Vishen Lakhiani argues the US college system is broken, leaving students with an average $30,000 in debt while Harvard charges $50,000 a year. He's betting $1 million that Mindvalley graduates will outperform Harvard students on life outcomes, and plans to launch an alternative education program offering Harvard-level education globally for under $500 a year by 2025.
Chapters
College has become a bullshit racket. It leaves too many people in debt. Jobless and often unhappy. People are putting off marriage, kids, home ownership, and retirement. Especially my generation. According to Forbes, in the usa, student debt is the second highest form of consumer debt after mortgage debt. You know, when you're 17 and you think of $20,000, if you didn't grow up in money, you don't even know what that means. Going to can often leave you in as much debt as buying a home. The college industry rakes in $500 billion a year, yet the average American student is $30,000 in debt. I have student loans that total just over $1 million. You're kidding me. And total college debt today is $1.7 trillion. And you know what else sucks? The cost of an American college education has grown five times the rate of inflation. And Harvard just had the balls to announce that their college tuition is going to stay the same, $50,000 a year, even though their campus is closed. Get this. You're paying $50,000 a year for zoom calls. That's complete bullshit. And it's not just Harvard that's doing this. Many schools are doing the same. Now, I grant that $200,000 invested in Harvard does get you a piece of paper that could guarantee a job at some point in the past. That's not true anymore. You don't need a degree to get a job. Tesla founder Elon Musk said he doesn't care if his new hires even graduated from high school. Google, too, just declared that they don't care about college degrees. Same with IBM, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Facebook were all founded by college dropouts. Fortune 500 companies are hiring for skill and attitude, not for degree. And college isn't the answer. Beyond technical skills, companies like Microsoft want people who are adaptable, who are curious, who have the right attitude, who are highly creative, who can work well in a team. Colleges often teach you the opposite. They get you to fit in a box. College was designed for the industrial age. Look at the history of college. It was designed to create cogs in the wheels of industry. Obedient people who could do one thing really well, to power the factories of the great titan entrepreneurs of that time. You traded your individuality for a degree that could perhaps guarantee you a job. But today, companies increasingly don't give a damn about that degree. Now, let's talk about prosperity and overall happiness. There was a time when. When, if you had a degree, it could lead to more income, which, of course, could raise your quality of life. In 2020, students are facing an increasing amount of depression, of uncertainty, of debt and financial worry. All because the expensive prospect of a college degree has become an empty promise. Universities do not teach you the things that truly matter in life. They don't teach you how to love, how to be a great parent, how to take care of your body, how to have great self esteem. They don't teach you conf. They don't teach you how to start a business. They don't teach you how to change the world. They don't teach you how to be fulfilled. These are the skills that truly matter to prosperity and happiness. And college teaches you none of that. So I'm going to launch a bet to Harvard University. The bet is this. We track a group of students who go through Mindvalley and who go through Harvard. We study them over four or five years and we see after a given point of time, which group of students has a better quality of life. Which group is healthier, happier. Which group is making a bigger impact on the world. Which group is truly satisfied with their life? Harvard. If you're listening, get in touch because I'm going to put a million dollars of my own money on this bet. And everyone, if you're watching, share this video. So Harvard pays attention. The system is broken. So let's be honest. Let's come together and cancel college. Let's not set up our kids for failure. And to students who are amassing this step, I urge you to take charge of your own education. To stop buying the lie, find what matters and do that. Don't trade your future for a degree. You don't have to do this. So the next question you may be wondering is this. If college is cancelled, what replaces it? Surely they are skills, they are lessons. There is education that people need to go through to live a truly incredible life. What is that answer? What is that societal model? This is what I'm going to be sharing next. In a few days, I'm going to unveil a grand project that me and my team of 400 people are undertaking to change the way education functions globally for good. This is one of the most ambitious projects ever to completely flip the model. It is unlike anything you've ever heard of and we intend to change the world. Now I'm gonna open up everything, show you the exact intersection of technologies, ideas, the business model, the exponential tech that's coming together all between now and 2025. By 2025, no individual on the planet will need a college degree. By 2025, anyone anywhere in the world will be able to get the same advantages of a Harvard degree for under $500 a year, no matter where you are. And the world will be a different place. I'm inviting you to join me in a session where I'm going to share this vision to the entire world.
