On three occasions this week, I heard of instances where persons used their academic achievement as a way to distinguish themselves from others.
The most disconcerting occurred where someone was scolded on Instagram about only having “one and a half degree” (whatever that is).
As a society, we should never underscore the impact of education and our stellar educational system. Many have been able to achieve economic mobility as a result of free education. I dare say that the majority of our middle class owes its existence to the concept of free education.
Having said this, we now exist in an era where the concept of success has changed.
Persons do not see success as simply being a “doctor, lawyer, bank manager”. Additionally, many persons see success as a holistic concept where balance and life experiences trump dollar signs and what some may refer to as “uh piece uh paper”.
For example, we are living in an age where the term “housewife” is now finally classified as a legitimate profession.
Many of us still equate success with money. As a result, whilst doing research for this article, I started to look at success and academia from this aspect – dollars and cents.
According to Inc. Magazine, approximately one third (32 per cent) of all billionaires are college dropouts. Many of the self-made billionaires either did not go to college or dropped out of college.
Notables such as Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Mark Zuckerberg all dropped out of school. David Karp,the founder of the famous social network Tumblr, dropped out of school at 15 years old. Racheal Ray, the international cooking sensation, has no formal training and has never attended college. Charles Culpeper, the owner and CEO of Coca-Cola dropped out of high school and Jerry Yang, the cofounder of Yahoo dropped out of his PhD programme.
Disappointing
The statistics on the return on investment of academia may startle you. We hear every day of persons with high student loan bills who will have to work all their lives before paying them off. For some, pursuit of academia is a bad investment.
It is disappointing that many of us still “Ooh” and “aah” with impressed facial expressions in response to persons’ stating that they are in certain professions.
This is even when it is splashed across the news headlines that Legal Aid allegedly owes many attorneys thousands of dollars (one attorney claiming in excess of $40 000) and where the limitations on hiring at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital have heightened. Although many professionals are still “living well”, I can say the same for many who sought the unconventional path – having never walked into a UWI classroom.
The unconventional path sees young Barbadians who wake up early every morning and sell smoothies and gourmet food-truck cuisine to hundreds of people each day. This path is walked by local hairdressers, seamstresses and many with other trades – who should qualify for a mortgage more readily than many of our nation’s professionals.
My aim here is not to discount the benefits of academia as I too have pursued two separate and distinct degrees in the name of personal development.
My aim here is to implore that those of us who are so obsessed with academia see the broader picture. Yes, academia is important and necessary. However, not in all instances.