By Mazen Zeidan
I remember a time when I was younger when college education was seen as almost being essential to finding a great job. If you got a college degree, you were basically all set to get a good job and be successful. Yet over the years, I’ve noticed things change in the sense that it’s not uncommon for someone to go to college and get a degree and yet still have trouble finding work. In fact, I’ve noticed a large push from people saying that going to college is a waste of time. That anything you want to learn, you can just learn by going to the internet or on YouTube. And that it’s too expensive, and that if you go, you’re subjecting yourself to years of debt. All of these sentiments have been coming into mind lately as I’m on track to finish my master’s degree in May of next year. I don’t know what job I will get when I graduate. I don’t know what my life will be like once I’m finished with my degree. And I know that the years I’ve spent in higher education are something I can never get back. Which leads me to the question, was it all worth it? Did I get something out of it? Or did I waste my time?
In terms of just the pure academic knowledge I’ve gained, I think that most of what I learned I could’ve probably also have learned on the internet. College certainly wasn’t cheap either. Thankfully, my parents supported me financially. But still, this was an expensive investment. That’s one side of the perspective, but then there’s the other side. I got to meet many interesting people who I never would have met otherwise. I feel like, as a person, I developed a lot, and I do think higher education played a large role in that. I felt that I did get an experience that I couldn’t get otherwise. I also know that I’ve given myself a boost up in the job market. Ultimately, I do think that higher education was worth it and that if I could do it all again, I probably would.
