Purpose of college degree education

This economic crisis is a wake-up call for many people who still think that the purpose of college degree education is to make money.


Many people in Asia used to think a college degree education is a ticket to good life. Frankly speaking, that is true for many years, especially during the colonial era. That was the time that a college degree education, especially from a college in UK, US and Australia, was highly valued.

That is no longer true in modern context. A college degree education is no longer a ticket to wealth and riches, given that many billionaires do not have college degree education. A college degree education is no longer a ticket to wealth and riches, since people are retrenched when the economy is not doing well, regardless of educational level.

The fact is that after retrenchment, people with college degree education find it harder to get a job. Since they have spent so much money and time to get a college degree education, they are not willing to do a job that a high-school graduate can do. What is the point of getting a college degree education just to flip burgers?

It is a time for us to rethink the purpose of college degree education.

Of all the knowledge gained in college, I guess the only thing of value I gained from college degree education is this: It depends.

One lecturer kept on emphasizing the point. Even if we never learnt anything else from college degree education, we had learnt “It depends.”

These two words sum up the value of college degree education. In a way, it’s ridiculous to spend so much money to get a college degree education just to learn “It depends”. On the other hand, “It depends” has a deeper meaning in everything.

Everything in life boils down to “It depends”. “It depends” is the right answer to every “why” question.

Why does you need a college degree education? It depends on your career goal. You can’t be a doctor without a college degree education.

Why is it that people can be rich without college degree education? It depends on their family situation. It depends on their personality. It depends on their determination to succeed in life.

Do I regret spending money on college degree education? No, I do not. I have learnt “It depends” and I have learnt to analyze situation based on “It depends”.

I would say that college degree education is worthwhile as long as you know how to answer the question “why” with “it depends”. There are many words after ‘it depends”, since people will ask you “It depends on what”. That is the difficult part. That is what college degree education is all about. It teaches you to think critically so that you know how to answer “it depends on what”.

“It depends on what” can mean anything from it depends on weather, it depends on your mood, it depends on the person, it depends on where you live, it depends on the economic situation etc.