree puts you as a barista...1) don't get an unmarketable degree and 2) that also means your HS graduate can't become a barista vs the degree holder. It's becoming table stakes.

There are also a lot of restaurants and other unsexy businesses that experience the same failure rate as startups. It's just business. You should understand the value you add of your company and where you fit into that in any company you join...especially a startup.