The Education of Millionaires - Michael Ellsberg [79]
Color Me Cool: A Survey of Contemporary Graphic Novels, at my alma mater, Brown. From the course catalog: “Surveys a variety of comic books and graphic novels, both mainstream and independent. The emphasis, however, will be on the independent graphic novel. Students will also read history and criticism to understand better the context from which the books emerge and to grasp more firmly their visual and textual aesthetics.” 3
Topics in Comparative Media: American Pro Wrestling, at MIT. From the course description: “This class will explore the cultural history and media industry surrounding the masculine drama of professional wrestling. Beginning with wrestling’s roots in sport and carnival, the class examines how new technologies and changes in the television industry led to evolution for pro wrestling style and promotion and how shifts in wrestling characters demonstrate changes in the depiction of American masculinity. . . . Students may have previous knowledge of wrestling but are not required to, nor are they required to be a fan.” The MIT webpage for the course proudly links to PDF files of term papers written by previous students, including the paper “Women’s Roles in Professional Wrestling, Examined through the Lita-Trish Rivalry.”4
What’s actually happening at colleges across America, among professors, students, and college administrators, is an elaborate game of “Let’s Pretend.” Professors and administrators pretend that bullshit courses like these might be vaguely related to something valuable to a student’s later life. And students pretend that, by taking these courses for easy As, they’re getting an “education.” For four years, all goes well with the game, and all groups are happy with it, none more so than on graduation day, when the proud student gets a piece of paper from the professors and administrators certifying to the world that she is now “educated.”
However, the whole charade implodes when the student goes out into the real world, thinking that the marketplace will value her acuity in vampire-ology or wrestling analysis. It reminds me of a T-shirt I saw once: “I have a liberal arts degree. Would you like fries with that?”
But having a degree in marketing, economics, or business, or even an MBA, isn’t much better. As we’ve seen, even in business schools, you don’t tend to get the reality-based skills and experience that will actually lead you to success in your career.
Jena and I spent the equivalent of one college course at a private college, $4,000, to hire Victor for a half-day of private coaching. That half-day, including the referral to read SPIN Selling, helped double both of our businesses in the middle of a nasty recession. In the spirit of Victor’s admonition to learn from other people’s experiences, you don’t even need to spend the $4,000 to get that particular piece of advice now—you can get it right here. Spend $30 on SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham. It will be worth entire years of today’s college education.
■ IF YOU WANT TO HELP PEOPLE, LEARN HOW TO SELL
David Ash has spent a great deal of time in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, one of the poorest and most crime-ridden neighborhoods in North America. There, he has helped chronically homeless women get back on their feet. Most of the women have been homeless for years or even decades on end. Most have been victims of severe sexual or physical abuse and have struggled with serious mental illness and/or substance addiction (heroin, crack, cocaine, crystal meth). And many of them either are or have been active in the city’s sex trade; most are HIV-positive.
David has helped them get off the