Disclaimer: Please, do not take this post offensively. Please, do not leave me hate comments. I am not writing this post to say why you shouldn't go to college. I wrote this post to share why I didn't. If you didn't go to college either, then this post is also for you. I have plenty of friends who are going to college or who have graduated college and I am proud of them and their achievements. This is just my personal reasons for a path I have personally chosen. Read at your own risk. I graduated high school right after I turned seventeen. Because of my mom's nurturing throughout my entire years of schooling I was able to graduate homeschool early with a diploma of distinction, as well as a music honors diploma. On my graduation day, I can still remember the most popular question I was asked that day. "What is your major going to be in college?" Which was closely tied with the question: "Where are you going to college?" College was never really a part of my plan. I received an excellent high school education under the instruction of my mom. College was just not something I felt I needed. But why did the world always seem to tell me it was? Every well-meaning person I met who asked where I was going to college, was shocked when I said that I was not. My response was so against modern culture. So why exactly was my response so against the world? Well, probably because the world has been feeding some pretty outrageous myths about college to our generation and the generations before us. And here are just a few of them: College Myth #1: You won't succeed without college. Truth #1: College does not determine your success. A lot of times in my conversations with people about college, I would hear the same thing over and over. "But if you don't go to college you won't get a good job!" or "To pursue your dreams you need a college education for them." Here's the thing a lot of people falsely believe about college: without it, you cannot succeed. But the Biblical truth that I believe? "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:13) A lot of people didn't think that I could become a young, successful writer without college or a formal journalism education. But here I am. And I didn't get here--the published author of five books, a magazine editor/founder, writer for a blog that receives an average of 2,000 views a week, writing ambassador for a ministry I believe in--because of college. I got here because of Jesus. You can too. College Myth #2: College prepares you for the "real world." Truth #2: Jesus prepared me for the real world. A common idea that I heard in regards to college was that college would prepare me for the "real world." They said college would teach me "responsibility" and that if I didn't go to college I wouldn't fit into our culture. But what I saw in our culture? Millions of young people in my generation going into debt. People my age taking loans out for thousands of dollars to earn a degree that a lot of people I know are not currently using in their life. The statistics of student loans and college debt are staggering. And the world's solution? Credit cards. More debt. I also saw in college culture the trend of young people leaving the church. Instead of growing closer to Jesus, young people fell away from Him in college to fit in and party with the crowd. I watched friends at Christian colleges lose their faith just as much as those at non-Christian colleges. What I learned? The Bible was my road map and guide for real life. Not a college education. The Bible taught me about debt and God's plan for money. The Bible taught me about responsibility and respect and making the most of my youth, because my life is but a vapor. Jesus prepared me for life in the real world. Not college. College Myth #3: Everyone has to go to college to fit in. Truth #3: I am called to be different from the world (Romans 12:2). Since entering high school I have felt a lot of pressure to "do what everyone else is doing" and go to college. I have received countless comments from well-meaning adults encouraging me to "be wise" and go to college like everyone else. I pray that if I make any wise decision in my life it is to pursue the path of godliness and the path that God sets me on to walk. For some, that is college. For some, God is leading you into a dream He has for you that may require higher education. I'm not condemning anyone and I'm not against anyone who goes to college. Please, do not think I am implying this. I simply want to remind you that no decision should be made because "everyone does it." If you feel led to college, pray about it. Pray about God's will for your life, whichever path that may take--college or not. You don't have to go to college simply because everyone does it. I've always been a little different from the world and I'm proud of that. Jesus didn't fit in either. You don't change the world by looking like it. Friends, my point is simply this: If you have chosen to attend college, continue to serve Jesus in the college where He is leading you and continue making wise and Biblical decisions on that path. And if you have chosen not to attend college, I hope that the worldly myths I did share about college have encouraged you in some way. May your identity come from Christ and not your education. And to everyone reading: Never give up serving Christ wherever He may have you.
Anna P.
5/18/2018 05:04:05 pm
Great post, and very true! Many people view college as the "thing you do after you graduate to be successful." Yet, as Jesus-followers, we are called to go wherever God calls us. That could mean college, it could mean going to the mission field, publishing books, becoming a teacher...it could mean ANYTHING! God's plan for each and every person is different, and unique!
