I was homeschooled. The idea was to provide an education, avoid miseducation, and make me financially self-sufficient.
The nearest college was Bucknell, which my folks could easily have afforded. Of the three requirements mentioned above, it would only have met the first. Having been prepared, I could have obtained an education there without a great deal of interference, but it would have been on someone else’s dime, and the rampant alcohol and drug abuse at Bucknell, plus the liberal political atmosphere, made it unacceptable.
So I went to work and invested my starting salary. I still work — I enjoy it. The investments have made me financially secure.
I’m several years short of my 30th birthday.
Meanwhile, I know two people who studied welding. One’s 19, the other is 22. They found starting salaries of about $30 an hour — a lot more than my starting salary.
They don’t fit the myth either.
Nor do all the men and women who choose to join the military.
You don’t need the overpriced wall art, the diploma. All you need is to learn something, stay away from drugs, and perform dependably (show up on time, on schedule, and do the job). Companies are desperately looking for people who fit that description. If you can’t do that, the college degree won’t take you any farther than the bus to the burger joint.
I've known 3 CotO graduates over they years, and they all were outstanding people with terrific work ethics.
Mark