Been a smat on the Twitter timeline recently.

The skirmish of choice?

Courses vs university.

On the one hand, you’ve got people claiming that every single course on the entire net is a scam, and that the people selling them are 

Followed by the inevitable counter argument of “well, 90% of society goes into $100k-$200k of debt to study a course. And it’s called university”.

As always with this newsletter, I’d like to ground you with reality (life is very rarely as “black and white” as the internet makes it seem).

First, let’s establish the “rules”:

The value something holds is determined by the value other people perceive it to hold.

In other words, you don’t get to set the price – your market does.

Ask any trader, or financial investor, about “Tulip Mania” from 1634-1637, and they’ll give you a 20+ minute lecture about this invaluable (and highly profitable) life lesson. 

And this is relevant to the debate because, like it or not, employers do still value (and, probably will for a VERY long time), the traditional education system. 

I have literally seen, with my very own eyes, hiring managers scrunch up, throw away, and completely disregard everything else written on the CV of a candidate who went to a top-10 UK university (Bristol, being the culprit in this instance) because they weren’t deemed high enough calibre for the role.

And given that the majority of society are still STUCK in the traditional path, with no clear exit plan, it seems utterly disingenuous to claim that “university is a scam”.

So, with that in mind, if you (or your kid – there are a broad range of people read my emails, after all), are considering investing in an expensive university course, and would like a bit more nuance than the “my way or the highway” stance you see plastered all over Twitter. 

Here’s are the 3 questions I would ask:

Does the university have a good track record of delivering results?

Do the people who have been through that university speak highly of it?

Will people pay you (highly) to deliver the things you learned in that university? 

(Sorry for all the people wondering why they can’t get a job and are now facing monthly student debt repayments that eclipse their weekly shopping bill because they chose an “underwater basket weaving” degree as their weapon of choice to confront the world, but you just dug your own grave, fella).

Now…

Replace “university” with “course” in the above 3 questions, and you will be able to draw the same conclusion.

And that’s my standpoint:

I am pro education. 

But not just any education.

Good education.

Don’t care if it’s a university.

Don’t care if it’s a course.

(I’ve spent a lot of money on both, lol).

What matters is the quality of the teachings, and how quickly they will benefit both you and the people you apply them to.

That's the real baramoter you should be basing your decisions on.

Talk soon,

Harry