Today, everyone: teachers, counselors, parents, and even our peers are telling us, students, we have to go to college and that all of our classes are “setting” us up for our futures in college. However, the fact is that most of us students will not go to college.

In the modern, global workforce more and more jobs need degrees or some sort of experience in order to just be considered, so why don’t we all go to college?

Well, if everyone went to college and put themselves into thousands of dollars in debt, who would work all of the other jobs that do not require a degree? Robots? Or what about those students who do not make it into college? Or those students that is not feasible to go to college, due to cost, or family obligations?

We will find our way to trade schools or a job right out of high school, so why don’t we try to accommodate for that? Yes, I know we have the Career Center and some more focused courses, but what about those students who have no clue what their future holds?

There are many good paying, satisfying careers out there that do not require a degree; however, I will say that it is often “easier” to get a higher paying job with a degree, but we shouldn’t feel that college is our only option.

But, we need to remove the social norm that everybody thinks exists, that everyone has to go to a college or a university. Just because you don’t go, doesn’t mean you are worth less than someone who does. You are just going on a different path, your own path.

Both of my parents did not go to college because at the time, it was not the right thing for them; instead, my dad went to the military and my mom got a job. So you don’t have to have a degree to be happy in life. The thing that matters the most is that you find something that you are good at and something that you enjoy.

The views in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of the GENESIS staff. Reach Christian Ayers at [email protected].