Is College Still Relevant?

Where We’ve Been: When Digital Took Over the World

The history of business and technology is basically a never-ending story of"Surprise! You’re obsolete!"

First, DARPA gave us the internet. Then Google came along and made knowledge instantly available to everyone—except for people who still use Bing (they’re doing their best). Suddenly, businesses didn’t need huge factories or massive workforces to succeed; they just needed a website, a decent WiFi connection, and a dream.

Amazon made traditional retail cry itself to sleep. Uber turned every car into a taxi. Facebook made sure none of us ever had to wonder what our high school classmates were up to. Governments, too, jumped on board, streamlining services, digitizing processes, and making it easier than ever to renew your driver’s license (just kidding, that’s still a nightmare).

The formula for success had changed. Instead of "buy more land, hire more workers," it became "use technology, scale faster, and hope AI doesn’t become self-aware."

But hold on—because that was just the warm-up act.

Where We Are: The End of the Information Age (RIP Google Search Skills)

The Information Age is officially over. AI has entered the chat.

Unlike the search engines of yesteryear that simply retrieved data, AI now analyzes, interprets, and generates content faster than you can say, "Did ChatGPT just write my entire report?"

Want to start a business? You don’t need an office—you just need a laptop, an AI-powered toolset, and a decent snack supply. In the past, companies spent alot of money and man power to determine how to determine the best way to scale a product or service. Scaling a product was the beacon of light for businesses based upon the pursuit of trying to drive down the marginal costs of making a product with each iteration before it became obsolete. In the past, the main factors to consider were land, capital and man power. Today two entrepreneurs with a WiFi connection can now achieve what once required entire teams, stacks of paperwork,  huge marketing budgets and a lot of coffee-stained spreadsheets.

Meanwhile, AI isn’t just doing the boring stuff like data entry and automation—it’s casually dipping its toes into creativity, problem-solving, and decision-making. Generative AI can now write essays, compose music, generate art, and even create deepfake videos that will have you questioning whether that "celebrity apology" is real or AI-generated damage control.

So, naturally, we have to ask: If AI can do all of this, what exactly should humans be doing?

Where We’re Headed: Rethinking Work, Education, and Whether We Still Need That Expensive Diploma

This isn’t just a technological shift—it’s a societal one. We need to rethink not just how we work, but how we educate the next generation.

For decades, school has been about memorization. But when AI can store, process, and regurgitate knowledge faster than even the nerdiest student, does it really make sense to keep forcing people to cram for standardized tests? Should school be more about project-based learning and real-life application? There is a school in Texas that is already taking a leap to discover the best foot forward. While this is an elementary school, it’s nice to see I am not on an island alone thinking through the way forward.

The future of education will have to redefine itself— and it should be about who can:

✅ Think critically by solving complex problems (instead of just Googling the answer)
✅ Leverage AI as a tool (rather than fear it will take their job)
✅ Navigate ethical dilemmas (because AI definitely doesn’t have a conscience)
✅ Innovate, create, and adapt (since job titles like "AI Whisperer" and "Chief Meme Strategist" may be a thing soon)

And here’s a fun thought: Should we rethink the necessity of a four-year college degree as the default pathway to success?

The Future of Learning: Is College Still Worth It?

For years, we’ve been told that college is the golden ticket. But now, that ticket costs six figures and often leads to an unpaid internship. Meanwhile, infopreneurs, techpreneurs, and self-taught creators are launching million-dollar businesses from their bedrooms.

Massive companies like Google and Microsoft are now offering microcredentials—fast, affordable alternatives to traditional degrees that actually lead to well-paying jobs. In other words, you might not need a fancy diploma to land a great career anymore.

So, if students today can learn in-demand skills, land jobs, and skip the soul-crushing debt… is it time to rethink what success really looks like?

Preparing for a New World: The Big Question

Instead of making students memorize the Pythagorean theorem for the 15th time, maybe we should be asking:

• Are we actually preparing students for the future, or just making them really good at trivia night?

• Are we prioritizing real-world skills over an outdated system that measures success in GPAs and student loan balances?

• Are we ready to embrace new learning models that focus on creativity, adaptability, and AI literacy?

The future doesn’t belong to those who can recite the quadratic formula—it belongs to those who ask the right questions, challenge outdated systems, and adapt to change.

So, here’s one last question: Are we ready to rethink education before AI does it for us?

Stay tuned for Part Two: Is College Still Relevant? (Spoiler alert: It’s complicated.)