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University Degrees: Really Useless
or Simply Not for Everyone?
Madhusudani dasi Answers Jagannidhi das

Jagannidhi das writes:
"According to my experience there is nothing less useless for earning money and to support a family than a university degree."

Sounds like we agree. I can’t think of many less useless (i.e. more useful) ways either.

"If we want our children to be successful in this world, they should be trained in independent thinking, resourcefulness, patience, enthusiasm, self-awareness, imagination, conscience, self-confidence, genuine and caring service attitude, and the like."

Again, agreed. But I’m not sure how you reached the following conclusion:

"Why should one enter the temples of ignorance of modern society (universities) and risk spoiling and wasting his life, just to learn to earn some money? This is really absurd. Money is lying on the street, and if one is a little smart (and that is definitely not attained by a university degree), he or she will find beneficial ways to collect it."

It sounds like you had a bad experience. However, that’s no reason to put down hundreds of devotees, including Hridayananda Maharaja, Tamal Krsna Maharaja, Krsna Ksetra Prabhu, or Garuda Prabhu — just to name a few — who have found the time they spent in non-devotee run universities to be stimulating and beneficial and who have recommended that other devotees do the same.

Like many other things in life, university studies are not for everyone, and maybe you and your wife belong to the group that has not benefited from such an experience. However, that is no reason to speak badly of those who do derive benefit from university studies. If you think that collecting money on the street or doing internet preaching is more your style, I’m not going to put you down for it. I just hope you are able to help your children learn and use those money-earning skills in an honest way.

© CHAKRA 14 August 2002