backoffimanon asked you: The artilce you posted said ‘no one gives a rats ass about a writing degree.’ which I’ve been hearing a lot and it makes sense. That being said, do you think a degree’s worth getting?

Alright, John Green and I differ on this, so I’m going to share both sides.

I hope that you will not make your decision based on someone else’s opinion of high education. I hope that you will do the research to make this decision for yourself.

First, know that:

1. John Green is a college graduate.
2. I am not.
3. We both live in the USA where college is not free.

My opinion is that college is great for brow-beating you into learning things that you could learn for free at a public library. It will probably put you into debt which you can then deal with for a decade or more, but there are plenty of Life Experiences that happen in college that apparently you can’t come by any other way. I wouldn’t know, because I didn’t go, because I don’t think that college is right for me.

That is not to say that college isn’t right for you or your friends or John Green. College seems to be a great place to go and be exposed to new things and network with like-minded individuals, and I think the college experience means different things to people with different goals and at different stages in their lives. I would never advise you to pass up a learning opportunity. If you’re excited to go and you think that college will help get you to where you want to be, then I think you should apply tomorrow!

This is just one writer’s opinion. In the end, however, no one is going to carve “College Graduate” on your tombstone. No one is going to read or not read your (fictional) book on the basis of your college degree. Certainly no one (especially not me) is going to think that your writing is worth more or somehow better because you have a degree. You need to get over that right now. No one is better than anyone else on the basis of high education.

On the other hand, if being a writer doesn’t work out for you, having a business degree couldn’t hurt. There are plenty of vocations that I think should require a college degree (doctors, lawyers, pharmacists, etc.), but writing may not be one of them.

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John Green’s opinion comes to you in two parts: a blog post and a VlogBrothers video.

Here is the blog post.

And the video.

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Just one more time before I go: OUR OPINIONS ARE JUST THAT. THEY ARE OUR OPINIONS. THEY DO NOT HAVE TO BE YOUR OPINIONS. PLEASE DO NOT ASSUME THAT ANYONE IS BASHING ANYTHING. NO ONE IS GOING TO FORCE YOU TO GO/NOT GO TO COLLEGE, AND NO ONE IS HATING ON THE FACT THAT YOU DID/DIDN’T GO TO COLLEGE. CALM DOWN.

Thank you for your question!

-C