The Case For a Formal Education PDF Print E-mail
Written by Dennis Barassa   
Wednesday, 27 August 2008

A blogger who is no stranger to controversy once blogged about how useless a college education is and how someone can get ahead in this world without it and then went on to spout how many of the top richest people in the world do not have degrees. This to him was case enough that a university education isn’t a necessary tool for success in the world today. 

If there is one thing about which we both agree, it is that a university education is not a pre-requisite for or a guarantee of success in today’s world - but, and this is a big but, it is a useful tool for success in today’s world. Before I embark on this discussion let me let it known that by college education, I am also including 1-2 year certifications and associated degrees; basically anything you have to sit down in a class to learn.

Let us look at one of the major foundations for this young man’s argument. He points out members of the Fortune 100. What I shall do is take a look at a few of the top 10 in no particular order and see how his argument falls flat when you examine them and how they achieved their fortunes.

Bill Gates is one of the best known college drop-outs of all time- masthead for the college-is-unnecessary movement. First and foremost, Gates comes from a wealthy family, his father was a prominent lawyer and his mother was also an achiever in addition to her birth into a wealthy family. So Bill was already well connected at birth. In addition he was a prodigy: by his early teens he was writing source code. He did not finish college but when he decided to start his own software company with Paul Allen, his parents supported him morally and financially. They rest, as we know, is history.

Carlos Slim Helú the telecommunications magnate who surpassed Bill Gates who studied engineering at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. While his engineering degree did not necessarily contribute to his telecommunications holdings, I am sure it had influenced his career.

Lakshmi Mittal is often ranked 4th richest in the world. Mittal not only inherited the Mittal steel business from his father, but he also graduated from St. Xavier's College in Calcutta with a Bachelor of Commerce degree.

Anil Ambani , the sixth richest man in the world runs the Reliance group of companies founded by his father. Ambani holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Mumbai and an MBA degree from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. 

Mukesh Ambani, the fifth richest man in the worldis Anil's brother and runs the petrochemical branch of Reliance Industries. Has an undergraduate degree from the University of Bombay, Bachelor of Chemical Engineering and a graduate degree from Stanford University, Master of Business Administration. Not only did he gather an education in what he focused in, he went on to get a Master’s degree so that he could run the business branch of his business.

The founder of IKEA, Ingvar Kamprad, is one of the few the list who did not bother to step into college. He started IKEA with money from his father.

 The world's biggest real estate magnate, KP Singh, comes from a family of successful landlords and lawyers and is a Science graduate from Meerut College in India.

Oleg Deripaska who owns Basic Element investment firm which is active in the Energy and metals sector is the ninth richest man in the world and has a degree in physics and another in economics.

Karl Albrecht – Took his mother’s store and slowly turned it into the Aldi group of stores making him the richest man in Germany. There is little known about him so no record of college or not.

Warren Buffet who should have been at the top of the list is self-made for the most part, however, in 1950 he enrolled in Columbia Business School to study under his mentor Benjamin Graham.
 
In summary, two of the world's richest men did not go to college, while two others did not graduate from college. The two that dropped out of college are older than sixty years, I shall address this later. So 25% of the 10 richest men in the world never went to college nor did they get a formal education - not winning odds if you ask me. Additionally, a large number of these men found businesses ready for them to run. What they did was either take a place in the business, or go to university and then take their place in the family business. We only have 3 individuals of whom it might be said that they started from scratch or close to it; those are odds of 30%. Once again, odds one would not want to wager on.

Of course this does not mean that one cannot successed without a formal education. However, it is not as easy it was in the 50's and the 60's where an eager young man could set out in the streets and find a mentor who would take him under their wing, give them a place in their business and teach them all the tools of the trade and eventually release them to start their own successful business.  We live in a global environment where certain skills sets and knowledge are expected in the employment sector, manifesting itself in degrees and different certifications.

Could you fresh out of high school start a business and succeed to great riches? Realistically, franchises and other big business have made the market a treacherous battle field for the small scale entrepreneur. If you are in a country like Kenya, with bureaucracy, corruption, inflation and insecurity, a business start-up has an uphill task to financial freedom.

On the other hand, a formal education is not necessarily foolproof, but it is without a doubt a good security to have. Our parents' generation and earlier had a better chance at success without being formally educated. It was not unusual for someone to work for the same company for over 20 years and receive perks and raises commensurate with the time spent at the company. A volatile economy and globalization have made job security a thing of the past.

