The Media’s Favorite Anti-College Weapon: Money, Money, Money

For a long time, the media has manufactured a fake story about college. The lie is that students value college for one thing and one thing only: money. To expose this lie, one of my favorite articles to pick on is Business Insider’s ridiculous (and scary-sounding) article:

Gen Z is the new threat to the American college experience

The main — and ham handed-–theme[1] of this article is that Gen Z doesn’t like college (despite over 15M undergrads in the U.S. and fall 2024 enrollment records at many universities). Gen Z is the (boo!!!) “new threat.” It’s a point weakly made in the article, which begins with a college dropout (just 1) whose utopian lifestyle “earns more than enough to fully support herself financially.” It’s further supported by the speculative paradise known as Rich Truck Driver World:

[W]orking as a truck driver, for example, could bring in six figures — and those types of wages for jobs that don’t require a college degree has spurred a rethinking of the value of higher education. — Citing Joseph Fuller, a professor at Harvard Business School[2]

As Business Insider paints it, the college decision is a cash decision. Nothing else — except money, money, money — matters. This raises some head-scratching questions:

• If an 18-year-old musician can “fully support herself financially” by (as reported by Business Insider) “selling fitness plans online, along with working as a store manager at Plato’s Closet,” why would she ever attend Belmont University to study Music Performance?
• If an 18-year-old preacher’s’ son can “bring in six figures” by “working as a truck driver,” why would he ever attend Harvard Divinity School to study religion?

Unleash the Pawns

When journalists want to make a lazy, generalized, and biased point (concealing complexity, diversity, and contradictions), they select a pawn(s)[3] to illustrate their point. Business Insider leads with 1 dropout’s story (i.e., the pawn), which is intended to suggest the lives, passions, and decisions of 70M Gen Zers. Despite the pawn and her story, not all Gen Zers are motivated solely by the need to earn “more than enough to fully support [themselves] financially.” Nor are they all focused on six-figure “any ol’” jobs (i.e., many don’t want to be “rich truck drivers”).

In choosing a college, my Gen Z son, who attends the University of Oklahoma, didn’t JUST want financial independence. He didn’t JUST want six-figures. He also wanted the once-in-a-lifetime experiences[4] and once-in-a-lifetime opportunities[5] that college uniquely offers. He wanted to live in a community of 20-somethings populated with a diverse group of individuals. He wanted to experience life with people from Texas and Georgia and Florida who share his passions, who have the same freedoms, who stretch and challenge and shape each other. Can it be costly? Yes. Is he delaying the adult-grind? Yes. Is he happy? Yes!

Of course, he’s just one college student; his “great” experience isn’t everyone’s college experience. But the same can be said for the “dropout.” For every blissful, happy Gen Z dropout (or truck driver or plumber or mechanic),[6] there are plenty of unhappy, regretful dropouts. My son’s friend … we’ll call her Jill … skipped college to work at her family’s car dealership. She’s making good money, but as my son moves forward (new friends, summer internships, challenging ideas, diverse skills), she stays the same … still resides in the same house, still lives in the same city, still does the same things she did in high school. Yes, she’s rich with cash, but she’s also poor in growth.

Consumed by Careerism

What the media desperately wants you to believe is that college — and by default, all of Gen Z’s life decisions — are fueled solely by “careerism.”[7] “Careerism,” as defined by Britannica, is “an attitude or way of behaving that involves trying to do whatever you can to make more money or get promoted at your job.” In the heartless world of “careerism,” dropping out, when you can earn “more than enough to fully support [yourself] financially,” is algebraically the best choice for Gen Z. Likewise, becoming a truck driver, with the potential to “bring in six figures,” is financial nirvana regardless of your passions, dreams, and interests.

“Careerism” is ruinous, though the media wants you to believe it’s glorious. Writing for the New York Times, U Penn grad Isabella Glassman claims that “Careerism Is Ruining College.” While I don’t believe this is universally true (every college is different),[8] she’s correct that “careerism” — which is propped up by the media, pollsters, and the opinions of hypocrites — has been transformed into Gen Z’s singular identity and focus. Glassman writes:

It’s called pre-professional pressure: a prevailing culture that convinces many of us that only careers in fields such as computer programming, finance and consulting, preferably at blue-chip firms like Goldman Sachs, McKinsey or big tech companies, can secure us worthwhile futures. It is an inescapable part of the current college experience, like tailgating or surviving on stale dining hall food. It not only steers our life choices; it also permeates daily life and negatively affects our mental health. …

But what is missing in this race to perceived economic safety is the emotional toll. The number of young adults ages 18 to 25 who have had at least one depressive episode has doubled from 2010 to 2020. Almost two-thirds of college students have reported feeling “overwhelming anxiety” within a given year, and experts have pointed to the cocktail of coursework, pressure to participate in extracurricular activities and concerns over choosing a career as causes.

Having worked in higher ed for more than a decade, I don’t see this same kind of “pre-professional pressure” and “prevailing culture” on my campus. Maybe at the Ivies but definitely not everywhere. Regardless, this generational pressure — i.e., unyielding careerism — is not self-inflicted; it’s because the media (and some academics) continues to shape the narrative that education is valuable ONLY IF it makes you a) more and more money and/or b) haughty and prestigious.

