During the last weekend of October, both my daughter and I read the 10/31/2011 issue of Time magazine. She made several comments on some of the articles there.

On this article “I Owe U: Student debt is on track to top $1 trillion this year. What happens when diplomas stop opening doors?,” the author lists many sad cases in which students incur tremendous amount of debts, yet upon graduation, unable to find a job or well-paid one to meet its debt obligations.

“OMG, how could one borrow nearly $170, 000 to study documentary filmmaking? You can’t even find a job with that major. How can you pay off your debts if you don’t have a job?” my daughter commented. The sad part is we have too many unfortunate cases like this.

While I applaud for those who chase their dreams and follow their passions, regardless of the cost, I lament the hard consequence of this impractical approach to life. I believe they are much better off chasing something practical if they cannot excel by a giant step in their dream yet not-marketable field. After all, one needs food and shelter and a decent human existence before anything else.

On 10/10/2011, after I got my daughter back from school, she took an hour nap while I prepared her tea and food. After she got up, I took her to Barnes&Noble bookstore on Towncenter, where she prepared for the coming PSAT.

The next day, 10/11, we did the same thing except we went to the bookstore at Oak Park Mall, where she could find PSAT practice book.

She was going to take this exam on 10/12. I told her taking this and other exams was like playing games. All games have rules. To play well, you must know the rule and go by it. A smart student is good at finding out the rule of the game and play to her advantage.

If your parents made you start piano lesson at age 5 or drawing or Chinese or marshall art or tennis lesson or whatever your mom was fancy of cramming on you at your tender age, after 10 years of hard drilling or by the time you enter high school, you should be good enough to torture a group of 5-year-olds with the same tenacity and dead seriousness, as if they paid you a million dollar for doing that. Trust me the benefit goes far beyond any monetary measurement.

How? Go to a local primary school or library or nursing home, tell them you have skills and are willing to share them with the children or senior citizens, free of charge. You offer to organize kid’s club, teaching whatever you can brag about. People love freebies, especially now when money runs so low. Parents embrace it when their youngsters are learning something without their having to pay for it. Don’t forget to hold a performance party at the end of the activity as a report and showcase to the parents of how great you are.

During holiday season when you hear the extreme boring money-begging bell sound from Salvation Army, you volunteer to marshal a group of primary school children, teach them some crafts and sell their work. The handsome proceeds go to the Salvation Army.

If you love, say math or English, go to an elementary school and share your enthusiasm over it by offering free tutoring in math or whatever you are crazy about. After all, what’s the use of your good math skill if you don’t put it to good use? Like an investment, the earlier you put your skills to good use, the higher the return will be.

The key is be creative, be a passionate leader and be daring and original in a good way. Be one of a kind. Never ever follow the crowd like one of the mindless herd. Of course, it is always safe to follow the beaten path. But don’t you hate the idea of being safe among a crowd? I told my children security is for senior folks, definitely not for the daring youth.

Finally, your volunteer experience can potentially be a great topic for your college application essay. Now high schoolers, rise to the occasion, make difference and do something marvelously good to your otherwise boring existence.

I once heard this saying, somewhere I forgot where. It goes like this: the highest reward for your work is not what you get for it, but what you become because of it. An event or experience always means more than what it appears on the surface.

First of all, to the admission officer, the process of seeking volunteer opportunities reveals more of you than the fact you donate unpaid time to some place. You should make full use of this opportunity to let your outstanding character shine through your narration of this process.

Secondly, for volunteer ideas, your mind and soul must be out of the conventional box. You must believe there is an inexhaustive gold mine in you and search for this wealth inside you. If you don’t have this bottom line self-confidence, you are better off without any big dream, which is perfectly okay. After all, not many people have big dreams.

Next, think of anything you can claim to be capable of doing and are willing to share with those who is so eager to be on the receiving end as long as it is free. By the time you enter high school, you got to be good at something.
To be continued…

First of all, what do you want to show to the world through your volunteering activities?

1) You are unselfish when everybody tries to get something for nothing and you give something for nothing.

2) You have time to donate to a good cause that you believe in. That’s also good.

3) You are willing to make all kinds of personal sacrifices in order to get into your dream college.