A formal education, and other skills,  allows one to be a step ahead of the game. When I graduated from college, I could have started my own non-profit sector as I had no capital and little hands-on experience to launch , afterall, this is what I studied in school. Instead, I choose to work in the non-profit sector to gain experience as I raise capital. I probably would have been able to start a non-profit without a college education, but with a very steep learning curve. And I certainly would not be holding the position I have at the organization without a college degree.

A good formal education offers a leg up in many ways. As the world becomes an even smaller village, the standards for efficiency and experiences and skills validation mirror each other in different parts of the world. Save for ambition, very few people can self-educate themselves.  The best solution is, if you can afford to, to find a good institution that will teach what you need to know in a structured way.

The world remembers only winners, so the lucky few who made it to the top with no education at all shall be feted and talked about, but those who failed without an education when they had nothing to fall on after their dreams crashed and burned far outnumber those who made it and are never remembered. It might sound conformist, but there is no doubt that a good education is worth a bird in the hand, a dream without any education or means is worth 2 birds in the bush; still probable but far harder to catch.





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written by Mwangi - the Displaced African , August 28, 2008
Hello hello hello! You know what, one cannot argue with a well thought out argument. Allow me to say you are unequivocally right. Majority of people should remain in college and get a degree in spite of what they want to achieve in life because of the security and safety nets that this provides.

Fortunately I can agree with you and hold on to my initial point, " I wanted to know that education is not the quintessential principle to material and life success as I was taught in my pre-tertiary education."

To be honest had I known about those 25% earlier, or people like Cameron Johnson or folks like Dan Kennedy or Jay Abraham I would have gone in to business for myself a long time ago rather than respond to the fear that without an education I am a nobody and will forever be a nobody.

Fortunately in my experience we have a variable that we can test. Whereas we will take majority of my peers as the control, I shall be in the experimental group where I shall attempt to carve out schools of thought of my own as opposed to accepting pre-carved schools of thoughts. Might be a seratonin imbalance somewhere in my brain but that's what I personally believe I was put on this Earth to do. Fortunately other folks have done it before, so I have exemplars to model on how to do it again. Anyway I am rambling.........

I was told someone had rebutted my post on education and had to stop by to say hello.

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written by acolyte , August 28, 2008
It seems that in your view point you think that education or lack thereof is used by society to define you. I disagree with that much as I also disagree with education being the only path to success.
What you have to ask yourself is how will handle it if you don't make it to be part of the 25%? I know you think you are infallible but at the end of the day numbers and reality don't lie, failure is a possibility and when or if it comes will you be able to handle it?
To work on someone else's model and succeed shall mean that all other factors are equal. Is that the same in your situation? Education doesnt guarantee sucess but it is a very good tool with which to build success. Knowledge when used well can be the greatest weapon someone can have
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written by Mwangi - the Displaced African , August 28, 2008
Education is used by people in society to define you. I can tell you that people remind me of that day after day after day. It's not necessarily something that I like but its definitely part and parcel of African society in this day and age.

Far from being solely my having faith in my infallibility, I think it would have been nice if someone informed me that formal education was fallible, and had its pros and cons, also, because it would have given me greater flexibility in thought and action much earlier on.

In terms of preparation for failure, is there really stronger security in this capitalist world, than having your own money making business and I think we all agree that we have now seen that a degree isn't a necessary pre-requisite to do that.

And I agree, knowledge used well is an extremely powerful force and a man without education is a blind one, formalized institutions of education on the other hand.....here I think we must simply agree to disagree.
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written by acolyte , August 29, 2008
@ mwangi
As for education defining you, yes it plays a major role in some facets of society but I have a simple saying for you; "a poor man's knowledge is despised."
Nothing defines you in our society as much as money and that is a fact that even you cannot deny.
Having a strong successful business is indeed one of the most secure assets you can have but I have to remind you that it's not easy no matter what sector it is and it gets much harder if you don't have a specialized skill or product you are selling. If anyone can set up a business with minimal knowledge and assets in any area rest assured they are not the only person who thinks like that and that niche is very competitive.
So you are running your own online business I gather, what do you know that other people don't and how much is it worth? What are you doing to guarantee your success? Since you eschew a formal education, how do you intend to learn and how will you rate the knowledge set you are obtaining?
With a good plan and attending a high quality educational institute, one can learn from others, learn from a job and then set up their own business with a higher chance of success than someone who just wakes up in the morning with nothing but a dollar and a dream. I do think your refusal of formalized education is rebellion against society nothing more, nothing less. I do hope you can pay the cost for your rebellion in the long run.


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written by Mwangi - the Displaced African , August 29, 2008
I think empty rebellion in an area as important as someone's material success isn't the way to go to be quite frank. If I wanted to rebel I think womanizing and hard partying would be a better way to do it than risk my entire future and the future of my soon to be kids.

