How a Lamborghini Countach and College are alike.

When I was in high school, my dream car that I wanted was the Lamborghini Countach.  Caution! I’m about to age myself here!  This Italian made supercar was everywhere on my mind.  I had it on posters in my room.  I had pictures of it in my locker.  I even drew it for art assignments.  It was captivating.  Everyone wanted one of these cars because they were deemed at the time the cream of the crop.  On weekends, many of my friend and I would go cruising in our cars.  This was before social media so it was my generations way of meeting new people and talking about common interests, most notably cars.  I often dreamt that I would buy a Lamborghini Countach and go cruising and stop traffic as everyone would envy me.  Yes, you know the dream sequence… key 80’s music. There would be a wide shot of the strip with all kinds of cars cruising.  The camera would zoom in on this amazing piece of art rolling down the middle of the strip and cars pulling over to take a look.  Then you see me driving the Countach in a slow-motion sequence while good looking people would point and give me the thumbs up.  That was the dream.

Then I looked closer to how this car was built and realized it wasn’t practical in any way.

As I researched more about the Lamborghini Countach, the more flaws I saw.  Let me list a few that you may not know about.  We can start with the very cool looking scissor doors that open straight up.  If you take a closer look, it is virtually impossible to unlock and lock the doors.  The key barely fits under the handle and is at a very awkward angle to enter the lock.  The windshield wiper doesn’t cover the drivers view.  It only hits half of it.  The pedals are pushed way right on the floor so your legs have to bend at an awkward angle to drive it.  The reverse gear is very close to 1st gear and the driver has to manually lock and unlock a switch in order not to jam the shifter into reverse while driving.  And backing up is a whole process.  Believe it or not, Lamborghini actually suggests the driver open the door, sit on the door jam to look outside the car backwards to watch to backup.  Yes.  It’s that bad.  This is because there is virtually no view out the minuscule rear window.  And lastly, the cars windows only open a few inches.  Forget about fresh air when you drive it.

So you are asking how the heck does all this relate to college?  

Well, college is a lot like the Lamborghini Countach for several reasons.  We will start with the cost.  If you have money, you can afford both.  If you don’t, well, you may want to look at other options.  Looking closely at college, you will find many flaws like I saw when looking closer at the Lamborghini.  In high school, like the car, a college degree is viewed as the coolest, most sought after thing to get.  We believe we will be a certain person if we get a degree.  That piece of paper will make us look as good as driving the Lamborghini does.  If you look closer, it won’t.  That degree has many flaws the closer you look into it.  That degree doesn’t make people want to hire you.  College wastes a lot of time in many ways and is very costly.  College, like the Lamborghini in the rain, is not right for every situation.  The school system thinks everyone should go to college.  That’s like the school system saying everyone needs to own a Lamborghini.  Think about that visual.  

Folks… let’s be real.  The Lamborghini Countach has flaws and is outdated.  So is college in many ways.