If you don’t have anything other than these three reasons, this is almost the dead end for you. Because (1) it is not a challenge to come up with this; (2) it shows you are so one of the crowd, so banal, so empty of ideas and creativity or anything shining that we want to see in a leader that we don’t see the promise of a bright future in you.
To be continued…

Last Saturday a Chinese parent talked to me about volunteering work for building up high-school resume. It seems an almost banal routine item that a child got to have on their resume if they aspire to any good college. The problem is — this is far from being enough.

As this parent told me, some awesome, church-attending kid going to all kinds of volunteering activities with straight-As throughout high school, yet was rejected by the college he was so ready to spend next 4 years in. “What is it that they want?” she asked.

What I see in this type of children is they are too conventional, too much of a product of a routine, going through the motions, without a demonstrated real passion for something of their own.

For a starter, here are the problems with this church-going kid and also here are some of my volunteer ideas that guarantee to push them to the frontline among thousand of applicants.
To be continued…

PS. today I took my daughter to Leawood library after school. I saw the same girl volunteering there with the same listless look, which reminded me of this posting.

“If your dreams do not intimidate you, they are not big enough.”

“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it’s happened.”

Anshul Bhagi gave salute and presentation of the class gift, at the end of which he quoted a poem by Rudyard Kipling, part of it actually.

IF by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build’em up with worn-out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

Anshul changed the ending to “you’ll be an MIT alumnus, my son.”

To be sure, the whole MIT commencement process was very inspiring. I hope that all the participants feel this way. The speech made by Ursula Burns was one of these moments. Below are the quotes from her speech.

“Keep it real, keep it short.”
“Do not be discourageous… extenuate the positive, eliminate the negative
“Have fun–do the career that gives you pleasure.
“Change but be true to yourself in the process

“Set your sights on changing the world

“Don’t do anything that won’t make your mother proud.”

Summer is the best occasion to enrich children’s life’s experience. Summer activities could include the following:
A summer camp
An internship
Self-initiated volunteer activity (Don’t ask others to give you volunteer work. Create your own)
An oral history project with a local organization
A personal project by yourself or with your friend
Pursuit of a hobby
Start your own business
Work for others
Travel + travel-log
Set a goal for the summer

For a high school student, if you plan well and manage your time, you can have an accomplished summer even if you have not attend a summer school. When you look back, you will have a very interesting story to write about, much more interesting than a classroom can offer. Very often, compared to the richness and diversities of outside world, life spent in a summer classroom is a bit boring and lack of varieties, which reminds me of the time when I had to take summer school, sitting by the window, my eyes following the flying birds and my mind wandering thousand miles away.

On the evening of 5/17/2011, I went to a neighboring Chinese family to give her some of my vegetable plants. I was in a hurry to go back, still she wanted to chat about children’s summer plan and preparation for college, all the fun stuffs that we Chinese parents like to worry our heads off.

Since she asked for my advice about summer activities, I told her briefly that summer was the best time for many meaningful activities. Both of my children went to summer school during their high school years. Still, I would not recommend going to school in summer if you have something better to do.

I believe two semesters classroom learning in a year are good enough. Summer school is for those who don’t have any place to go or don’t know how to make good use of their time or who have to take some courses as they have either failed to take or failed to pass these courses. Remember we learn things not only via books but also through a variety of experience. My advice is to plan well for a fruitful summer outside school.

During the weekend of 9/26, I read an article by Karen Burns entitled “21 Secrets to Getting the Job.”

To be sure, this is a very long list and most of them are not even relevant to me. What captures my attention is number one on the list — Become a decent public speaker.

“What better way to shine at job interviews, or in staff meetings, or at business luncheons than to express yourself clearly, confidently, coherently, and concisely? Speaking makes you visible. Speaking makes you memorable. Speaking can even make you look smarter than you really are…”

Rightly so! In fact, being a good speaker also benefits a person who is not in job market. A good speaker always feels good about himself, often with overblown ego and higher-than-sky self-esteem. Without ever practicing public speech, a person often finds himself unable to find his tongue in public or even fear of hearing his own voice.

That’s why I have emphasized to my children the importance of good oral and written communication skills, encouraging them to take either speech or debate class.

