i've had a few people ask me for advice on how to get into the music industry and what kind of college to go to. i know i've kinda already addressed the subject of recording schools here. but this is a little different. let's talk about college. college as we all think about it is a joke. politicians and news pundits who decry a lack of higher education seem to claim that college is some magical potion that can instantly cure all social ills. but that's stupid. even if their claims weren't outrageous, the fact that "education is the answer" is like stating that investing in the stock market is universally good. that's just not true. sometimes it's good, and sometimes it's bad. the fallacy lies in the generalization.
the problem occurs when we look at college as anything beyond a financially calculated decision. the truth is that whether or not a person should go to college or invest in a mutual fund or open a savings account should be based on the individual situation that each person is in. college can be a wonderful thing and can really open doors for someone who is ready for it and who can manage the cost, but to just assign some sort of blanket statement that it's always good is absolutely false. not everyone can be a doctor or lawyer. not everyone can occupy high-level, high paying jobs. although it is entirely possible to get a high paying high level job without going to college.
would it be nice for everyone to go to a fancy $20,000 a year school to "find yourself" and go to parties for four years. but very few have the means to cover this cost on their own. yes, you can get student loans, but why put yourself $80,000 in debt to get a degree in a field that you probably don't use once you get a job that pays the same amount that a good skilled trade job would pay - except a skilled tradesman doesn't have to pay for big student loans.
people forget about trade schools. electricians, mechanics, paralegals, nurses and many other well paying jobs can be attained through very cheap investment into a vocational school. or let's talk about how many kids who don't have money decide to take out big loans to go to a school far away for a degree they could have gotten at a local college and probably have paid for it all while working. but see, we're all deceived by the beautiful campuses, exotic locations and fun filled student activities. don't get me wrong - there's nothing bad about having fun. if your parents have an extra $80,000 they want to fork over for a fancy degree, then awesome. go for it and have the time of your life. but when politicians on high create some universal expectation that every poor kid should take out loans and go to a big ticket university, it makes me want to scream. yes, that will probably work for a very small percentage of very motivated kids who come from a bad background. but we should expect realistic steps.
what if college as we know it was completely different? i read an article about this a while back and it seems to make a lot of sense. instead of college being a self contained program where the institution handled teaching, testing and certification, what if a college would award a degree based entirely on certification. imagine a system where you go to a college and pay a couple hundred dollars to take a very lengthy and very intense test. based on your score you would be awarded a degree. each major would have its own test. i've told some people about this and they scoff and say that it wouldn't work for people who don't test well. but i say that would be irrelevant because it would be massive tests such as the bar examinations that lawyers take or the CPA exam that accountants take. why can't we create a certification for every major? that way, even the poorest kid could scrounge together the couple hundred dollars for the test fee, spend a few months checking out books from the public library and could have a degree with a little hard work. that seems like the best way to make an education available. the colleges could still offer courses to those who want a traditional college experience. i imagine that there would be a middle ground of competing free market schools. imagine a small specialized school that you could attend at nights that went through the courses for a marketing certification in 6 months and only cost $1,500 but doesn't have all the big costs for sports teams and high priced real estate that a traditional college has. a student could take 3 years and earn a few different degrees at a fraction of the cost.
and the last thing is basic supply and demand. so what if a student wants to make a stupid decision about college. it only affects them, right? well, if we convince a large number of kids to go to a big fancy school when in all likelihood they probably shouldn't even be there, then what we are doing is increasing the demand for higher education in a fairly limited supply of schools. and what does that do? it increases the price artificially. colleges just love to add extra racquetball courts and concerts and big events. they just increase the tuition to cover it. no big deal. it's almost like preying on young and stupid kids while they're young so that they'll spend the next 15 years making monthly payments and wondering if the massive student life budgets were worth the extra costs. when a band plays at a club, they get a certain amount of money. when a band plays at a college, they get MUCH MUCH more money than a club because colleges have big huge budgets and cash that they are just throwing away. and where does that come from? your tuition. the waste is just ridiculous. but people think it was worth it because those were the best days of their lives. but the reason they were the best days is because now they have to work three jobs just to make all the payments. the circular logic is making me dizzy. how about you skip the fancy school and exchange it for the no frills community college and then use your extra income to build some wealth and to make life better and better as your grow older. i don't know, it seems like a good way to do things to me.
