Hey Thoughty2 here.
The year is 1096, it will be 203 years until the Ottoman empire will begin and start decorating
many a living room with comfortable foot stools.
In 334 years the Aztec empire will be founded and begin sacrificing 20,000 humans a year,
to keep themselves occupied.
And it will be 487 years until the British Empire start taking over the World by sticking
flags in things and people.
Yet in this year of 1096, what is today the oldest university in the English-speaking
world, Oxford university, will teach its very first lesson.
One hundred and thirteen years later Cambridge university will be founded.
Between them both these two powerhouses of education, spanning back almost a millennium,
have changed the world in more ways than one can count and definitely for the better.
These two research and education establishments are responsible for world-altering inventions
and discoveries such as the Theory of Evolution, IVF, artificial intelligence, heart and lung
transplants, stem cell research, gravity, the discovery of electrons and nuclear fission,
and last but not least, the internet.
And those are just a small selection.
So to try and argue that a University education is a waste of time and money would be futile,
wouldn’t it?
Well all over the world education has changed dramatically since the days when the inventor
of the World Wide Web Tim Berners Lee studied at Oxford University.
And it has even changed over the past 15 years, since Mark Zuckerberg learnt how to ruin the
World Wide Web with Facebook at Harvard University.
University or college education as our transatlantic cousins call it, is today less relevant than
ever before in history and for many young people, attending university could be one
of the most expensive and biggest mistakes they ever make.
Aside from pre-purchasing No Man’s Sky.
All over the developed world we have it drilled into our heads during our school days that
higher education is the path to gold and riches.
Get a college diploma they said, get a university degree they insisted, and you too will be
able to afford champagne, hot tubs and unlimited naked women.
We get told that so frequently by our elders because when they attended university that
was mostly true.
Thirty years ago if you were lucky enough to study at university you were pretty much
guaranteed a job in your field of study.
Engineering graduates would go on to work for car and aircraft manufacturers, media
students could get a job at a broadcasting house and so on.
Provided you got a decent grade your future in a well-paid job was almost guaranteed.
Today things have changed, on average, only half of university and college graduates get
a job in the years following graduation and I’m not even talking about a job that has
anything to do with what they studied.
Statistics show that many of those 50% of employed graduates are working in completely
unrelated or menial jobs, because today less than 30% of all university graduates go on
to work in the field of their degree.
Unless you took the The Underwater Basket Weaving Degree, the demand for them things
is off the charts.
Yes that is a genuine course.
The reason behind this has a lot to do with numbers.
In the 50s, 60s and 70s only the middle class and affluent families could afford to send
their little cretins to university.
Even in the UK where university tuition fees have only existed since 1998, it didn’t
matter because to support the family, children would have to go off to work at the age of
18 or younger, higher education was just never an option.
As a result, in 1950 a pitiful 3% of people in the UK attended university.
Today that has risen to 49%.
That’s obviously a really good thing, as a society we are all now more driven and more
financially able to attend university and educate ourselves in any field we choose.
But the problem is, the number of jobs available has hardly risen at all.
With so many hundreds of thousands of graduates each year in the UK and over 4.5 million new
graduates each year in the US, the competition for the specialised, high paying jobs is greater
than ever before.
And if you graduated in something more general that isn’t so specialised, such as media
or business studies, then good luck to you, because you’ve a got an extremely tough
journey ahead of you.
If you currently are or have been in this situation yourself you will know how horrible
it feels, but if not, imagine spending two to five years at university studying hard,
sitting through countless lectures with a hangover and living off nothing but the two
important student food groups, instant noodles and whatever you just found in the cupboard
on toast.
But finally, after the seemingly longest and hardest years of your life so far, you have
a moment of glory, you graduate, you throw your cap into the air and you are filled with
optimism for the fruitful career that awaits you.
Then six months later you’re working in a call centre, still eating your typical student
diet.
Now imagine all that but you are also joyfully over £50,000 in debt.
And this exact situation is not just befallen on a fringe group of graduates, the majority
of university graduates, over 70% find themselves in a career they never wanted, and almost
100% will be in debt for the next 30+ years.
