There are several people who strongly believe that having a college degree is not always a needed ingredient for success. In fact, Elon Musk believes that a college degree is not needed to be successful and he points to success stories like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs to prove his point. He does admit that a college degree does give one an advantage, but says he doesn’t believe a college degree is a significant factor to greatness.
Elon Musk is a tech genius who founded PayPal, Tesla and SpaceX. In a 2014 interview, he says that he usually asks people to talk about their career, their challenges and how they have coped with challenges and decision making. He claims that just listening to them talk is enough to give him an insight about the person. What he looks for is not a person’s academic qualification, but a sign that the person has an exceptional ability. He believes that it is that exceptional ability and not the academic qualification that drives one to success as illustrated in the lives of Bill gates, Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison.
Musk is not making a point against education. He agrees that it is a worth the investment. All he is saying is that having a degree does not guarantee success. He believes that there are several out-of-class methods of obtaining necessary information in many fields.
The internet for one is such a tool that is full of information and easily accessible. Trade schools and internship programs can also help one acquire needed knowledge in a chosen field. Since college is getting more expensive and out for reach for many U.S citizens, it becomes important that many seek alternative means to get the knowledge that they need to succeed. College usually places many individuals in debt that they have to pay off for many years. Thinking of all this would make one see the rationality behind Musk’s statement that college isn’t necessary for success.