Ask HN: Should everyone get a university degree?

Except it doesn't. Everybody I know (including me) who earns very good money does so by sitting in a comfortable chair, thinking clever thoughts that they then write down (or otherwise communicating them). People I know without any degree working with 'dirt' generally earn half.

That being said, not everybody should necessarily get a traditional 4+ year academic degree. Many people will be better served with some sort 2-3 year, more practical and focused, post high school education. Also working a few years between graduating high school and starting your further education is in many cases a good idea. But ending your education after highschool I believe is almost always a mistake.

Education doesn't guarantee a high-level job (however we define it); but almost all high-level jobs require good education.

> Most people don't understand that "dirt and money go hand-in-hand".

This is plainly false.

There is something to the fact that not everyone will need or benefit from a degree but the way you're rationalising it seems off. It's like you're saying that we should keep people uneducated so they don't get too uppity about what they do in life and we have them fill the worst jobs out there that nobody wants.

A degree is a specific kind of learning that many people does not work for many people.

I did a Master's degree. It was hard, I barely passed. However, being an accountant you have to do a professional qualification (CPA, CIMA, ACCA, etc). I suited that style of learning more than the masters.

If you don’t want either of these, or prefer a different route to either of these, then yes, that seems quite ok way to live.