I’m not here to say whether Universities should be free or not, because truthfully,
there are incredibly strong arguments on both sides of that fence.
On one hand, charging tuition fees makes students value and appreciate the opportunity more
strongly and they tend to put more effort in.
Also, without having to rely on government handouts universities can also offer a higher
quality of education and more resources for students.
But conversely, if university fees are completely abolished, a greater diversity of people are
given an opportunity to better themselves and in the long-term it actually pays off
for the government and society, because a generally better educated society are going
to contribute more to the country’s economy in the future through increased innovation
and business.
The Shittin’ Shake Weight didn’t invent itself you know!
University or college graduates are also statistically far less likely to be involved in crime, reducing
policing and prison costs and are less likely to rely on social welfare during their lifetime.
Just think about it, when was the last time you saw a Doctor of Theoretical Physics having
a custody battle with their sister on Jeremy Kyle?
Each year millions of young people graduate from university but a poll recently conducted
in the UK showed that one-third of university graduates regret going to University in the
first place.
So what’s the issue here?
Do students just regret how much money they spent on instant noodles and booze?
Probably, but that’s not the main issue.
Whether you paid for your tuition or not, the problem is what you’re actually getting
in return for your hard spent time and money.
When polled 49% of graduates said they could have gotten the job they are currently doing
without ever attending University.
The problem isn’t just the sheer number of university graduates out there and the
huge competition.
Over the years the true value of a university degree has been eroded away to become increasingly
worthless, just like Windows.
Over recent years the percentage of university graduates achieving a first or 1:1 has risen
sharply.
In the UK ministers have spoken out about how they believe Universities are increasingly
making it easier in sneaky ways, for their students to achieve higher marks so that the
establishment looks better on paper and they can better compete in University league tables.
And to make things worse, it’s believed that in many universities across the globe
corruption and abuse of funds is rife, if the reports are to be believed then it’s
particularly bad in US higher education.
Surely the 50 thousand plus you borrowed to attend university is put to good use?
It’s spent on hiring the best teachers and purchasing the best facilities for students,
is it not?
Well yes, a lot of it is, but many journalists have uncovered a seedy underbelly in many
top universities.
Many higher up staff, such as University presidents earn more than many CEOs of big corporations.
Apart from day to day management, the primary role of a University president is fundraising.
This involves horrendously arduous tasks, such as wining and dining international visitors,
or even jet setting off to exotic locations for days at a time for “meetings”.
And of course, University funds are used to pay for all of these activities.
Universities have long been viewed as non-profit establishments, but journalists believe that
today many large American universities are acting more like for-profit corporations.
They are increasingly engaging in patenting and licensing of ideas, concepts and innovations,
which only opens up opportunities to profit from an idea and is directly contradictory
to providing open education for all.
And this is just scratching the surface, Unesco released a report called “Corrupt schools,
corrupt universities: What can be done?”
after six years of investigation into schools and universities worldwide.
The report claims that education at all levels is corrupted with embezzlement, illegal registration
fees and academic fraud, among other shady practices.
I’m not trying to put anyone off higher education, for so many people it can absolutely
be the right choice and the best thing they will ever do.
But if you are turning against the idea, then what are your alternatives?
Well, unfortunately if your dream is to be a doctor, dentist or engineer I’m afraid
you will have to attend university, since they are strictly regulated, after all, would
you want to operated on by a surgeon who got their diploma from the university of YouTube?
But those specific careers aside, the only thing stopping you from achieving your dream
job is your passion.
The most important thing you can do in your professional life is whatever makes you happy,
if you’re about to start your career, you may think that by opting for a well-paid but
boring job you will have a happy life, but I promise you the day will come when you will
wish you followed your true passion.
And if you’re already 30 years down the line and you already realised this 20 years
ago, then I’m truly sorry my friend, I think it’s about time for your mid-life crisis,
if you like I can just give you a list of numbers for Porsche dealerships.
But today, with the internet, the opportunities to do what you love are limitless, and literally
the only thing stopping you from doing what you love, is your willingness to try and if
you stick around until the end of this video, I’ll tell you a story that will make you
want to stop everything you’re doing and follow your dreams, no matter how big they
are.
