Should we STILL encourage #students to attend #college?

Should we STILL encourage #students to attend #college?

As a professional #STEM speaker, event organizers often request 'college readiness' to be a part of my messaging.

But I'm not sure if I should.

Here are a couple reasons:

1) According to recent surveys, a significant percentage of #GenerationZ students want to be entrepreneurs.

2) The Digital Age has begun to transform our workforce from almost exclusively corporate to freelancer-friendly.

Professionals now get paid for their #SKILLS, and not necessarily their degrees. Lucrative skills like #coding and multimedia #production can be learned cheaply, when compared to the cost of tuition.

However, in the #sciences, degrees still are widely regarded as the barrier to entry.

Still, if a student's ultimate goal is to own their own business, should they spend over $100k to be in debt for a piece of paper? Or should they seek an apprenticeship under an up-and-coming #entrepreneur? OR should they spend that time working and teaching themselves #digital skills on the side?

The #equity gap causes another wrinkle. Not all students have access to the network necessary to leverage their digital skills.

I think it's time to reassess where we are pushing our students. What are your thoughts?

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#STEM #AI #KeynoteSpeaker #Education