Let me begin this section by stating that I am a true advocate of education. There is a problem, however with the perception of achieving an education by society and the reality of achieving that education in the real world. Since I was a child, I've always heard the same advice: stay in school, get good grades, and then go to college and major in something that makes a lot of money, and you will become financially successful. While it is indeed true that some people have been able to follow this formula to riches, most don't, and statistics show that the number who do will decrease as we move further into the future. Why is this? Well, first off, before you put down this book and dismiss my statement, it is important to understand that knowledge and education are necessary and mandatory, but by themselves, “do not guarantee riches.”
Many of the students who are graduating from college today will go on to be highly paid employees in a corporation. If they are skilled, and get their degree in a field that is specialized or high in demand, their income could be well over $60,000 per year, putting them in the category of being middle class. However, the middle class and the rich are two different groups. Who do you think is in a better position, the guy who spent three years in school, graduated with a bachelor's degree, accumulated $25,000 in debt in the process, and is now making $50,000 per year getting taxed at more than 25 percent, or would you rather be the guy who “owns the company,” who employs the graduate to work for him, and who makes $5 million per year, and only pays 10% in taxes, with little debt? If you want to become rich, you will want to become the guy who “runs the company,” not the guy who works for it.
The biggest problem with our educational system today is that it teaches students how to become highly paid employees, and little else. Students spend too much time in the classroom, being taught theory instead of the practical aspects of running a business. Statistics continually show that those who tend to become millionaires, multi-millionaires, or billionaires are often those individuals who spent little to know time in college, who spent most of their time out in the real world gaining real experience in their areas of interest. Many of these individuals learned to conquer both adversity and fear while taking risks, again, things that you will not learn in a classroom.
To truly become rich, you must be a capable leader, and the very first person that you must be capable of leading is yourself. If you can conquer the person you see when you look in the mirror, then leading others will be easy by comparison. While knowledge and education can bring you power, this is only true when the knowledge and education is used in the right way. Most college students are only taught to be subservient employees for another’s benefit, and at the end of the day, it is often the people they work for who become rich, not them. While getting a higher education can indeed allow you to transition from the working poor category into becoming middle class, under no circumstances will it allow you to become rich.