Answering a Complaint: Arguing About Education

Answering a complaint: no I really don’t think you need a business degree to start a company. I don’t have any hard evidence that people who have degrees are more successful than people who don’t — although I have to admit I’d like to have that evidence. I do have very good evidence that people with degrees are more educated, on average, than those without. An education is good. Maybe it’s not a direct line to more money, but it’s still good. The opposite of education is ignorance.

The complaint was that I post too much about education. Don’t I know, the critic asked, that lots of people start companies and become wildly successful without having degrees? It seemed angry. There was some name-calling I edited out.

So, when a teenager in email says he’s going to inherit a family company "so I don’t have to get an education," I wince. I shudder. I answer "please, give yourself a break, get that education while you’re young and it’s easy, you’ll be so glad you did." And I don’t apologize for that.

I’d like to think my thread on education has been fairly consistent, and that my posts on the topic show pretty much the same opinions here. Read more....