Do I need a university degree to work?
Opinions on higher education are divided into two camps. Some shout that a degree is nothing, experience is everything! Others argue that higher education is a guarantee of knowledge and success. This article will reveal whose side of the truth is on.
What exactly is the beast - higher education?
By conception, this is an educational institution whose main purpose is to train specialists in various fields of science. Students must be taught not only theory, but also practice. In fact, we have a theoretical education based on outdated curricula, and some universities are somehow trying to give students practical knowledge. It is not always successful, but it is better than nothing.
The theoretical knowledge obtained in higher education institutions is not all that straightforward. There are basic sciences, the knowledge of which everyone should know. It is clear that the world is changing rapidly, and information is also rapidly becoming outdated. The universities with their bureaucracy do not have time to change the established curricula so often, but at least the basic knowledge they try with all their might to put into the heads of their students. They succeed in this with varying degrees of success.
Practice is simple. There is no practice. In the best case, students do something close to their future work, in the worst case, they have an internship "on paper". That is why, when they come to their first job, they have no idea how to work at all or what to do.
The next problem for students is the choice of the profession
The results of the surveys are very disappointing. 90% of graduates are disappointed with their chosen speciality and have not chosen their training direction at all. Their parents chose for them. Mum or dad said: you'll be an accountant, because you're a girl. So the girl, after a few years of suffering at the desk, went to work as a sales assistant. She barely made it through university. She has 0 knowledge, 0 relevant experience, her salary demands after her work as a sales assistant do not correspond to reality. And on the other hand, what did we expect, if children at the age of 16 and 17 have to make one of the key decisions in their life and decide what specialty to choose? Or they have made that decision for them.
There are not many stories with happy endings in the situation of conscious choice of profession. At the age of 17, the profession seemed interesting, but by the age of 20, priorities have changed. The result: it is possible to change a speciality, but already difficult, and it is late. It is time to work and earn a living independently. Not everyone manages to work and study. And work experience after graduation is already formed in the profession in accordance with the diploma, or even in another area. The expediency of getting another degree is questioned.
Positive and negative examples
To the above are actively replicated stories from the yellow press about people who reached the top of the food chain, not having higher education. Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Henry Ford. The list goes on and on. And practically everyone can find examples of relatives without higher education, let's call them uncles and aunts, who stuffed their mattresses with rustling banknotes and thus provided themselves with a comfortable old age. It is thanks to such examples that young people often drop out of higher education, or choose the path where there is no similar institution at all, and go off to conquer the world of big business, starting with a small IE to resell goods from China. And when the business bursts like a bubble, they go looking for work. Some are lucky enough to be hired without a degree. Those who want prospects and career advancement are not so lucky. They may get a job, but career growth goes to those who have a diploma. Therefore, it is better to pay attention to other example, the most educated hollywood stars, for which it would seem, why do they need a degree? But their examples are inspiring.
And so, having watched the examples of success of people without higher education, having assessed all the futility of obtaining a particular specialty, having dropped out of training or having chosen the path without it, young people come to find employment. And here employers come into play. Somebody from management does not really care about diploma or not, as long as the person works well. They inquire a little, look with a squint and hire as a sales assistant or a handyman with a promise of career development. A higher position is taken by someone with a degree or who has worked in his profession for at least 10 years, although without education.
A lot of managers are of the same opinion that if a person has graduated from university, it is an indicator that he has coped with the task of obtaining a diploma. It means he will cope with his work tasks. And if he could not get a diploma, he is a failure, and what is the point of having such a person? And in this case also the received specialty does not matter. Higher education is not a profession, it is a way of thinking. So they think. It is difficult not to agree with this, at least because there are quite a lot of professions for which specialists are not trained in universities. You have to look for smart guys, who will work with the manager, and train them on the job.
But there are some professions where you can't do without a diploma in your specialty at all. Many will not want to go to a surgeon who has a secondary vocational education in car repair. Would you be prepared to fly on a flight knowing that pilots have no flying training? I don't think so. Life is somehow more precious, after all.
The truth could have remained somewhere near, and the two opposing camps would have continued to argue the case. But such a tool as professional standards was invented. The long dispute is now sealed. What does it say? They are a complete list of requirements, skills, knowledge and competencies for almost all the positions and professions that exist today. And they clearly spell out the requirements for the level and direction of professional training for one or another position.