One of the absolute best places on the internet to achieve your dreams and indulge your passion
is SkillShare.
Skillshare is an online learning community with thousands of classes in design, business,
technology and more.
Premium Membership gives you unlimited access to high quality classes on must-know topics,
so you can improve your skills, unlock new opportunities, and do the work you love.
One Skillshare course I found absolutely essential is “The Writer's Toolkit: 6 Steps to a Successful
Writing Habit”.
Whether your dream is to be a novelist, journalist or even write videos like me, this course
teaches you how to express your ideas and avoid writer’s block, it’s an absolute
must.
What’s so great about Skillshare is how affordable it is, an annual subscription is
less than $10 a month and for what you get, that’s unbelievable value.
I know I go on about Skillshare a lot, but that’s only because I truly believe in what
it offers and what everyone can get out of it, I have yet to find a self-learning platform
out there that rivals the professionalism, and wealth of incredible knowledge you can
find on Skillshare, whether you want to realise a lifelong dream or simply start a new side
project, Skillshare is a must have tool.
And since Skillshare is sponsoring this video, the first 500 people to use the promo link
in the description will get their first 2 months for free.
So about that story I promised you.
There are hundreds of rags to riches stories, each one is inspiring in its own way but there
is one entrepreneur who has perhaps suffered more than any other on his journey to success.
Californian John Paul DeJoria is today worth $4 billion, but not so long ago he was homeless.
Let me tell you exactly how that happened.
DeJoria grew up in a very poor household without a father, at nine years old he started selling
newspapers so his mother and brother could eat.
Eventually DeJoria was sent to a foster home when his mother could no longer support him
and his brother.
In school his maths teacher told him “he would never succeed at anything in life”
and DeJoria says that ever since that moment he was determined to change his life.
An interesting side note, my maths teacher once told me the exact same thing, seriously,
what is wrong with maths teachers?
Also, if you’re watching haha!
But if only things were that simple for DeJoria, because from here on out things only got worse
for him.
At 22 DeJoria's wife abandoned him and their two-year-old son, but not before she secretly
drained every dime from his bank account and took his only car.
It’s not really my place to say, but wow, what a grade A bitch!
DeJoria was subsequently evicted from their flat and forced to live on the streets with
his infant son.
He was homeless for some time and resorted to rummaging through bins to find empty bottles.
At this time you could trade in empty bottle at grocery stores for a couple of cents.
He did this for a while to make money to buy food for his son.
Eventually DeJoria got a job as a door to door salesman.
The job requirements must have listed “must make a good stereotype” because he sold
encyclopedias.
One day DeJoria decided to start a hair care company with his friend Paul Mitchell, who
was also broke.
Incredibly they managed to secure a $500,000 investment from a venture capitalist, but
on the day they were supposed to launch the company the only investor pulled out, leaving
them with nothing.
This forced DeJoria to become homeless once again, he began living out of his car.
So in one last ditch attempt to make his hair care company a success, he and his business
partner Paul Mitchell pooled all their money together, and DeJoria asked his mum for a
loan of $300.
All of this added up to just $700.
But it was just enough to produce their first bottles of shampoo, they even had to print
the packaging in black and white because they couldn’t afford colour.
According to DeJoria, during the first two years they nearly went bankrupt almost every
day, but eventually they managed to slowly build up the business and their customer base
of salons.
After two years they were able to finally pay their bills and focus on growing the business.
Their brand John Paul Mitchell Systems became a global success, selling in 150,000 salons
all over the globe.
John Paul DeJoria had everything taken from him twice and was homeless twice, today the
man is worth $4 billion.
Off the back of his success in hair care also started a premium Tequila company called Patron
Spirits, which he just recently sold to Bacardi for $5.1 billion.
Now if DeJoria’s story doesn’t give you the determination to stick to and pursue your
dreams no matter what, then nothing will.
At the end of the day, whether you’re university educated or not, there’s only one person
that can make you successful, you.
And it won’t be your college or university diploma that’s responsible, it will be your
determination to make it happen.
Thanks for watching.