Forbes contributor Brett Nelson, a successful entrepreneur who did not start business school until age 35, has some radical ideas about people getting real-world experience before they’re allowed into higher education. His ideas should make any adult who is contemplating a return to college after a few years in the “school of hard knocks” feel very good.
Nelson’s key points:
– Getting into a good college is all well and good, but just having access to learning doesn’t amount to much. You have to be ready to learn in order to benefit from it.
– After high school, the graduate should spend a good two years doing some real work – everything from teaching to factory or farm work or even military service – before going to college.
– Colleges should insist that applicants get this kind of real world learning before even being allowed to apply to college.
It may not sound like fun, but I suspect that many college students would be a whole lot more focused on their schoolwork than on partying if this approach was adopted.