5 years of something
This fall I am going to try and write this blog with as few "I didn't learn anything the whole time" as I can although it may be tough.
Rather I will just explain what irritates me about the structure of higher education in general. Firstly I am a little confused as to what the degree represents. I know it is supposed to be proof of knowledge that I have learned, but if that were the case, wouldn’t there be a test that sums up the knowledge of a marketing degree that I could have taken in year 1 or 2 if I was confident I had the appropriate knowledge. Maybe it is a representation of the time that I spent in the institution, but if that were the case though wouldn’t fast tracking be irrelevant. It couldn’t represent the money I have spent, because I could have paid outright for my degree? The only thing that makes sense to me would be that it represents my ability to comply with an institution’s desires, follow their orders, work hard for a “reward” that they issue if they believe I am worthy. A training program for the corporate structure of old. "You should hire me because I will do what I am told, make personal sacrifices to learn (financial), sit and wait for my reward.” That sounds like the ideal employee in the corporate ladder. The sad reality is that businesses still operating with this mentality are dying. Employers that focus on accolades and “experience” are losing out to companies who focus on what employees are doing and have the potential to do.
It is absurd to me that the degree I have has cost me roughly $45,000 and I can confidently say that I have learned much more from the books sitting on my relatively small book shelf valued at a few hundred dollars. Starting my own business in my first year of engineering before I made the switch also helped in bringing this knowledge immediately to the test. Both experiences happened simultaneously and took about the same amount of time. Starting the business and making a bunch of mistakes has cost me much less in net dollars as well. After going through a marketing degree I would never recommend it to anyone. Go the college route. The same amount of information half the time and half the price per year. College is also notorious for making things practical which is where marketing is best learned. Let me sum up a marketing degree for you:
Know what you want to sell and who you want to sell to. Once that is determined ensure that there is market space for it and that it is a viable option. Then find a unique and creative way to tell your market about your product.
Every situation is different. There isn’t a template that you can follow for each campaign outside of the two lines I have given above.
"re: school
Today it’s a place you go to exchange a lifetime of debt for credit hours, a degree, and maybe a good job. So many people attend (as a percentage of the population, college attendance is ten times what it was a few generations ago) that the universities have no choice but to standardize degree requirements, test, and measure as they compete to make their colleges ever more famous via faux rankings and football games." - Seth Godin
It is strange for an institution to dictate the terms of their “product”. It doesn’t make too much sense to me that if you fail the course you have to pay to take it again. The same material being taught taking up more time. You don’t even have the option to retake the exam or redo an assignment you failed. You pay for the oppourtunity to get it all right first shot. if you don’t you need to pay again and take the same amount of time as if you haven’t done it once already.