I was with him right until he say not to travel. Travel is the single biggest step in developing a proper perspective of life in this world, and what part you'll choose to play in the future. At 25, you can tell if someone has traveled or not by having a 15 minute conversation with them.<p>The traveled ones are always much more rational in thought, and open in mind, and aware of the possibilities. Non traveled folk tend to be more rigid, narrow in though and unable to grasp concepts that may be foriegn to their history.<p>As to the rest, my biggest beef is that he assumes all people are born entrepreneurs - even if he says otherwise. One must remember that although college can be a bore for a bright individual, it can be a saving grace for a person that is, well average.
I've found that college is great for the 'pluggers' in life. Those kids you remember from high school who asked question after boring question and spent hours on their home work while you spent class time hacking your graphing calculator and spent study hall exploring your high school's network.<p>Sure they got better grades than you, but instead of an A on your test you got a B- and worked 10x less to get it.<p>College is also great for the socially motivated who love to party, 'hook up' and generally spend the entire day trying to sleep the previous night's craziness off and plan for the upcoming night debauchery.
I could, and did, write a book (<a href="http://www.aarongreenspan.com/authoritas.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.aarongreenspan.com/authoritas.html</a>) about this subject, namely, why the American educational system is broken. I found college to be particularly difficult, but even so, I still think that James Altucher is wrong. Not only is his analysis wrong, but his facts are wrong. Unbelievably expensive though it may be, I know of no college that costs $400,000 over four years. Students are not cleanly divided into "the well-rounded generalists" and "the focused entrepreneurs." There are considerable virtues to liberal arts education, even if Mr. Altucher is too dense and narrow-minded to appreciate them.
College gives kids thousands of other kids to hang out with, at a critical point in their lives when they are just entering into adulthood.<p>College gives kids a chance to create their own social identity, as seen through the eyes of their peers, rather than their parents.<p>If you are a social recluse, and spend most of your college years hiding behind your computer screen, then yeah, you might as well not go.<p>If you recognize that human beings are herd animals, and that in order to learn how to be a leader in the herd, you need to have a herd to practice on ...<p>I learnt some really important life lessons in college, most of them outside of class. I heartily recommend it. Challenge your expectations of what you can and can't do. You may be surprised by how much more you can grow.
I've taught myself math and computer science topics by myself from books, and I've learned math and computer science in classes, and I can say that you make much faster progress and have far fewer foggy, unclear areas if you have access to a professor.<p>That's assuming you really take advantage of the teaching assistants, professor, and books out there. If you just party and take sociology classes, sure, college is going to mostly be a waste.
Hes off the mark by a long shot.<p>Is college right for everyone? No, and on both sides of the equation. A very small group of people are too smart for it, get too constrained by it, etc. There is a much larger group of people who are not smart enough for it, or don't work hard enough to get there. For everyone else, it makes sense. To say that you won't make up the money (and he says 200,000 - 400,000, that is a 50,000 to 100,000 a year college! There are only about dozen that expensive! I'm in one of the top 20 in the country and it would cost me 120,000 for 4 years coming from out of state, if not for a scholarship), is ludicrous. I'm going to work from the age of 25 to the age of 65 unless I do something spectacular and can retire early, which MOST PEOPLE DON'T. So for most people it is 120,000 divided by 40 years, or $3,000 a year more they would have to make in order for it to be worth it, obviously most college grads are better off money wise if they go. And staying in state is even cheaper. His point is kind of ridiculous, just because he didn't like college, doesn't mean that he should recommend against it. I sure feel bad for his kids who will be trying to make it big on their new version of MySpace when all their friends graduate and start making real money.
I think most of the comments here are missing the key argument in this article: namely that in addition to college being a poor fit for many potential students, there are some much better, more productive ways that young people could spend the time in the years immediately following high school.<p>The suggestions to encourage your kid to practice one skill, or start a business, are spot-on, at least from an economic POV. Learning a trade and having some business experience are much more effective at increasing your future potential earnings than a liberal arts education.<p>Personally, I dropped out after my freshman year to go work for a startup I've had a great time working in IT since then, and consistently out-earned my friends who stayed in school, even now that they've had 4-6 years in the workforce to catch up on experience.<p>That being said, I think that there is still a strong argument to be made for people <i>eventually</i> attending college. I still look forward to college as something I'll do in the future as a sort of "working vacation." I.e., just like faculty take a sabbatical to focus on their research, or spend time with their family, I hope to take a couple of years off to devote myself to intense, full-time study of some subject other than computers.
I don't think he goes far enough. Looking back, my university experience was indeed sort of a waste of time. However, the time I spent in college was orders of magnitude better than the previous four years of high school.<p>-edit-<p>Ok, I just closely read the piece instead of just skimming it. I do think college can be a waste of time for many people. However, the suggestion to instead outsource Facebook/MySpace application development to India is ridiculous. Also, what college costs $400,000? Ivy League tops out at about $40K/yr. UC Berkeley is about $9K per year.
If all you want to get out of college is to learn to program or other "trade" skills, then yeah it's probably a waste of time, but that's not what college is all about (unless you go to a vocational school)
This is a great article, even though I disagree with most of it. I think it's a great article because the conventional wisdom about college does need to be challenged. Just like the notion that you have to attend a prestigious college to be successful needs to be debunked, the notion that you have to attend college at all should be challenged.<p>I'd agree wholeheartedly with anyone who said that college should <i>not</i> be a default choice. There are all kinds of amazing opportunities for learning now that don't require a degree. He had me while he was arguing that college can be a big waste of time for a lot of people - but he starts to lose me when he starts to argue <i>against</i> college.<p>Personally, I have my doubts about anyone learning advanced math or physics without an intellectual environment similar to the one you'll get at college. I learned from my peers in a study group at least as much as from my professors. I suppose you don't strictly have to be enrolled - and maybe you could view webcasts and form a general study group outside the university - but that would be an argument against a formal degree, not an argument against a college education.
As you peeps have pointed out, 400k is ridiculous. I go to an expensive private college, and it's on the order of 120 for 4 years (though it's actually a 5-year school).<p>And if his kids are really entrepreneurial, as he claims, then they'll have the motivation to apply for scholarships like I did. I have received absolutely no financial help from my parents, and yet have accumulated very little debt.<p>I have learned most of my knowledge by teaching myself, and generally goof off during class if I even go (and no, that doesn't put me into the B group). But I've also been exposed to an incredible variety of people and built a huge network of friends and acquaintances in almost every industry.<p>Another point he seems to be missing is that to make a Facebook or Myspace app go viral, you need an initial network of users, typically your own friends. I hope his kids have fun trying to promote their app to all their high school friends who have gone off to college and lost contact.<p>I think what makes me most upset about this article, though, is that he's not using his views to make his own decisions, he's using them to make his kids' decisions. I feel really bad for his kids.
I read an article once that suggested that colleges and universities are part of a mafia-type organization that extorts parents/students to pay high tuition fees...otherwise the student won't be able to get a decent white-collar job as an adult (the whole college degree required deal)
He says, "I can’t remember anything good coming from my freshman year – other than starting a business with a few of my classmates, which inspired me for subsequent businesses."<p>So, he found his calling in College? A waste of time? Could he have started this first business without attending college?
I like how the article suggests that the cost of developing a viral Facebook application is $200 for outsourcing to India.<p>I agree with the premise of the article, though. Except for the $400,000 price tag. Where does that come from?
I agree, I'm glad I haven't wasted time on college, learning everything myself has been more beneficial. In certain cases, like that of doctors or lawyers college is essential!