Many people strongly believe that academic qualification is overrated.
Why is this important?
There is confusion about whether or not education guarantees success in life.Educated or not, everybody has a role to play on earth and the most important thing is we can all strive to make the world a better place (if we choose to).
Long Story
Popular American rapper, Killermike once said; “education’s become a pipeline to prison, simply a tool used for mass incarceration, call it the new plantation, call it the new era of slavery...”
Before evaluating the validity of his comment, there is need to define what education is vis-a-vis the school system.
Education is as old as the world itself, from the days of ‘The Hunter’ to the Computer age, whether formal or informal, everyone has some form of education. My focus here is on the formal education cum the school system. Individual purposes for pursuing education can vary, understanding the goals and means of educational socialization processes may also differ according to the sociological paradigm used.
The early years of schooling generally focus around developing basic interpersonal, communication and literary skills. This lays a foundation for more complex skills and subjects. Later, education usually turns toward gaining the knowledge and skills needed to create value and establish a livelihood. People also pursue education for its own sake to satisfy innate curiosity, out of interest in a specific subject or skill, or for overall personal development. Education is often understood as a means of overcoming handicaps, achieving greater equality, and acquiring wealth and status for all (Sargent 1994).
Education is also often perceived as an opportunity for children to develop according to their unique needs and potentials, with the purpose of developing every individual to their full.
A reactionist that favours the school system will support it (the school system) till death while someone that is catholic in thinking might suggest (like Killermike has done) that it (education) is overrated, in fact there is a new trend in my country (Nigeria), school drop outs confidently justify their actions by making reference to Bill Gates (he was an outstanding student and he did not learn about computer programming sleeping on his bed, he learnt that in school),
Mark Zuckerberg (asides the fact that he excelled generally in science, his father hired a private tutor, David Newman to teach him computer programming) and every ‘supposed’ successful drop out, such argument does not only sound funny but also extremely ludicrous because to say education is irrelevant is tantamount to saying Silicon Valley is filled with illiterates (or you think John F. Mitchell and Martin Cooper were illiterates?), to also say that having any academic qualification is a ticket to success in life is like saying having a boarding pass means you will automatically get to your flight destination without boarding the plane (funny right?).
In essence, I am not interested in making a case for the any of the schools of thoughts, I want to propound or re-emphasise a ubiquitous but ignored fact of life i.e. your impact in the society is not determined by your educational status (whether literate or illiterate). Let us face the fact, not everybody will be a footballer, an actor, an artist, a writer, a professor, a doctor, an accountant, a carpenter, an architect, a chef, etc. This is why there is a society, a society means an association of different human beings, we are heterogeneous in nature, we play distinctive roles to make the society function, many factors will definitely engender some traits, skills, talents and capabilities in us. Hence, since we know nothing for certain, a Bill Gates born and bred in Nigeria might not even know anything about computer programming (as at the time he learnt it). Thus, that person whom you are today is a product of a number of factors, you might be interested in becoming a musician in Nigeria and probably go to Germany and develop a passion for automobiles, in other words, what you are exposed to goes a long way in informing and shaping your thoughts and decisions, you are what you learn, know and imbibe, for instance, I have a friend, while he was in Nigeria, he was studying a course in the Social Sciences, upon arriving in USA, he developed a passion for cyber security and he is happy about his new career.
Therefore, if you desire to make the world a better place in any way, your focus would be to gather enough skills, knowledge and experience that will make you achieve that goal, but the most important thing is to discover yourself i.e. your purpose in life and then resolve to contribute positively to your generation. Everyone has a role to play in this world, the question is; are you playing that role? Do you even know what that role is? And if you do, why aren’t you playing the role? Those are questions we must all ask ourselves at some point in our lives.
I know you are thinking; “how do I know my purpose in life?” That is not a difficult question, what do you do that makes you really happy? This could be related to your field or not (there is no crime in wanting to become anything in life so far you are adding value to the world). Laiza King, one of my favourite authors once wrote, if you are interested in discovering yourself, there is need to ask the following 8 questions;
(i) what are you really passionate about?;
(ii) what is your personality and what skills do you currently have?;
(iii)What is the problem that your passion can solve?;
(iv) What is the solution to this problem? What is your product?;
(v) Who are the people that have the problem you are offering? Where are they?;
(vi) What will you need (in terms of resources)?;
(vii) Who’s on your ship and how can you leverage their expertise/support towards starting your project?;
(viii) What is your motive behind starting your enterprise?.
This is not a function of whether or not you have a degree, even with your degree, how are you applying your academic qualification to real life situations in the society? If you are not, then I am sorry, you have wasted your time in the school, that defeats the essence of the formal education you have, you should strive to use your knowledge or your certificate to offer practical solutions to some of the problems in the world, and if you think you cannot do that in your field, that is not a problem, I am confident you have better skills or talents not entirely related to your field and if properly nurtured can add value to this world.
So let us stop arguing about whether Olajumoke (the ‘former’ bread seller turned model) is better than Dada (the all time Unilag best student) or vice versa, instead, we should start contributing our quota to the development of our society in any way. Stop complaining about the things you do not have when you have not fully utilised the things you have!!! You do not need to have a million naira in your account, there are many young people out there doing great things- just take the first step and keep moving!!! Imagine a world where everyone is committed to using their skills, talents to make the world function; even the supposed capitalist has direct and indirect beneficiaries. Hence, whatever skill, knowledge or experience that will enhance your purpose in life, whether it is formal or informal education, do not hesitate to acquire it. The focus should not be the number of academic qualifications you have but on how you are a solution to some problems in the world because you are the only person that can determine the worth of your academic qualification (you could make it useless or useful), it all depends on what you do with your life (like I said, it is immaterial whether or not the value is determined by your academic qualification).
Own the conversation
Ask the big question: What are the things that will hinder the realisation of one’s goals?
Disrupt your feed: It is easier said than done, harsh economic realities force a lot of people to focus on making ends meet before any other thing.
Drop this fact: Neither passion nor talent is sufficient to have a successful enterprise.
What are you interested in achieving in life?
Please share your thoughts in the comments section below or on LinkedIn (Damilola Oyebayo) and Twitter (@oyebayod), as I learn just as much from you as you do from me.
Damilola Oyebayo is a leadership and management development coach. For over 3 years, Damilola has helped many leaders and aspiring leaders improve their leadership capabilities. He is committed to helping readers discover their dreams, improve their skills and lead value-oriented lives.
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