In my spare time, I read historical stories and read a story about Zhu Chongba, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, who participated in the revolution. It is said that Zhu Chongba was born in a poor peasant, and when he was the worst, his family starved to death and had no money to be buried. In order to eat, he had to become a monk. One day, I received a letter from my friend Tang He, inviting Chongha to join Guo Zixing's anti-Yuan rebel army and lead Chongha to the revolutionary road. Since then, Zhu Chongba has changed his name to Zhu Yuanzhang, and his life has opened up a mode of opening and hanging, as the so-called "promotion and salary increase, becoming a general manager, becoming a CEO, marrying Bai Fumei, and embarking on the peak of life".
When I thought about it carefully, I found that Zhu Yuanzhang had actually surpassed most of his comrades at the beginning of his participation in the Rebel Army: in the old days, the majority of the common people, mainly peasants, were illiterate. Zhu Yuanzhang's ability to read and write letters already gave him the advantage of standing out among the rebels. Knowledge is power, knowledge is power.
But in this day and age, why do people often feel that reading is useless? School district housing is expensive, but degrees are not worth it! But when you think about it calmly, it makes perfect sense.
Because, in today's higher education is almost universal, just reading a book can no longer form a comparative advantage in the competition of market labor. As in English-speaking countries like the US and UK, knowing English does not make one more competitive. Because "competitiveness" is always a concept that comes after comparison. Everyone can speak English, and it is useless to speak English. In the same way, if everyone reads, reading is useless.
But isn't there a lot of reading? Indeed, some people graduated with a master's degree from a famous school, and some were just three scumbags. However, as explained by the economics of marginal effects, there is a huge difference compared to nothing. Just being able to read and write is already a huge advantage over the illiterate. But for the same "many" comparisons, such as having 10 million in savings or having 1.01 million in savings, the practical significance of the difference is almost non-existent. Therefore, it is almost difficult to say that a university graduate must have an advantage over the knowledge possessed by a college student.
If you think about it this way, it is not unreasonable to say that reading is useless!