The late Charlie Kirk spent much of his time as CEO of Turning Point USA not in a corner office but on college campuses, sparring with students in open debates. His go-to challenge was simple: “Prove me wrong.”
One of his favorite topics was the value of higher education itself. Kirk, who dropped out of Harper College outside Chicago before building an $85 million-a-year nonprofit, argued that too many young people pursue degrees out of habit rather than purpose.
“College is supposed to provide a pathway to financial security and career success,” he wrote in an op-ed in 2022. “That promise is true for fewer and fewer graduates.”
Kirk believed universities had drifted away from teaching critical skills like writing and problem solving, focusing instead on conformity while saddling students with debt. His philosophy: do whatever it takes to get your foot in the door—and then reassess whether more education is truly necessary.
“You know, something that is so lacking when I talk to employers is hunger and desire,” Kirk told Fox News while promoting the launch of his 2022 book: The College Scam: How America’s Universities Are Bankrupting and Brainwashing Away the Future of America’s Youth.
“What is that piece of paper really going to do for you?”
Many Gen Z are in agreement with Kirk: college isn’t worth it for everyone
While Kirk has been outspoken about his views on higher education’s diminishing return on investment for years, many Gen Zers share his skepticism.
Some 51% of Gen Z college graduates now view their degrees as a “waste of money,” according to a recent survey from Indeed. And it may be worse among young men: a Financial Times analysis found that men with a college degree now have roughly the same unemployment rate as young men who didn’t go to college.
This shift has left over 2 million young men now classified as NEET—meaning not in employment, education, or training—with average student debt nearing $40,000.
For young men looking to not face the same struggles, Kirk’s advice was simple: “do anything” except seek a four-year degree. Instead, make your dreams a reality by doing it on your own terms, encouraging people to pursue entrepreneurship.
At the same time, Kirk often framed his arguments in ideological terms, lamenting that universities were dominated by “far-left professors” who he said pushed “anti-American and progressive ideologies onto students.” Still, he acknowledged exceptions.
“I would say, very bluntly, that maybe if you want to become a doctor or a lawyer or an accountant or an engineer — which, by the way, is a huge minority of people that go to colleges — maybe you should go to college but pick the right one,” Kirk continued. “But the vast majority of kids, the vast majority of kids that go to college, shouldn’t be there at all.”
