To conform or not to conform?

Found on the site of the University of Michigan, this text is quoted from The Corporate curmudgeon (Dale Dauten). Quite interesting and thought provoking...

"A university once was thought of as a place for
freethinkers. Not now. The thinking is never free; it is expensive and shackled.
In the absence of freethinking, college has become a vo-tech for bureaucrats. A
diploma proves that you are a card-carrying bureaucrat, that you are willing to
do what you are told for years at a time. thus, you are qualified to work for
major corporations.

And when you go to the placement office, think about the
sort of companies that would want to come to a university to hire employees. Ask
yourself: If these corporations are such great places to work, why are they the
only ones other than the Army to have 'recruiters'?

If you want to live your own way, it is important to understand
that those who make a difference are nonconformists, rugged individualists. What
school prepares you for is a life as a hard-working non-individualist, a rugged
conformist.

You arrive at graduation ill-prepared for the life-long struggle
against conformity. Refuse to concede. Start by refusing to take the obvious
job, the one that pays the most. You've heard that old lie about 'He who has
the most toys when he dies wins.' Change the 't' in 'toys' to a 'j' and you'll
be closer.

And if you have to give up a few thousand dollars a year to join
a small, lively organization, remember that each $1,000 in salary is only about
two dollars a day, take-home. Would you leave a $5 bill on the dresser every
day to have a lively, energizing career?

So, if you want to have a chance to slip the bonds of bureaucracy,
you will have to look beyond the placement office.

You will have to search among the oddballs and black sheep, among
those whose shoes aren't shined and whose smiles aren't rehearsed..

No, do not go in search of a job, but an inspiration. Find a
leader, a guide. Find friends. Look until you discover true individuals and
then plead with them to take you in."