(Nov. 22, 2011) — In the American education system, there is a tendency to teach students that a college degree is the answer to life’s problems and it doesn’t really matter what you do, as long as you get your name on that rolled up paper diploma after four years. Well, the fact is, that according to Real Clear Politics, 80,000 bartenders have bachelor’s degrees too. For some people, a degree can be vital. You cannot be an engineer or a mathematician or a lawyer without a higher education, but this idea that you need one, and you cannot function without one, is ridiculous. You can and many people do. This is not to say that going to college cannot be a very good investment. In fact, for more graduating students, it is. Many of those who pursued a college degree ended up graduating, getting a job, and getting paid substantially more than they would had they not gone to college. But the problem is that we take that template and apply it to every student. What this leaves us with is a system where schools where over a third of undergraduate students drop out. Even many of those who do not go to college end up getting useless degrees from online colleges rather than suffer with the “shame” of not having a degree. Not only do we convince those who are not suited for college to try to get a degree, but as we do so, we also encourage them to pursue majors and classes that are relevant to their interests. However, the subject a student is most often interested in is not something that can be used in a practical way. America only needs so many philosophers or art historians or whatever it is that communications majors become. No one will pay you for knowing what Sigmund Freud once said about yawning because in the real world, no one cares. And there is nothing worse than to spend $50,000 a year to find that out.