The Wizard's Revenge

In the film version of the Wizard of Oz, the unmasked and defrocked carnival pitchman had to think fast to remain in control.

The Scarecrow had a head full of straw where a brain should be. What to do?

The erstwhile Wizard had a ready answer: "Back where I come from," he said, "we have universities, seats of great learning— where men go to become great thinkers. And when they come out, they think deep thoughts — and with no more brains than you have.... But!  They have one thing you haven't got!  A diploma!"

Pretty funny huh? How can a diploma replace intelligence and knowhow? Yet today, more than seven decades later, the Wizard's game has become all too real. Back then people recognized what a college education was good for…and what it wasn't. That, of course, was the unstated joke in the film.

If we need surgery, we want to know that the surgeon has gone through medical training at the highest level, that he or she has mastered the intricacies of the human body, all the things that can go wrong, and what has to be done to put them right. We want the surgeon's studies to be guided by those who have already mastered the fields of medicine and surgery. A correspondence course or on the job training just doesn't make it.

A plumber or electrician, on the other hand, can master the craft on the job without paying tens of thousands of dollars for tuition. And the plumber may well earn more than an English major.

But if English language and literature is one's first love, there is no better place to nurture that passion than in a university. The same is true of many intellectual passions from art and music to science and mathematics.

The problem is that many students have fallen for what is a statistical fraud—the idea that attending college is the best way to make more money.  Bill Gates didn't fall for that one. He dropped out of Harvard to become one of the richest individuals on the planet.

Let's take a closer look at the statistics that supposedly prove that getting a degree, any degree, is a surefire way to dramatically improve your earning power. Here's what's wrong with that picture. The statistics certainly do show that college graduates earn more money that those whose formal education stops at a lower level.

But do college graduates earn more money because they are college graduates? Anyone who graduates from an accredited college has to put in roughly four years of relatively disciplined effort. Isn't someone who has that level of motivation and discipline likely to advance farther and faster than those who are less motivated and less disciplined?

To make matters worse, the idea that a diploma is in and by itself the key to a prosperous, successful future puts many students on a false path. It's easy to feel that four years of fun are all you need as long as you do enough work to end up with a diploma.

The last president of this college apparently had some such idea. When some students were upset that courses had been cut to save money, the president told them not to worry since the college would make sure that there were enough courses to meet graduation requirements. That, if you haven't been paying attention, is the Wizard's logic. Just get the diploma. It's all that really matters,

Well it is true that in many fields, a diploma will get you in the door, but once inside you better have a lot more than a flimsy piece of paper to keep you inside. And, if you decide on self-employment, that diploma won't matter at all.

Well this is the truth. How often have you heard this from a college professor or administrator? Higher education has become a very big business in the United States. The student loan industry has made college affordable for almost everyone. Affordable that is, until graduation, when the piper must be paid.

To the Wizard's credit, he never asked the Scarecrow to pay for the diploma he offered. Today's Wizards want $50,000 or more for what they have to offer. And all too often, today's Scarecrows pay up without protest.

The first lesson is to ignore the Wizards. The second is to not be the Scarecrow. Decide for yourself on the best path to reach your dreams, and then work like hell to get there.