I was speechless when I heard of Tyler Clementi’s tragic death, too sad to say anything. I was struck by the following.

(1) How frail and sensitive is a human mind at this tender age and how easy it is to break the ultimate limit and crush his will to live! When the parents think the boy has turned 18 years old and become independent, they are wrong again.

(2) One can never under-estimate the vulgarity and the mean-spiritedness of some human beings who film and post online the on-goings inside one’s bedroom. They are shamelessly repulsive to the extreme!

(3) Technology, specifically what goes live online via youtube, without any filtering or censor, also plays a role in this tragedy.

It leaves so much for us to ponder. How should we prepare our youngsters for th cruelty that they might encounter after they leave home for college?

This is a fit topic for back-to-school week. On 8/13/2010, I read an article — “More college students mentally ill: The number of college students with severe mental illness, including those on psychiatric medications, is rising.” by Shari Roan, carried on Los Angeles Times. The report was based on the data presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Assn. in San Diego in August 2010, with the lead author of the study, John Guthman of Hofstra University.

“In 1998, 93% of the students seeking counseling were diagnosed with one mental disorder, compared to 96% of students in 2009.”

Here are two kinds of problems that college students might possibly face. That is, from what I can observe.

First of all, not all the college kids can adjust well to life away from home. When they suddenly find their freedom, they don’t know what to do with it, or they will feel lonely, isolated and are unable to make new friends when they are cut off from the old ones.

Secondly, the stress of college courses is new to nearly all of them. Some will freak out when they feel too much overwhelmed with the course load. I learned of a student from China here who failed in one after another course and simply locked himself in his apartment, going deeper into his despair and depression.

To be sure, college life, once in lifetime, away from home, surrounded by young and handsome and hopefuls, should be fun and enjoyable. You would assume so. But with the rising cases of depression and mental disorder, parents should get the warning message and start realizing that life is not as carefree as we imagine. We still need to check on them to make sure they are in good mental and emotional shape, even if they are away from home.

Some of my friends asked for my son’s resume so that they would know how to help their children for college application. I told my son of this. He made some comments, which is very sensible. He said, “You must have your own dream. Find out your own passions. Life is too short to live other people’s dream and not your own.” I wish parents can take heed of this advice.

On one Saturday afternoon, I read Success magazine while waiting for my daughter’s art lesson. There is an article asking “How Have You Reinvented Yourself?” The answers are below.
24% answered started my own business
22% managed stress better and focus on the present
31% lost weight
17% took control of my finance
6% devoted more time to the family

Last Sunday I took my daughter and a neighboring girl to skating. From their conversation I learned of two Chinese children who were excellent academically but were rejected by their dream places — MIT and Harvard. They are excellent at least in the eyes of their parents.

On Monday evening, the mother of this girl talked to me over the phone on how to get into a good college. Why were these children rejected, with their extraordinary academic achievements and plenty of extracurriculum activities? The following is what I shared with her. I would suggest parents read my postings under College for further ideas.

(1) Keep in mind one’s perfect SAT score plus a bunch of excellent AP results are only a referencce for the admission officers. They guarantee nothing, especially if the child is an Asian American and there are too many of this kind.

(2) Admission officers evaluate the whole person, qualities like responsibilities, independence, maturity, commitment, leadership, dream and ideals. From this grand schema, academic behavior is only a small part of the story.

(3) The children may have devoted a large chunk of time to extracurrilum activities, but what admission officers look for is they do it because they have passion for it, not because they feel obligated or they just want to impress the admission officers.

(4) In the end, this is what I want to tell both my neighbor and all parents — there is no one sure way to reach the top, no guarantee whatsoever, with so many uncertainties that are beyond our control. If a child is excellent, he/she will shine no matter where.

Finally, it is always nice to know that all roads lead to Rome. Just remember it is the child’s own journey and make sure the child enjoys his journey to his goal. As my son put it, life is too short to live other people’s dream.

Last Saturday, 8/21, we went to a friend’s house for a potluck. As usual, such a gathering consisted of healthy eating and talking; no alcohol and smoke, nice and clean. Since all three families have college kids to support at the moment, we inevitably moved from the topic of the economy to college expenses.

