We’ve all heard about college or high school dropouts that go on to become some of the richest people on earth. There’s Bill Gates, the founder and creator of an operating system that many of us use on our computers and laptops. There’s also Mark Zuckerberg, the brains behind the social media platform which ultimately changed the face of how humans interact and effectively changed how the world works. Oracle is owned by Larry Ellison, and it is a computer software company worth billions of dollars. All of these are new age entrepreneurs who have capitalized on the changing times of a digital age and by offering innovative and effective solutions, they have made their millions.

Entrepreneurs are exempt from the same rules for the working class

When it comes to your average working classmen, education does play a part in determining your income. Any company would much rather offer a higher pay to someone who has spent years learning about a niche subject than to an individual who hasn’t had the same opportunity, even if he or she has the working experience. Why?

There are certain things that you can’t learn in a classroom, afterall, and people with substantial experience should be worth more than formal education. However, that is not how the world works, and according to Gedeno’s article on income and employment, we can see that college graduates holding a professional degree earns the most on a weekly basis at $1893. On the other hand, individuals without any kind of certification only rake in $619 on average.

According to Steve Gory, the EdTech Strategist for BestGEDClasses, this all stems from the fact that papers equal guarantees. “A man with 20 years of experience in a particular field may be more knowledgeable than a fresh graduate with a relevant degree, but given the fact that graduates have put in the time and money into their education means that they have been formally educated about how things work, how to work things effectively, and will have a more well-rounded knowledge than the employee with the relevant experience because experience often isn’t well-rounded or complete in the sense that formal education offers. But that’s not the only reason…”

“If you are someone who has the relevant education and yet receives less pay than someone who never went to college, how would you feel?”

One of the determining factors of having less pay than someone with further education lies very much in the majority of the workforce. If everyone were on the same level of education, experience would very much be the benchmark for how much someone should receive as monthly remuneration. However, given the fact that many of the working population do have formal education, it may be construed as unfair to pay someone without any certification more money than someone who has spent years and thousands of dollars, as well as the effort, that goes into achieving their degree, master’s, or doctorate.