I was hesitant to go to college at first. It’s a lot of money for a piece of paper.  As Will Hunting would say, “you dropped a hundred and fifty grand on an education you coulda’ picked up for a dollar fifty in late charges at the Public Library.” For a while it seemed to me that trusting in pieces of paper was a lack of faith on my part; not trusting in God’s provision for me.  Eventually I came to the conclusion that I had been afforded the opportunity to go to college, an opportunity the majority of the world could only dream of. In this world a degree would give me the opportunity to play a role that could have a positive impact on a great many people, and so I decided to go to college.

Once at college though, I continued to question the value of a college degree, not just for myself, but for others too. It seemed like there where a lot of women that were at college in hopes of meeting the man of their dreams and then becoming homemakers for the rest of their lives (Honestly, this was probably more the stereotype then it was a reality). I think being a homemaker is a wonderful decision, but it does make me question the spending of thousands of dollars for a piece of paper. I’m not saying folks shouldn’t learn and educate themselves, but you could easily audit all the classes for pennies in comparison. I was already questioning the paper, and so it was easy for me to point the finger at folk’s getting bachelors and masters without any real desire to utilize that resource.

And then there is me.  I don’t really need the degree that I have. No doubt the education has been valuable, and I’ve probably had more job opportunity and security because of it, but I still question it.  I’m also at a place now where I never plan on moving up any sort of corporate ladder, or play any role where a degree will give me some kind of upper hand. From now on the value of all that money to pay for this expensive piece of paper will be to bolster my own pride and ego whenever I have the opportunity to say that I’m a college graduate (Wheaton College).

I can’t help but acknowledge the evidence that my choice to go to college has benefited me primarily in being more dependent on my own security rather then God, and also to bolster my own ego. That sure sounds like a hypocrite.