Is College Education Necessary For Aspiring Entrepreneurs?

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Do you wish to be an entrepreneur? Do you need a college degree to become one? Is university degree worth it? Most aspiring college graduates are wondering these things and the answers to these questions are not that simple either. Some people believe that college education is the doorway to career advancement and economic prosperity. However, others opine that now college students are graduating with heavy debts than ever before, which is affecting their financial standing. Moreover a bachelor’s degree does not necessarily guarantee career and economic development. 

Is A College Degree Necessary?

 

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Venture capitalist and billionaire Peter Thiel, along with his fellow MIT dropouts Laura Deming and Delian Asparouhov, believe that higher education is surely important and can certainly help you in your career; but that does not mean you need a traditional 4 year college degree. Moreover if you are an aspiring entrepreneur with a solid business idea, then going to college can be detrimental to career. 

However, if you feel that you need to earn a diploma, then I believe that online education is perhaps your best option. By pursuing an online university degree, you will be able to work on your start up and continue your studies at the same time. Moreover you will be able to apply the lessons you learn immediately into your business. 

Should You Leave College Then?

 

Thiel says, “My view is there is no one approach that works for everybody. I’d never claim that everyone should drop out of college and become an entrepreneur. I don’t think everyone should become a celebrity; I don’t think it makes sense for everyone to go to an elite school, and they won’t let everyone go to an elite school.” 

For Asparouhov and Deming, dropping out of college has proved to be rather beneficial. Both of the Thiel Fellows are receiving $100,000 to progress their business ideas from Thiel. Both of them were MIT undergrads and had to leave school for 2 years to get the fellowship. Although Asparouhov and Deming believe they learned enough in their 2 years in college, but none of them regret their decision of leaving college before earning a degree. 

Asparouhov said in an interview “I sprinted through MIT; one semester I did three times the normal course-load — that’s one of the reasons I feel like I left. I got that framework, I know how to learn.” He added “I was moving out to California and signing this lease that’s like three times my net worth,” he recalled. “Three days before moving out I got the fellowship and was like. ‘Oh, yeah, I can pay rent!’” 

Business Is Education In Itself

 

Deming believes that starting up a business is a comprehensive learning experience in itself which does not require a formal university degree. She said, “Not having a degree can be a problem sometimes, but of all the problems you encounter in the start up world, it’s by far the smallest.” 

Thiel, co-founder of PayPal, himself supports this belief that you can learn more from developing a business in real life then spending time cooped up in a classroom. He said “There is this sort of idea that learning happens in college and once you leave college you leave your books behind and you go on with life, but there is some sense in which you’re always learning more. When I started PayPal it was like a super intense learning thing. You learn a lot about managing people, the finances, telling the story of what your company is doing — you learn about a vast array of different things.” 

So Is College Worth It For You? 

 

Deming answers “People ask, ‘Should I drop out of college?’ That’s a bad question. The question is, ‘Are you passionate and competent about something?’” Until you are confident about your start up idea and your abilities and knowledge regarding your sector, “it is a bad idea to drop out of college.” 

If you are aspiring to be an entrepreneur and still want to earn a degree, but don’t want to waste precious 4 years from your life, then getting UK university degree online would be the next best idea. Online diplomas offer you the scope to study at your own time and focus on your start up company as well. Moreover, as online UK degrees are highly valued, it will help you to get investors and provide you ample networking opportunities as well. All these can directly help you to expand your business. 

So what do you think? Is dropping out of college a good idea? Share your views and opinions with us. We would love to hear from you. 

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How Luxurious Amenities Are Making Higher Education Expensive

Let’s face it. Higher education is really expensive. Are you curious to know the real reasons why it is so expensive? You as a student are not only paying for your classes but you are also paying for extra services that contribute to the additional cost that is incurred. 

A Home Away From Home

 

Everyone misses home when they are away from it. To recreate the ambience or to compensate for what one is leaving behind, colleges try to include facilities that are attractive and recreational. The number of additional facilities you get from a college, the greater will its demand be among aspiring students. This is the general trend in the twenty-first century. These services are not free of cost. Here lies the irony. 

The Truth About Living Away From Home

 

The cost of renting a room and paying for the three meals a day is reasonable since it is difficult for anyone to avail these on their own. But some of the other benefits are not that essential. 

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Is there any need to have a spa, tanning salon, beach volleyball courts, drug and alcohol committees, multi-cultural affairs departmental office, an indoor pool, Jacuzzis or other unnecessary student attracting offers? 

What You As A Student Require

 

What is essential is that the students need basic amenities and a good library with catalogued books. If there are facilities like a multi-gym or a pool, a student should be given the choice to select the recreation of his choice and pay for that service alone. 

