Classic

Sometimes I'm just tired. Of everything. It just seems too much effort to plough on in life when I don't even know what I'm trying to reach. Everything I do seems to require effort. Nothing comes easily to me. Well, alright, except for school. But even school is beginning to look a bit pointless to me. What is the point anyway? Theoretically, I could go work for my father, despite my distaste at the prospect, which I will not go into here. In that case, what value will a university degree really hold? If I'm working for my father, I could tell people I graduated first in my class at MIT, and nobody would dispute it. In that case, I should just drop this whole school thing and start work straight away. Save me three years of my life too.

Even if I don't cave in and go sponge off my dad, the value of a university degree has become suspect in my mind. After all, all the degree is worth is about ten seconds in the job interview when the interviewer looks at the copy of the degree, goes,

"Hmmm, so you're from the University of Chicago, eh?"

After that, it is set aside. Three years of work for ten seconds of recognition. Is it worth it? If I were to start work now at whatever level I can, is it possible for me to work my way up to the same level as a fresh university graduate? I suspect it is. In that case, why do I not? Some may claim that the career path of university graduates is smoother and faster than non-graduates. That may be true, but do I really want to stick to the corporate flag flying sort of career anyway? How is that going to make me millions of dollars? Even the CEO of Citibank, pretty much in the highest echelons of corporate existence, makes something like $10 million a year. Which is pretty good, but what are the chances that I will manage to make it to the ranks of the top 10 or 20 executives in the world? Pretty damn remote.

Note that I do not think I am not capable of joining that exclusive club, but the chances of everything running in my favour through 30 years of my career, which is pretty much what would be necessary to make it that far, is low. I am certain there are plenty of extremely capable people who are simply not lucky enough to rise as high as they might go.

So the alternative might be to go start my own business. If I do that, what precisely is all this fine education good for? I have never heard of a successful businessman constructing a mathematically precise economic model to guide his or her actions. If you were to show Jürgen Schrempp my homework from Econ 200, there is a good chance he would not be able to make heads or tails of it. Ever heard of somebody making a wildly successful business decision because the economists told him to? I certainly haven't. It doesn't take an MBA or a PhD in economics to be good at doing business. The classic story is of the poor kid who became a billionaire from his humble beginnings as an entry level sort of worker by being very very sharp. Look at Li Ka Shing. He didn't rely on an excellent education or complex economic models to become rich as hell.

So what am I doing? The stated purpose of my education is to gain me a headstart in the race to the top of the economic ladder. But will it, really? Unless I change the way I perceive my education, the value is beginning to be lost on me.

Maybe I'm just tired.