is a college degree worth it?

This article appeared on the frontpage of digg today; Don’t get that college degree!

It’s an interesting read and i’ve asked myself this question time and time again…

As I write this, Google is putting every book ever written online. Apple is offering video college lectures for free download through its iTunes software. Skype allows free videoconferencing anywhere in the world. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and many other schools have made course materials available for free on their Web sites. Tutors cost as little as $15 an hour. Today’s student who decides to learn at 1 a.m. should be doing it by 1:30. A process that makes him wait 18 months is not an education system. It’s a barrier to education….

…..The system must change before students are made poorer, society grows less equal, the bright are left ignorant and “college” comes to mean a four-year pajama party intruded upon by the occasional group discussion on gender studies.

photo credit: Lower Columbia College

Although this article is aimed at the US and their top universities, the same questions can be applied here (in Ireland). I often wonder what would i have done or what would i be doing had i chosen not to go to college and wing it on my own.

Because i’m self motivated most of the time, i wouldn’t be doing nothing – that’s for sure. I would probably be making more of an effort to start up my own business. But i weighed all of that up before i applied for college and college was the ‘safe’ option. The sensible option.

I suppose time will tell whether or not it’s been a wise move for me.