While very few American families give full financial support to their college-bound children, most Chinese families here try to relieve their children of any financial worries while the kids are in college. Even a Chinese neighbor of ours working at a restaurant satisfied whatever their college daughter wanted. As long as we can afford it, we don’t want our children to get student loans with a high interest rate and a heavy burden upon graduation.

To be sure, it is definitely a priviledge for the Chinese children to have such supportive and self-sacrificing parents. On the other hand, it is expected that children appreciate what their parents are willing to do for them. I have heard more than once that the children take for granted what the parents have done for them as if the parents just do what they should do. You find similar cases in China, too.

It is sad to hear such stories. On the other hand, it is up to the parents to teach their children to appreciate their parents’ support and not to take for granted their parents’ loving care.

I read an article on 6/1, by Ron Lieber, provided by The New York Times. “…a 26-year-old graduate of New York University, has nearly $100,000 in student loan debt from her four years in college, and affording the full monthly payments would be a struggle. For much of the time since her 2005 graduation, she’s been enrolled in night school, which allows her to defer loan payments… This is not a long-term solution, because the interest on the loans continues to pile up.”

It is so dreadfully depressing to start life with such a heavy financial burden. There are many cases like this. I don’t have the heart to spit out further unkind words toward those already unfortunate people. Still, I see this the result of ill-advice and unwise decision on part of both parents and the children.

First of all, always keep in mind this hard truth: education is an investment in money and time. You don’t invest heavily in anything that does not promise greater return. It is tantamount to nothing but high degree of stupidity if you think of college education as years of merry-go-round free spending partying life.

Secondly, don’t take on the attitude of borrow-and-spend now and let devil take care of the bills later. Don’t borrow in the first place, if you can help. If you have to, borrow as less as you can even if it means you have to tighten your belt and forsake new dresses and other forms of luxury. It is called delay gratification and not putting on the airs on borrowed money.

Third, work and study while you are in college. It enriches not just your purse, but also your work experience, so that you are ready to jump on some employment right after college.

Fourth, boost up your grade and apply for scholarship whenever there is a possibility. There are all sorts of scholarships. You just have to exhaust your search for it if you believe you are qualified.

There are always ways for you to get out of trouble. You have to rake your brain to come up with some solutions. Going into deep debt should always be the last desperate resort. You go there only if you are sure you can get a big fat salary to take good care of it after college.

Some time last month I read an article sent to me by a friend of mine regarding American education. There is an interesting section on American society and its education. According to the author, the U.S. is an elite society, where a tiny minority of elite dominates and rules over the overwhelming majority. They make and enforce rules to, among others, perpetuate their dominance in society.

Top colleges and universities like Ivy Leagues are supposed to bring out country’s and world leaders; those of second ranking are to train high-level employees; grass-root technicians come out of colleges of third ranking; the rest are for ground-covers, rank and filers who work for others all their lives. The assumption behind it all is if you are motivated to make it to the top at the tender age of 18, you have the material in you to be the world leader in the future. The hidden agenda of American educational system is to bring up different groups of people who will willingly follow the laws of the land, support the status quo, and hold their assigned positions in society. This line of thinking smells of Marxism, the line of thinking reveals the origin of the writer.

For parents, the sweet part of American society is that the elite group is not a fixed and exclusive one. Instead, it is widely opened to all who are willing to work themselves up the social ladders. That’s how people like Obama gained his hold in the white house and how Sonia Sotomayor became the U.S. Supreme Court Justice, and how American society undergoes changes toward a better and more democratic one, not there yet though. This is something that Asian parents should think hard when they push their youngsters to Harvard-level colleges.

