Pop Quiz: Value vs. Value

Take this quick quiz. You should do fine.

Which of the following is worth more?

A. Diamonds

B. The Mona Lisa

C. Oxygen D. Water

Do the research. You will find out that the obvious answer is:

#1: The Mona Lisa is BY FAR worth the most.

#2: Diamonds are easily in second place. Very expensive.

#3. Water is cheap. Actually it is free in most countries. There is a lot of water. If you have to purchase it, say a bottle of water everyday for a year, it would be about $600 per year. Way below the two above.

#4. Oxygen is cheap. Actually it is free. It is everywhere. If you do have to purchase higher quality oxgen it is still cheap.

= ?

Q2: Which of the following is worth more?

A. A Bachelor's Degree in College

B. A Masters' Degree in College

C. Skills

D. Experience

Do the research. You will find out that the obvious answer is:

#1. A Bachelors' Degree usually costs the most. It is extremely expensive.

#2. A Masters' Degree. Usually a little bit cheaper than a Bachelors' Degree, although the Bachelors' Degree is required to receive the Masters' Degree.

#3. Skills can be developed for free (especially thanks to technology) via Udemy, Coursera, Udacity, etc... If you want extremely high quality skills, you can get it for about $250 per year on www.Lynda.com, which is far cheaper than the two listed above.

#4. Experience - This is free. Get out there and get experience. You can find opportunities to experience most things. Some you need an "in" for, but most you can just do.

= ?

We live in a strange world. If everyone woke up tomorrow and decided that diamonds were worthless, they would simply be a mineral worth almost nothing. If everyone decided that the Monal Lisa painting was worth nothing, it would simply be some paper, wood, paint..... actually it would be a bunch of litter. Oxygen & Water, however, are priceless. You need them to survive in this world. Without them you would die.

Transition to the world of careers, life skills, parenting, relationships, self-advocating, etc... A Bachelor's Degree is essentially a piece of paper. Litter. A Masters' Degree is simply a piece of paper. Litter. If everyone woke up tomorrow and decided that these degrees were worthless, they would simply be pieces of paper. Now obviously you will develop some skills and gain some experience when you earn them, but that is not what the question was. What is the degree worth? Skills and Experience (especially skills), however, are priceless. You need them to survive in this world. Without them, in the career/"real world, you would likely die....or experience a very difficult life.

This world is going to change as soon as the work world starts saying that they care about WHAT YOU CAN DO instead of WHAT DEGREE DO YOU HOLD.

Google has embraced this philosophy and they are insanely successful. Why haven't other businesses, companies, organizations embraced this yet, especially when there are so many wonderful opportunities for a motivated learner to gain skills, knowledge, and experience online? I don't know the answer to this, I imagine it is because they are scared to deviate from the comfortable status quo. I do know that there will be many, many, many companies that benefit GREATLY by switching to this model. I do know that there will be many companies that collapse because they fail to adopt this philosophy. I am positive. Read this post in 25 years. It will happen. It is happening.

Then, and only then, can the education system be revived and students everywhere can be relieved from the stress placed on them by a broken system. In the meantime college prices skyrocket. They are taking the money and building insanely enormous and expensive buildings, rec centers, and commons. They had to switch their marketing scheme in order to survive another decade. Going to college is slowly becoming like going to Disney World, only about $60,000 more per person.

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