basically, college is an investment. but it's not always a good investment. it could very easily be a very bad investment to someone who doesn't have the money and is getting a degree they don't now and won't ever need. each person needs to realistically assess what college is really going to cost them in the long run and what they are going to get out of it in the long run. and if the numbers don't add up, they should have the courage to withstand peer pressure and either hold off on going until things do add up or find another option like apprenticing for a skilled trade or vocational training.
the problem occurs when we look at college as anything beyond a financially calculated decision. the truth is that whether or not a person should go to college or invest in a mutual fund or open a savings account should be based on the individual situation that each person is in. college can be a wonderful thing and can really open doors for someone who is ready for it and who can manage the cost, but to just assign some sort of blanket statement that it's always good is absolutely false. not everyone can be a doctor or lawyer. not everyone can occupy high-level, high paying jobs. although it is entirely possible to get a high paying high level job without going to college.
would it be nice for everyone to go to a fancy $20,000 a year school to "find yourself" and go to parties for four years. but very few have the means to cover this cost on their own. yes, you can get student loans, but why put yourself $80,000 in debt to get a degree in a field that you probably don't use once you get a job that pays the same amount that a good skilled trade job would pay - except a skilled tradesman doesn't have to pay for big student loans.
people forget about trade schools. electricians, mechanics, paralegals, nurses and many other well paying jobs can be attained through very cheap investment into a vocational school. or let's talk about how many kids who don't have money decide to take out big loans to go to a school far away for a degree they could have gotten at a local college and probably have paid for it all while working. but see, we're all deceived by the beautiful campuses, exotic locations and fun filled student activities. don't get me wrong - there's nothing bad about having fun. if your parents have an extra $80,000 they want to fork over for a fancy degree, then awesome. go for it and have the time of your life. but when politicians on high create some universal expectation that every poor kid should take out loans and go to a big ticket university, it makes me want to scream. yes, that will probably work for a very small percentage of very motivated kids who come from a bad background. but we should expect realistic steps.
what if college as we know it was completely different? i read an article about this a while back and it seems to make a lot of sense. instead of college being a self contained program where the institution handled teaching, testing and certification, what if a college would award a degree based entirely on certification. imagine a system where you go to a college and pay a couple hundred dollars to take a very lengthy and very intense test. based on your score you would be awarded a degree. each major would have its own test. i've told some people about this and they scoff and say that it wouldn't work for people who don't test well. but i say that would be irrelevant because it would be massive tests such as the bar examinations that lawyers take or the CPA exam that accountants take. why can't we create a certification for every major? that way, even the poorest kid could scrounge together the couple hundred dollars for the test fee, spend a few months checking out books from the public library and could have a degree with a little hard work. that seems like the best way to make an education available. the colleges could still offer courses to those who want a traditional college experience. i imagine that there would be a middle ground of competing free market schools. imagine a small specialized school that you could attend at nights that went through the courses for a marketing certification in 6 months and only cost $1,500 but doesn't have all the big costs for sports teams and high priced real estate that a traditional college has. a student could take 3 years and earn a few different degrees at a fraction of the cost.
and the last thing is basic supply and demand. so what if a student wants to make a stupid decision about college. it only affects them, right? well, if we convince a large number of kids to go to a big fancy school when in all likelihood they probably shouldn't even be there, then what we are doing is increasing the demand for higher education in a fairly limited supply of schools. and what does that do? it increases the price artificially. colleges just love to add extra racquetball courts and concerts and big events. they just increase the tuition to cover it. no big deal. it's almost like preying on young and stupid kids while they're young so that they'll spend the next 15 years making monthly payments and wondering if the massive student life budgets were worth the extra costs. when a band plays at a club, they get a certain amount of money. when a band plays at a college, they get MUCH MUCH more money than a club because colleges have big huge budgets and cash that they are just throwing away. and where does that come from? your tuition. the waste is just ridiculous. but people think it was worth it because those were the best days of their lives. but the reason they were the best days is because now they have to work three jobs just to make all the payments. the circular logic is making me dizzy. how about you skip the fancy school and exchange it for the no frills community college and then use your extra income to build some wealth and to make life better and better as your grow older. i don't know, it seems like a good way to do things to me.