A few weeks ago an article on 10 lowest-earning degrees caught my eyes. It was provided by PayScale’s list. Here they are.
10. Drama (starting annual salary: $35,600; mid-career annual salary: $56,600)
9. Fine arts (starting annual salary: $35,800; mid-career annual salary: $56,300)
8. Hospitality and tourism (starting annual salary: $37,000; mid-career annual salary: $54,300)
7. Education (starting annual salary: $36,200; mid-career annual salary: $54,100)
6. Horticulture (starting annual salary: $37,200; mid-career annual salary: $53,400)
5. Spanish (starting annual salary: $35,600; mid-career annual salary: $52,600)
4. Music (starting annual salary: $34,000; mid-career annual salary: $52,000)
3. Theology (starting annual salary: $34,800; mid-career annual salary: $51,500)
2. Elementary education (starting annual salary: $33,000; mid-career annual salary: $42,400)
1. Social work (starting annual salary: $33,400; mid-career annual salary: $41,600)

My first observation is none of them are from science/math/computer fields. All are from humanity/social science.

Secondly, it is hard to combine a fat paycheck with what you are interested in. You may very well go ahead with music if that’s where your passion is, but you have to go extra thousand miles to excel in the field, to be one in a million like Lang Lang, in order to even find a decent job. If you are not ready to give your bloody best and you still want an extravagant lifestyle, you are better off staying away from the above ten degrees. By the end of the day, as always, it is your attitude and your efforts that count and that will determine where you will end up eventually, regardless of your choice.

This is the questionnaire that I mentioned on yesterday’s posting. There are 50 questions, too many to try my patience. I list below some interesting ones. The answers to the questions reveal the character, the ambition and thus the potential of the person.

(1) How many activities do you participate in universities?
(2) Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
(3) How do you react when you receive a bad grade on a test?
(4) When you wake up in the morning, what’s the first thing you do?
(5) Before you go to bed, what’s the last thing you do?
(6) Why would you climb a mountain?
(7) How many hours a day do you spend watching TV?
(8) How would you feel when you don’t finish something?
(9) How well do you work with others?
(10) How do you prepare for an exam?
(11) How do you handle criticism?
(12) Why do you choose this college?
(13) After completing this test, what will you do?

Continue yesterday’s topic…
While I was in Boston in August 2007, I was greatly impressed by the large Asian student body in that area. I learned about a quarter of them were Asian students. If that was the case, Asians must be hugely over-represented in American elite colleges and universities. Yet, outside campus, in the world of politics, economics and laws, we don’t see the same high Asian visibility. We have many Asian Americans going into laws, but we don’t have anyone like Sonia Sotomayor or Elena Kagan; in politics, no Asians have reached even to the position of the former Secretary of State Condelezza Rice, though I am sure there are millions of Asians much more intelligent than that lady. For Black Americans, even though they are over-represented in American prisons and under-represented in higher education, they have stronger and more powerful voice in American politics. They even have their own representative in White House.

There is no doubt that children from Asian families work hard and study diligently in order to get into top U.S. colleges and universities, but what happen to them after they leave university campus? Are they mainly good at hitting books or taking exams?

Yesterday I bumped into a questionnaire on the internet which tests your success after graduation. There are certain qualities that people must possess in order to succeed after graduation. To be sure, ability to study well is not one of them. Does it suggest that most of Asian Americans are not equipped with these qualities? I share with my children this phenomenon, as I don’t know what to say. I hope my children can mark my word and keep in mind going to a good college is only a means to an end instead of an end in itself. What is their end? This is the same question as asking them what they want to do with their lives. It is up to them to decide.

While chatting with my son randomly, he mentioned that some of the students at MIT coasted through each day, making you wander why they were there. He believes that if you are determined to be a starlet, it doesn’t matter which college you go to. If you want to be mediocre, even Harvard cannot stop you from falling there.

These words remind me of what a friend of mine once said. If you want to be successful, you will eventually make it no matter where you are and how old you are. Otherwise, nothing can get you out of the rank that you allow yourself to fall into.

I am once again reminded of the huge responsibilities of parents that go beyond college admission. It is far from being enough to be able to send the children to a prestige college. You are not automatically guaranteed to be a success by any college. You might be pushed to one of the top by your parents, but the ultimate question is by the time you enter the college, you should have a good idea of what you want to do with your live in college and beyond. From there, you will either rise and fly or fall and slide away your college years.

This was from a friend of mine regarding college students in China. I know it is not a joke even though it reads like one. I have personally known or heard similar story. That’s how they fail and how they become loafers or parasites, living off their parents. Here’s the translation.