Really, you want me to suffer consequences simply to prove a point? Dude come on, the debate isn't that grave.

That having been said, as I've said I agree with both you and the writer in that formalized education is important to most and only a minority can succeed without it.
I simply aspire and focus on the minority for a plethora of reasons that I have described in articles all over the place including:
a) The lack of practical experience of the lecturers - in film school, we weren't being trained by successful directors in the film industry which has a 95% unemployment rate.

Anyway as I said, consider me the experimental group in this experiment of life. Who knows, God may grant you your wish and I may fail.





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written by acolyte , August 29, 2008
Dude, womanizing and hard partying isn't rebellion that is everyday life for most youth and middle aged men. Plus who said I want you to fail. I am simply pointing out the flaws in your chosen path that you seem not to want to see. With your youth it seems comes much hubris and I am simply a sobering voice, to listen or to bristle is your choice.
You do realize for your every point that indicates bad teaching in formal education ie your inexperienced teachers there are counter points for example in my case, I learned the art of public speaking from a man who wrote speeches for presidents, non-profit management from a prof who had over 20 years in the field, self-defence skills from a man who had competed professionally and trained law enforcement. Your experiences with formal education are not the rule, sometimes those who know actually do teach.
Many aspire to be among the chosen but those those who succeed on the very first time after the trials and struggles are minuscule.Vaya con Dios....
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written by Mwangi - the Displaced African , August 29, 2008
Btw what does Vaya con Dios mean?
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Vaya con Dios
written by Amina , August 29, 2008
Spanish for Go with God.

Now on education, and perhaps last words? One cannot underscore enough the importance of a good education in getting ahead. At the same time, if you have found something that works without going to school, it is a blessing, do not advise others against an education, as the experience is only unique to you and a few others. There are many people with an entrepreneurial mind and spirit and this above an education will give them an edge. Now think about this: You have to prepare a business plan, if you do not have internet, what would you do? If you lived somewhere without access? Education, at its best, encourages critical thinking and creativity. You cannot seriously be arguing against information?

Now, in Kenya, there is serious need for education reform. But that is another story.
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written by Mwangi - the Displaced African , September 04, 2008
Aaahh kinda like Godspeed. I get it.

One problem with this debate is that no one is actually arguing against exactly what I said or what I think, it appears that folks have broken down the argument into a:

Formalized education vs Lack of formalized education debate.

My position is much more nuanced and quite separate from that.

My argument is about our perception with formalized education, our relationship with it and the ideas we reinforce in each other and future generations about it.

What I am saying is that we shouldn't continue to perpetuate and live out the idea that without a formalized education and material possessions you are an absolute nobody.
We also shouldn't teach that formalized education is the only way to succeed in this life.

Indeed formalized education has been and probably always will be responsible for the material success of most, but its not the only way. That's my point.

Do I love education? Probably more than most folks I am debating against.
Do I love Universities and TAFEs? Yep
Do I think most people will succeed as a result of tertiary education and probably will have no shot at success without it? Yes indeed.

But its not the only way, and a lack of formalized education and/or material success does not make you any less of a human being.

Hopefully, I have clarified my position.
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raw talent
written by ezz , September 06, 2008
@mwangi
I think you are an extremely talented young man, and I know tonnes of graduates who are nowhere near as competent as you are. You shall succeed. If not, it shall not be because of lack of higher formal education (papers)!
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written by mkosakabila , September 07, 2008
But its not the only way, and a lack of formalized education and/or material success does not make you any less of a human being.


Well said.
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Why thank you
written by Mwangi - the Displaced African , November 14, 2008
To ezz and mkosakabila: Thank you very much!!smilies/grin.gif
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displaced mwangi
written by mkosakabila , November 15, 2008
Now, why do i sense a hint of mischief in ur bountiful expression of gratitude?smilies/wink.gifBut all good-good.
I like your blog too.
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written by gathara , November 15, 2008
Experience may be the best teacher but I find it preferable to profit from the pain of others and hopefully avoid it myself. And, in a nutshell, that is what formal education offers.
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My heroes
written by jaya wardene , November 17, 2008
In this article you shamelessly list a whole load of rich fat millionaires who are 2nd, 3rd, 5th richest with their steel mines, oil-wells and property portfolios and I feel nothing but dismay.

I don't look up to these people. You hold them up as icons or heroes but I see Absolutely Nothing to admire here.

Give me the independent minded, someone that can think. My heroes are all the poor people who, many years ago, gave up their lives so that future generations would know that "this fruit" or "that leaf" was poisonous to eat.

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