basically, college is an investment. but it's not always a good investment. it could very easily be a very bad investment to someone who doesn't have the money and is getting a degree they don't now and won't ever need. each person needs to realistically assess what college is really going to cost them in the long run and what they are going to get out of it in the long run. and if the numbers don't add up, they should have the courage to withstand peer pressure and either hold off on going until things do add up or find another option like apprenticing for a skilled trade or vocational training.
5 comments:
Wise thoughts here! I'm going to technical school right now to get a degree in dental assisting. In all, school will cost me less than $10,000 and I will be able to make about $18 an hour. Also, with my current salary, I will probably be able to pay all of my tuition fees and such with cash.
My older sister, on the other hand, is going to a very expensive, ivy-league college in England. She is finishing her third year right now and has massive student loans. She really put a lot of thought into going to this specific school and decided to follow her dreams. I sincerely hope she is able to get a good paying job after graduation this summer.
Something I thought I'd throw out there as a side note is the Running Start program here in Washington state. Basically, the state allows you to go to a community or tech school for your junior and senior year of high school and the only thing you have to pay for is books. You have to keep your grades up, obviously, but it is a great alternative for people who want to be more challenged than they would in high school. If you plan your credits right, you can graduate with your high school diploma and AA degree at the same time. I managed to do that back in June. So I got two years of college almost entirely free! Pretty amazing.
that is exactly what i'm talking about.
Wow - I totally agree with you! I'm a 7th-12th grade Youth Director, and one of the things I really want to try to teach my church kids is that they should REALISTICALLY look at their future decisions after high school. Lots of them won't need to go to a 4-year college to do what they want to do. I was just lucky in my 4-year degree to have some very helpful and 'wealthy' family help to pay down my private college debt to a point where I can support myself - after all, by working for the church I am making about the same amount of money (or less) as people who only have a high school diploma (or even some who don't have a high school diploma). It doesn't bother me that I spent the money to go to a good private school in order to get my theology degree, but the circumstances worked out well for me and I think it was my family's way of helping to support someone trying to go into ministry!
I totally agree with everything you said in this blog post - thanks for saying it! I hope a lot of people check it out and look at their choices realistically...our culture is totally doing the wrong thing by making kids freshly out of high school feel like failures if they don't get a 4-year degree.
I'm glad I'm not the only one thinking this and I'm not going crazy. Every time I talk to someone about it they act like I'm crazy
you make a lot of good points here, but I think the main thing you left out is the value of experience. for instance I have a B.S. degree in criminal justice from the University of Central Florida and right now I'm in the entertainment industry running a PR website, concert promotions company and I've been brought in to run the music division of a media company. the way that I got to where I am is by jumping in head first and getting real world experience. I've made some costly mistakes in the process, however I haven't lost nearly the amount that I would have spent on tuition for a specialty school, and I can pretty much walk into any company and get a job if needed because my education has been through doing, not from reading about someone else doing. If I lose money on a concert or other venture I don't look at it as a loss, rather I look at it as tuition in "music business school."
Tech schools like Fullsail are nice, but they are not the real world, which is the same problem with college. Just because you graduate from college, doesn't mean you have any clue of life in the application of your education--most of the time you need to play extreme catch up right out of the gate.
So, my two cents on to get in the music industry is to get out there and get as much experience as possible. Take on an internship at a record label, manage a local band, try to get a weekly night to promote at a local club, etc. Anything that gets you going through the motions and in the industry will get you that much closer to a career in this industry and you'll be valuable to employers.
Also, network network network!!!!
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