They sleep through the whole class;
So that, throughout the night, the owls are not tired.
At school cafeteria, they never wait in line;
They won’t stop texting until they are in debt.
On smoking and gambling, they know them all;
Ten bottles of beer won’t knock them out.
They cut classes together in groups.
They never have any luck in romantic relationships.
They miss everything in exams.
Long live university!

This may seems a rather stupid question on the surface. From the basic economic sense, a job means a paycheck or a means of living. In the word of one person that was given to me when I landed my first healthcare position, “You just found a bowl for a living.” If that’s all you can think of regarding a job and if you are content with your bowl, you are only an inch away from a dumb fool. Unfortunately, this bowl is not guaranteed for life and can be taken away any time your employer pleases. You simply don’t have any control over this. If you don’t prepare for this moment, you deserve nothing better.

On a deeper spiritual level, there must be some transcendental value to our life experience. Otherwise, that corporal mass of yours is no different from the same fleshy one found in any pigsty. That is, you should always be able to think of something above bare physical existence that a job can satisfy.

Back to the more practical side, one should always keep in mind the precarious nature of a job, which is as fragile as a glass bowl. It might be scary to think of everyday at your office as your last day there. But it certainly enhance the temporary nature and the insecurity inherent in any position that is offered to you. Embrace this risk and insecurity so that you will feel the urgent need for developing your own hidden agenda while you devote your time to your current employer.

What is your hidden agenda? Ultimately, it is to constantly increase your skills and expertise, all kinds of experience, and network and connections, making yourself a valuable asset desired by everybody, so that when the final day of employment comes, you are prepared and have the choice of going to many places. This should be your career goal and plan.

In this sense, for young graduates, a job means preparation, connections, opportunities and potential for something bigger, opportunity for learning and gaining valuable work experience and sharpening your skills, even better, for a higher order of human existence. How lovely that shall be!

During my previous posting on this topic, I emphasize the continuation of learning beyond classroom. Now I want to point out study and work should be inseparable and what you should look for in your first job.

While you are at school, you should think about your future work or even better try to put your foot at the door of your future company. While at work, you should never stop enriching yourself.

A country has one-year or five-year plan. So should a college graduate. Ask yourself what you would like to see in yourself in one year or five years or a decade. Your long-term plan is your hidden agenda. Never for a day should you forget this, no matter where you are.

I often hear people brag about the salary of one’s first job. This is like picking up seeds while losing water-melon. The focus of your first job should be opportunities to learn and to grow, the big goal of your career development. One’s first salary should least be considered for young graduates. In fact, a fat paycheck on your first job is not always a good thing when some young people get content easily and become deflated in their will to strive for something better.

It is very risky to settle down on your first job as you deceive yourself with a false assumption about job security of 19th century! Generation-Y graduates should have known by now that the age has gone forever when a person can stay in one post till retirement. Always keep in mind this new golden rule: the only security is your skills, expert and the asset you build in yourself. While you are young and energetic, increase your own tangible and intangible assets is the top one priority. It is stupid to eat and get fat on your first job and find yourself loss of job as you are busy widening your waistline.

By the way, the trick to remember the feature of generation-Y is to look at these young people from behind when they bend forward. There you get the Y-image.

Recently I have given some thought on graduation and beyond. Perhaps because one of the young relatives graduated here last December, another one in China will graduate this summer and go for graduate study, and a third one on the way to graduate from a master program, and my own child will be out of college next May.

As always, my heart is full of words for these young folks. Some people can’t wait for graduation while some others are dreadful of life ahead and its uncertainty. Not a few people think graduation means the end of study and the start of work, as if the two were separable and as if they have learned everything that is to learn. I must say this view is nothing but short-sighted career suicide.

For one thing, compare to the vast ocean of knowledge, college education only leads you to the door of real learning, opening your eyes to your own prejudice and ignorance and thus firing in you the passion to pursue more on your lifetime journey.

For another, even with that meager amount of learning, you might be able to use less than 1 percent of it in your future post. The 4-year education is far from enough if you intend to lay back on this for your future cushion. The world is changing everyday, so is the nature of work, which demands you more than ever before to be able to keep up with new technologies. Unless you want to put an early end to your career, you shall never stop learning no matter where you are.