College is essentially a waste of time and money.His point is that the B.A. we receive at the end of our collegiate careers (assuming that we make it to that point) are both misconceptions of what job you can land and more importantly, how much you really know about a given major. He instead introduces another way to get students and future "potential" job candidates to land the job they really seek and desire - CPA Exam. The CPA exam is a certification that public accountants take to land a job.
Now you may ask, "okay why does he think these CPA exams are better?"
That's simple (according to him) - he believes that the answer to find out exactly how much one knows is with certifications, not degrees. Mr. Murray claims that degree tells a firm that "you have received a major in Financing" but it does not state how much the person really knows about financing. Yes, obviously the firm can look at grades from college careers, but that does not take everything into affect (whatever reason they may be). Instead with the CPA exam, firms can really find out first hand exactly how much one knows about financing, thus giving that person a better chance of landing the job right for them. The upside to a certification is that nearly anyone can take it, at least Mr. Murray claims so, and that even people who attend "unfamiliar" universities, it is the certification that essentially states what you know and how much you know.
What's my take on this?
I am, so to speak, torn in between mainly due to the fact that YES, our education system is terrible, but also that having a degree means basically nothing. It is just a paper saying that "a certain someone (all of us) spent at least four years at an institution (capital), spending ridiculously amounts of money ($36,000, give or take, ring a bell to anyone?) in order to receive a degree in business, or math, or science; but
what on earth does " you have received a degree in "X"" really mean?Does it mean that I would be ready to be a finance manager just because my degree says so? How much do I really know about financing? I remember financing 100, but I was 18 and a freshman in college....four years later, what have I retained from that class. Hmmm, not much actually.
(I'm not into financing, just making a point obviously)
Then you look on the other side of things and wonder, okay what does this certification really do for me? Just because it says that I know 90% of European History does not mean that I can walk into a classroom and teach about Napoleon, Mesopotamia and World War II while really getting across to all my students. Having this certification does not mean I know how to work with colleagues on a project nor how to handle ALL the amount of work given out by my boss.
What does a certification mean?Just because I am good at math does not mean that I could manage the accounts of a Fortune 500 company while making sure the company does not go into the ground for economic reasons...Does doing well and having this certification really mean I would know how to apply it all to real world situations....
Hmmm, probably not
In my opinion, if they combined the two - degree and certiciation - it would go MUCH further, than just doing one or the other. College teaches you more things than your parents ever could, and the only way to get all that experience is to go to college where you will also receive your degree. On the other hand - just because I got a C- in Anatomy, does not necessarily mean that I do not know what the anatomy of a human being is; perhaps there were some things that hindered me from doing well in the class, thus taking the CPA exam can help me in that regard because I can show HOW much I really know about anatomy.
Mr. Murray has a good point - but along with that point, he is not taking everything into consideration. I am not saying that I have "the answer", but I do believe that I am on the right track.....then again, all of this is just
opinionated, nothing else.
