QUESTION: I am an 18 year about to attend college, I want to major in economics and minor in history as I want to run for president in my native Cameroon. Should I get a Bachelor’s here in the states and study aboard in either Germany, UK, Egypt or Russia. What are your thoughts?
ANSWER: Just do the simplest and cheapest. Be very careful that the university is not trying to indoctrinate you with a particular philosophy. Education teaches you facts. They do not teach you how to actually do things. Remember that those who do, just do. Those who can’t – teach.
I was asked if I would teach at one of the top 10 universities in the world. I was shocked to even be asked. We met for lunch. When I asked why me, the response was even more shocking. “Well we know what we teach does not work.” Never forget that.
Most of the great achievements have been accomplished by people who have dropped out of college. It was the same thing when we would have young people joining the firm and were preparing to take their SEC exam. They would come to me to ask a question and I responded just memorize the answer they want and then forget it. Never ask me because I will respond with the truth and that is incorrect for them. After they pass the exam, I would tell them their real education would now begin.
When I would interview people just graduating with an economics degree, I would ask them what they thought about various economic theories. When I came to Marx, most looked at me puzzled and said they briefly touched on him in sociology class, not economics. I could tell what school they went to by their response.
I have tried to provide a list of the various people in economics and their theories – the history of economic thought. The key to really understanding a subject is to examine the thinking process that arrived at that conclusion. We need not agree with Marx, but if we do not comprehend how he arrived at his conclusion, then we are doomed to repeat the same mistakes.
Formal education can be very dangerous for it is often man’s way or perpetuating his mistakes eternally and infusing indoctrination. We must embrace our mistakes, for they are the real teachers in life. We much broaden our minds and go places that formal education never goes. Then you may have your piece of paper, but you will have a real education they cannot ever provide.
The vast majority of people end up doing something they do not have a degree in. Most student in their freshman year of college are clueless. They are there because their parents forced them to go. They should take a 2 year break and get a job in between and observe how that business even functions. How it is organized. This is how the ancient Romans developed education. School for the basics – reading, writing, math, science, and internships for practicality.
