By Savannah Cooper | Broadcast Reporter
Apple. Google. IBM. Other than single-handedly taking over the world, they all now surprisingly share something else in common. Recently, they’ve each announced that they’re lifting the requirement for job applicants to have a college degree.
I know; I almost threw my MacBook Air off the balcony of my fourth floor apartment.
Since birth, we’re sold this idea that without a college degree, any and all jobs that are substantial, outside of the sports and entertainment industries, cease to exist. Hearing news like this contradicts all that “training” because global powerhouses are loosening their requirements. So, it begs the question, are college degrees truly worthwhile?
In the past five years alone, there’s been an exponential surplus in competition as a bittersweet result of both globalization and accessibility. The true value of bachelor degrees are slowly becoming a footnote in job requirements nowadays due to the increasing volume of them earned year after year.
Coming out of the typical four-year higher education system in this country programs our minds to not only be versatile and a standout, but to learn as much as possible so we’re prime for the picking. Unfortunately, that model creates carbon copies that deprived some students from what their true passions and life callings are because they’ve been trained to believe that a job and fiscal security should be the first priority.
Perhaps lifting such a requirement will create an avenue for current and future high school students to not feel as though they’re a failure when they don’t get into the college of their dreams or any school at all.
Now, I’m not encouraging you to drop out. Please don’t use this as fuel to cause your parents to have a heart attack mid-Thanksgiving dinner, but I do want to get your mind thinking outside the box. Spend more time on those interests that you find yourself attracted to when you have a free Saturday afternoon. Those interests are your talents and what makes you a notable face in a crowded room. Those special interests may allow you to make the next Apple, Google or IBM.
