In a recent interview, Harvard University dropout Mark Zuckerberg said that he’s not sure if colleges are preparing students enough for today’s job market.
“I’m not sure that college is preparing people for like the jobs that they need to have today,” Zuckerberg said in an interview with comedian Theo Von published on Monday. “I think there’s a big issue on that and like all the student debt issues are like really big issues.”
The Meta CEO said that college could be a formative “social experience” for students, as many leave home for the first time. Still, some people will have to decide whether higher education is worth going into debt.
“It would be one thing if it were just kind of like a social experience,” he said. “If it’s not preparing you for the jobs that you need and you’re kind of starting off in this big hole, then I think that’s not good. That I think there’s gonna have to be a reckoning with and people are gonna have to kind of figure whether that makes sense.”
According to data from CollegeBoard, the average student loan debt for those who graduated in 2022-23 was $29,3000 per borrower. Gen Z graduates this year face a tough job market amid layoffs in the tech and government sectors.
One 2024 study from Deloitte showed that a third of Gen Z and millennials opt out of higher education due to costs and career choices that don’t require a degree.
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“It’s sort of been this taboo thing to say of like, maybe not everyone needs to go to college because there’s, like, a lot of jobs that don’t require that,” Zuckerberg said. “But I think people are probably coming around to that opinion a little more now than maybe like 10 years ago.”
Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard in 2005 while a sophomore to focus on growing Facebook. Twelve years later, he received an honorary degree.
The CEO said in the interview that he met many people in college “who are really important in my life,” including his wife, Priscilla Chan, Facebook cofounders, and people who are still close friends.
“It was good, I feel like you need some time kind of away from home a bit before you like, fully go out,” he said of his time at boarding school and college.
When asked if students should be learning about artificial intelligence in middle or high school, Zuckerberg said technology changes a lot and that he’s not using the same skills he learned when he was 15. Still, he added that there could be value in “understanding the technology and understanding how to use it.”
Zuckerberg also said having good mentors or teachers is valuable, regardless of the class.
“When I was in boarding school, I really liked studying Latin and Greek, and that’s like, not useful for any practical thing,” he said, “But it’s fun.”
A Meta spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
