Today’s topic for the LBC comes from a list of suggestions made by Shackman whose take on it promises to be very interesting, coming as it would from a self acknowledged jock.
Unlike many of my contemporaries, my late wife and I never pushed our son to acquiring a professional degree and simply accepted that his choice of a liberal arts higher education will be as good as one in a professional course. He has grown into a fine young man with a sound career and is a role model for many. In his circle of friends, I also see a number of dropouts who have done just as well and so to put a value on a degree perse is difficult.
In my own case, I have written earlier about it here and here. Unfortunately the illustrations will not appear in the latter but the gist of the argument should still be obvious. I have little to add except to offer some platitudes.
I have no doubt whatsoever in my mind that I was destined to get my degree in management and reach corporate heights. I have always maintained and continue to do so that I had little to do with that as I am not ambitious at all but some force got me where I eventually got and have now become.
For every half a dozen success stories about MBAs reaching glorious heights, there are as many frauds cropping up and what is more important, dropouts seem to do well as entrepreneurs, inventors and game changers. Except in the case of medicine, law and engineering, I wonder what real purpose a degree offers except of course a well rounded personality if one takes the humanities or the liberal arts route.
What however would appear to matter is a good High School education which gives the basic tools needed to survive successfully in a highly competitive world. In my case, even that I could complete successfully only by failing to pass the examinations the first time around and reappearing for them after some tutorial help later. But without that little qualification, what I achieved later would simply not have been possible.