Recent Survey

 

According to a recent survey by Azwan Azhar at Iowa State Daily, at the University of Iowa student services cost $188.20 per year, or $509.80 if you include “recreation” as a part of student services. Over 4 years, the costs from recreation and student services are $2,039.20. As a student you are taking a loan and paying for services that you have never even availed. 

You must have seen how millions of students like you are encountering these problems when they are trying their best to get a college degree. There are many steps that students are presently taking to avoid such expenses when they are still employed in low-wage jobs or are entirely unemployed since they are studying on a full time basis. 

• You can start off by comparing your housing options. You can book a room in a students’ hostel or stay as a paying guest at someone’s residence.

• If you have close friends, you can rent an apartment and live as roommates to cut down on residential costs.

• While you are in high school speak to your guidance counsellor and gain credit so that you can pay for fewer credits when you get an admission in a college. At least you can save some money and spend less time worrying about the courses.

• Instead of buying new textbooks, go to a library or better yet get them on a discount from graduates from your college.

• Avoid using credit cards. Leave your car at home since that involves high maintenance. You need to pay for gas and other things.

• You can find employment at college as an RA. (Resident Advisor). You can work on the campus and study at the same time.

• You can also consider distance education. You will not have to move away from home. You can gain access to e-books, learning modules online and you can study whenever it is convenient for you.

There are so many measures that you can adopt to help you gain a degree from the college of your choice. You just need to be practical in your approach and you need to believe in simplicity. Graduating will be a pleasant experience for you in the long-run.

Would you like to ask us a few questions? Share your views by leaving comments below.

Classroom Decorations Distracts Students, Says New Study

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Classrooms have long been considered a crucial part of education. Thus it is no surprise that most classrooms in schools worldwide are designed in a way to offer an enhanced learning experience to the students. You can find various educational and decorative items inside your classroom like smiley paper flowers, number charts, alphabets, world map, welcoming posters, banners and perhaps even a hamster in a cage. But does all this decoration inside the classroom distract our students from actually learning? Let’s find out... 

Are Decorated Classrooms A Good Idea?

 

According to a recent survey, less is more in the classroom, at least for kindergartners. The Psychological Science study, published in May 2014, aimed to explore the influence of classroom decorations on learning. The report revealed that highly decorated classrooms made students more distracted. As a result they scored lower than students who studied in classrooms with bare walls. 

The study by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University surveyed 24 kindergartners. In the first stage, children learned in a room that was decorated with artworks, maps, science posters and presidential photos. The students were seated on the floor in front of their teacher for a science lesson which lasted for 5-7 minutes. It was followed by a multiple-choice picture test. During the lesson, all activity of the children was videotaped to observe their focusing abilities. 

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Do Children Get Distracted By Classroom Decoration?

 

It was found that learners in bare classrooms got distracted, but only by themselves and fellow student. However, in decorated classrooms, learners were much less focused and were more distracted by the decorative pieces. Associate psychology professor and lead author of the study, Anna V. Fisher, believes classroom environment may create a negative impact on the student’s ability to learn. She thinks that the research was not systematic enough and was rather small, to provide comprehensive results and further study is required on this topic. 

According to Gillian McNamee, Director of Teacher Education at Erikson Institute (Chicago), most experienced teachers had already known that excessive visual stimulation can create a negative impact on children’s concentration. Lori Baker, an elementary teacher from Illinois, says “My personal approach is you don’t put anything up if the children have not made some sort of prior connection to it.” 

Are Sparse Classrooms The Solution?

 

However, psychology professor Daniel Willingham of University of Virginia, thinks there are aspects in the findings of the study which we need to focus on. Firstly the study claims that the students will eventually get familiarised with the decorations within almost 2 weeks from introduction to the decorated room. Thus it is likely that the children will gradually return to the standard distraction-level pretty soon. Secondly, there might be some negative aspects in not having a decorated, cheerful and welcoming classroom. He suggests the best alternative is to have an inviting environment a vase of flowers and calm paint colours, instead of over-stimulating it. 

Alfie Kohn, author of books about parenting, education and human behaviour, says “While we’re at it, maybe we should just design classrooms without windows. And, hey, I’ll bet kids would really perform better if they spent their days in isolation.” 

Creating The Right Learning Environment

 

Anna V. Fisher said in an interview that she is not asking educators to tear wall decorations from their classroom. She is simply telling teachers to give some more thought to creating the right classroom setting. She adds “Improving education outcomes for children is such a complex and complicated issue. There are so many parts to this problem…there are so many things, and some things are not easy to change for educators. Classroom visual environment is just one of those things that’s malleable, it’s something that is under the control of the teacher.” 

What do you think? Can excessive classroom decoration distract children? Are bare classrooms better? Feel free to share your views and opinions with us.