Skip college? Zoho's Sridhar Vembu highlights cultural shift in America, warns Indian parents against heavy student debt

Indian software services giant Zoho Corporation's co-founder and Chief Scientist, Sridhar Vembu, in a social media post, highlighted a cultural shift in America where the students are now skipping college, while urging Indian parents to let their children follow suit.

In his post, Sridhar Vembu highlighted that smarter students in the United States are increasingly opting out of college degrees, while employers who value forward-thinking individuals are enabling them by offering jobs.

“Smart American students now skip going to college and forward-thinking employers are enabling them,” said Sridhar Vembu in his post on platform X.

Escape heavy debt

Vembu explained how American students opting to skip their college degrees can bring a cultural shift, where the youth will be empowered to stand out on their own without having the burden of heavy debt for a degree.

The Zoho Corp co-founder also said that this trend is likely to change the way students “view their world” and eventually also change the culture and political dynamics.

“This is going to be a profound cultural shift. This is the real ‘youth power’, enabling young men and women to stand on their own feet, without having to incur heavy debt to get a degree and paying their own way. This trend will change the way they view the world and it will change culture and politics,” said Vembu in his post.

Request to Indian parents

Through his post, Sridhar Vembu urged Indian parents and students to take note of a cultural shift, where students are beginning to skip college degrees and directly seek employment opportunities.

He also urged the companies to pay attention to the changing dynamics in education.

“I would urge educated Indian parents and high schoolers, as well as leading companies to pay attention,” said Vembu.

No degree for Zoho jobs?

Vembu also said that at Zoho Corp, no job roles mandate the requirement of a college degree, and if a job is being posted with a requirement like that, then it gets flagged to remove that component from the application process.

“At Zoho, no job requires a college degree and if some manager posts a job that requires a degree, they get a polite message from HR to remove the degree requirement!” said Vembu.

He also added that at Zoho's Tenkasi, Vembu works with a technical team whose median age is 19, so he has to keep up with their energy.

“In Tenkasi, I closely work with a technical team whose median age is 19. Their energy and can-do spirit is infectious. I have to work hard to keep up with them!” said the Zoho Corp Chief Scientist.