[1] There’s also negative data in this article, but as expected, it’s biased, unbalanced, and under-researched.

[2] “Could bring six figures” doesn’t automatically mean “six figures.” According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the 2023 median pay for “Heavy and Tractor-trailer Truck Drivers” was $54,320 per year / $26.12 per hour. Moreover, Fuller neglects to mention:

• “Jobs that don’t require a college degree” aren’t typically (or automatically) “six figure” jobs;
• “Six figure” jobs aren’t the national norm (e.g., the average annual salary nationwide is $59,428); and
• “Six figure” salaries aren’t the sole motivation for (or against) college attendance.

There’s also this question: Why isn’t Joseph Fuller — Harvard professor — working as a truck driver? It’s because:

• not everyone wants to be a truck driver (regardless of six figures); and
• many people (like Joseph Fuller) want a higher education (i.e., they’re motived by learning, expertise, accomplishment, or experience). What’s ignored is that the “value of higher education” — as Fuller calls it — goes well beyond a truck driver’s salary.

[3] Not all pawns are necessarily willing pawns. In anti-college writing, journalists want to frame their “dropout” pawns as perfect, happy, and carefree. Anything that’s off-script or emotionally complex (What are your regrets? What are your struggles? What are the negatives?) is conveniently ignored.

[4] If you’re a 28-year-old dropout or a 30-year-old who skipped college, you can still earn a college degree, which has immense value in numerous ways. But the college experience of an 18–24 year old … that is forever lost on you. This is why the “college experience” is a once-in-a-lifetime experience; in youth, there’s a very small window where college is the capital C “College.” Of course, not everyone wants, nor can afford, this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but that doesn’t change the fact that every Gen Zer has just one shot at the true/full college experience. As you get older, yes, you can still be a college enrollee, but that’s something very different than being a college student.

[5] The capital C “College” — fraternities, dorm life, clubs, student sections, intramurals, etc. — is an opportunity reserved for 18–24 year olds. You use this opportunity, or (if you’re a dropout) you lose it. However, the opportunity to work is a lifetime opportunity. So when the media portrays the dropout as blissfully working “now,” they never point out that college students forever and ever have the same (though delayed) opportunity. Thus, the dropout loses college but gains work, while the college student gains college AND still gains work.

[6]

In the college or no-college argument, this — “I make more money than [faceless, generic college avatar]” — is typically the angry rebuttal from somebody who didn’t go to college.

• First of all, because it’s true for one mechanic doesn’t mean it’s true for all mechanics. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics lists the 2023 median pay for “mechanics” as $47,770 per year; according to Bankrate, the average projected starting salary in the U.S. for the class of 2024 at the bachelor’s degree level is $68,516.
• Second, this “brag” (if true) means he earns more than almost everyone in America. One might guess that he’s in the top 10% of U.S. earners, making +$250K/year. So this mechanic is making about the average salary of a U.S. surgeon. Possible? Yes. Extremely rare? That too.
• Third, two things we know: this mechanic didn’t go to college, and (presumably) he’s rich. But is he happy as a mechanic? Does he hold a grudge against those who had the opportunity to go to college? We’ll never know, but his tone betrays some anger and bitterness.
• And fourth, this mechanic says nothing about the downsides of a trade education. Despite his hit-the-lottery narrative, a trade education 1) DOES NOT guarantee a huge payoff (age, experience, skill, expertise, and/or location all factor into salaries), 2) IS NOT debt-free (America’s collective student loan debt INCLUDES trade-school debt, and many trade schools promote FAFSA loans), and 3) DOES NOT guarantee happiness (I interviewed a college student who had spent 2 years training to be a machinist. He told me, “I couldn’t find my purpose in it. When you have a purpose, you’re led, or you’re drawn to do something. I love helping people, but I couldn’t see myself helping people if I was sitting behind a machine 12 hours a day.”).

Of course, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with trade jobs and/or trade schools. I’m only saying that the trade school narrative is often one of superior wealth, superior happiness, and superior choice (with anything negative swept under the rug).

[7] It’s funny, but the media rarely (if ever) financially shames young people for volunteering or traveling or risking, all activities that are anti-careerism. As a Gen-Zer, you might miss out on that six-figure truck driving job if, instead, you spend time helping children in Chile, if you spend time backpacking in Europe, or if you take a long-shot risk and start a food truck. In terms of money, college, according to the media, is the only “bad” career choice a Gen Zer can make.

[8] For Glassman, the chicken-or-the-egg question is this: Does U Penn foster careerism in its students, OR is careerism baked into the DNA of U Penn’s applicants (because of privilege or schooling or parents)? As I said, the media is guilty of super-charging this culture (and many students and families devour it whole), but some students are immune. I work at Oral Roberts University (ORU) — a faith-based university — where careerism isn’t the end-all reason for college. Again, maybe at U Penn, where Glassman describers her college experience as:

I’d wake up at 3:30 a.m. from the recurring nightmare that I didn’t land an internship my junior year summer. I heard people, maybe friends, endlessly discussing the “only way” to be successful. I consoled a sobbing roommate after she failed to land the job her parents expected her to get.

However, at ORU, I’ve encountered something different. Yes, students stress about their careers, but they also spend time (and grow) by helping Tulsa’s homeless population, leading mission trips overseas, and doing cancer research that gives them purpose.