REASON 2: College Doesn't Teach You How to Think

                 

College students taking a break from all of that hard thinking.

"Critical thinking skills" is a buzz phrase that is often tossed around by proponents of higher education.  The opportunity to "learn how to think" is a strong selling point that admissions representatives shamelessly use to reel in new students.  The prospective student is told that employers these days desire employees with critical thinking skills - which is true. And conveniently, students are told, college is the place where students will acquire these in-demand critical thinking skills. This, however, is a myth.

REASON 1: There Are Better Ways to Satisfy Your Intellectual Curiosity

"I saved thousands of dollars on tuition and lab fees!"

It is no coincidence that history is filled to the brim with examples of brilliant thinkers who weren't too good at formal schooling.  Albert Einstein was labeled a dunce by his teachers.  Inventor and businessman Thomas Edison only had three weeks of schooling under his belt before he was withdrawn from primary school by his mother and educated at home.  Besides the prominent examples of self-taught successes, like Benjamin Franklin, Walter Cronkite, Abraham Lincoln, or Steve Jobs, there are millions of people pursuing their intellectual passions every day - and without stepping foot on a college campus.