In a world full of morals and mottos people tend to say that education is worth any cost, but when faced with the crushing reality of the real world — where money is the dictator of our life and well being — that saying can get put into question.
I’m straight from the working class, a place that can be hard to imagine to the millionaires that surrounded me. Plopped right in the middle of a valley of homes as big as apartment buildings, which are only used one month per year, education isn’t even a question to most people. If you want to go to art school and get a degree in animation all you need to do is ask for some money, walk away scot-free, and never use your major again because you decided you want to work as an engineer instead.
As I ask around to see where people want to go to school I get heavy-hitter places I could only dream of going to: Harvard, Yale, Duke — schools where a semester of schooling costs $30,000. They say you can do anything you put your mind to; whatever you want you can achieve. But is achievement worth the $90,000 price tag? It reminds me of the trips I would take to Aspen with my family. We would go up there to ski and in the process would occasionally walk around and window shop. All around me would be expensive clothes, bags and artwork. A Gucci there, a Louis Vuitton here. Once we found a $10,000 dog collar studded with diamonds in the window of a business. It reminds me of life; all the clothing being colleagues, people walking in and coming out with a coat that matches their style perfectly. But I never cared for fur or a puffy jacket with a fancy brand name front and center. All I could see was all the things I could never have. But upon returning I saw all the things I could have, if I worked for it. But if I needed it? If all the work would be worth it? That’s another story.
So I guess it’s up to you, you don’t need to listen to what I say, the information I’m spouting. But I’m not a cheesy person. I’m not giving you the satisfaction of the newspaper lady saying that you can “follow your dreams and do whatever you want.” I’m telling you that it’s hard. I’m telling you that the debt might ruin your life. It might get you your dream job. It might force you to retire when you’re 80.
You need to choose, and choose wisely. Your life is a crappy car, a single cab that breaks down every 10 feet. The world is a road that can drive you into a ditch or straight to your dream life in a town with a perfect job and family, and you get to decide what route to go down.