If not a conventional college, then what?
Education now surpasses just textbook-Esque learning and routinely walking to a regular institution like a school or college. Although this does not curb liberty, or for lack of a better word, freedom, there is a subtle but high rise coming into notice regarding the unemployment demographic of the world population – even more so with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. Taking a first-world country, for example, in the United States of America, the level of enrolment in college saw a decline in the freshmen or the first-time students by 16.1% throughout the nation. A whopping decrease of 22.7% was also seen among community colleges, which is more shocking for the simple reason that community colleges, in fact, serve as an alternative to a conventional 4-year college.
Keeping in mind the opening line of this article, education can be provided in more ways than one. Often, a classroom needn’t be listed out in everyone’s list of priorities. Furthering on this, here are a few options if you believe that standard colleges are not the way for you to go:
COMMUNITY COLLEGE
As mentioned previously, community colleges are usually an inexpensive option parallel to that of a regular college. A community college can help an individual obtain the necessary credentials for a further degree or even a head-start at a conditional job. The courses provided at community colleges are also not time-consuming and therefore, a student can earn multiple ‘stackable’ certifications. This makes it feasible to have a large array of skills at hand for future jobs and careers in case they are asked to be built upon.
START A BUSINESS
If nothing else, one can immediately jump into the workforce straight out of high school. Along with benefitting a country’s economy and graphs of rising employment, this can also prove a good career exploration, by way of which, a person can cater to their interests without the pressure of a higher establishment lurking in the backdrop. With this, one can also find one of their self-interests that stick and persist in their work in that field.
INTERNSHIP OR APPRENTICESHIP
There exists the excellent option to be an intern or try a hand at an apprenticeship. Even though such a job is not lucrative at most times, it is, however, an experience to be valued. Working with professionals in a specific field of your choice can give one a mound of knowledge and ample training to better their performance in the workforce. The special part of starting an apprenticeship is how we can receive classroom instructions during employment.
VOLUNTEER
Volunteering is ideally great for a group setting, imbibing in us the traits of teamwork and coordination at the grassroots level. Even with an individual volunteering program, such work is nearly synonymous with gaining newer skills first hand and making connections and contacts with the people one meets through these activities.
VOCATIONAL TRAINING
Surfacing into a skill-based industry like this does not take many academic credentials, it is enough to possess a certain extent of workplace experience. The programs affiliated with vocational training and vocational certification keep time in mind in case a bachelor’s degree is not a choice, meaning they are much shorter and faster to acquire when in need of certifications.
A breakthrough is more needed than is recognized. With the influx of such alternatives, the traditional learning process can go beyond the four walls of a classroom and prove tangible and favourable for different individuals and their varying career goals and ambitions.As is once said, ‘it’s hard to find a single recipe that’s going to work for everyone’.