Bella Morganthal
5/21/2018 06:24:05 pm
Amen to what you said, Anna! Thank you so much for reading and commenting! <3
Kylee
5/18/2018 05:08:06 pm
Can I just say how amazing God is? Next year will be my last year of high school. I just finished my junior year of high school! Wow, time flies😱 So I have been working on making the tough decisions. I’ve been thinking about what college, how I’m going to go, if I should go? For several months now, the thought of going to college made me feel uneasy and unsettled. I have been called to work with young children since I’ve been a little girl and I’ve been told by so many well-meaning people that I have to go to college. I have to go through all these steps. But recently I found out that to do the work I feel led to do I just need to take a couple month online course. Not an actual college course. Plus this course doesn’t cost tens of thousands of dollars. After I found out about this avenue I felt the most peace about my future I have in months. I’m not 100% sure I am going to go this route but I feel like that’s probably where God is leading me. It just amazes me that the week I have been feeling like college probably isn’t my thing one of my favorite accounts posted a blog affirming what I’ve already felt. I will keep praying and following Jesus with how He wants me to live my life, but thank you so much for sharing Isabella! It really affirms for me that their are people who are wonderfully successful people who didn’t go to college. ❤️
Bella Morganthal
5/21/2018 06:25:34 pm
Thank you so much for stopping by and reading and commenting, Kylee! <3 So excited for you and where God is going to lead you. Never give up following His plan! Praying He directs you wherever He wants you, and grateful that this article encouraged you :)
It was interesting hearing your thoughts on the subject, Bella. There are days when I'm set on college and other days where I want to run in the other direction and cry whenever someone mentions college and my name in the same sentence. ;)
Bella Morganthal
5/21/2018 06:26:46 pm
Thank you, Grace! :) I'm excited to see wherever God leads you with that and know that you will be a bright light in your college :) Your music is so beautiful, I wish all the world could hear it <3 5/19/2018 04:18:29 pm
This was so encouraging, Bella! As you know, I'm graduating highschool this year and I don't feel led or want to go to college, and yet it seems that's all everyone asks me and I am getting rather tired of that question. This article was so perfect for me at this time to reaffirm what I believe I should do, so thank you so much for it! :)
Bella Morganthal
5/21/2018 06:27:22 pm
I'm so glad, sis! <3 Thank you :) Keep doing what God has for you!
Bella Morganthal
5/21/2018 06:27:44 pm
Very true :) Thanks for commenting, Grace!
Ashley
7/11/2018 03:15:09 pm
Hi Bella!
Ashley
7/11/2018 03:16:29 pm
Oops! I meant to say thank you for shining your Jesus light! :)
Keith Gray
6/28/2021 09:56:51 pm
Hey there! My name is Keith Gray and I believe the Lord has led me away from college. Despite my secular life which was molded around college and grades and education. I feel that the Lord moved on my heart to keep me home. I feel the Lord has a will for my life to work with the poor economically, and spiritually. I've gotten counsel from someone and my parents insist that i go so I'm definitely at a road block. I want to be faithful and follow the Lord but another part of me is wondering if that is the Lord's calling. I need prayers most definitely. I am willing to be surrender but it just seems like so much has already been surrendered and it makes me question if this is all really from the Lord.
April E Smith
9/1/2022 11:32:42 am
Keith, people in your life have plans for you but those are not God's plans for you. He directs you where he wants you and you have to be obedient to Him, as you are His servant regardless of whoever and whatever others want for your life. Do not feel pressured into doing what others want because God will award you based on what you do that He has told you to do and not what your parents or others wants. In general, wise counsel is the counsel that honors and fears the Lord and not counsel based off of worldly culture and philosophies like going to college at all costs to be secure financially or to be successful or whatever other reasons people give. Nowadays, no one wants to say anything bad about colleges and those are by people who went there themselves and no matter how bad secular school is they turn around and say college is a necessary evil. Necessary to whom? Necessary why? Well you will be poor....perhaps it is better to be poor then. Well you won't learn.....there is nothing someone who doesn't know God can teach you as it is the fear of the Lord that is the beginning of wisdom, so what wisdom does college have to offer? What will you lose in learning that college provides? Well, you just have to go no matter how bad the environment is, no matter if you learn any real wisdom worth knowing or not because you have to. Um, college isn't free and even if it was, what are they truly providing? Bad company corrupts good character and when you make college your god don't be surprised when your child has their heart turned away. People who make college their god are already showing that they have certain lacked in providing a Godly example to their children in their own lives and that their beliefs and morals and lives are like the waves of the ocean.
Bob Abughie
9/2/2022 02:04:00 pm
Amen, brother!
Mary Nasike
8/22/2023 05:15:05 pm
Amen.!! Praise God. I am so encouraged by these testimonies how the saints are defying the norm to do God's mission and the dependence and love for Christ is overwhelming. His name be glorified more in your life brother.
Bob Abughie
9/2/2022 01:58:52 pm
I wanted to go to college, but God led me away from that and instead He set on a path to be a janitor. Instead of wasting money on a useless degree, I ended up with His guidance in the career He planned for me, without incurring a substantial debt. True, I will never be rich, have a nice home or a loving companion, but this was His plan for me. Had I gone to college, no matter what I studied, I would not have gotten a high paying job; God steered me away from that and I now sweep floors and clean toilets per His guidance. Comments are closed.
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