Academics is not the key to success

This position was not novel as I have heard many people make the same indictment on people they know little to nothing about. But I don’t blame her because we were raised to think that way. From nursery to tertiary we are taught that without a degree and a host of other useless qualifications, we’ll be doomed. Yea, well, our teachers have been lying to us. Many of us fail to understand that success is not determined by the size of the mansion with high walls, a trophy wife and a well-paying job where family time is limited. And actually, that’s a life I would prefer not to have because all three are very stressful to maintain.

Too many people are ready and willing to be condescending simply because others do not fall into their view of success, which generally involves a million academic qualifications. But, what exactly is success? Isn’t that supposed to be intrinsic and individual? Aren’t all of our goals the same in the end: happy life, happy family? Why can’t we appreciate the fact that wherever a person may be in life, that could be success for them, or even the start of their journey towards it? It irks me to see and hear the way the academically inclined segment of society shoves an academic education down everyone’s throat, as though vocational training is irrelevant.

Really and truly, happiness is the true key to our success; if there is passion for a job or even natural skill, education is inconsequential in many fields. Who are we to judge someone working at a fast food outlet or at a grocery when they are happy and contented with what they do? It is about time we start accepting the fact that education is not for everyone.

And maybe the next time you decide to skin up your noses at the men with no academic qualifications who are dangerously hanging on to garbage trucks to keep our country clean, remember that their contribution to society is probably more important than yours. And honestly, I have much more respect for them than any of the educated members sitting in our Parliament.

I was once unfortunate enough to be on a British Airways flight on one of those Airbus A380 planes a few years ago when a passenger became extremely ill, and ever since reading The Hot Zone by Richard Preston back in secondary school, I always freak out when someone starts coughing violently in close proximity to me. Nevertheless, as I am praying for this not to be the Ebola virus or some other deadly airborne contagion, one of the flight attendants made an announcement requesting the assistance of a doctor on board. One man seated on the upper-deck, apparently oblivious to the events unfolding below, identified himself as a doctor, and indeed he was; he had a PhD in Literature. With all that academic education success, the Englishman still made a fool of himself.

Now, even though I too am a “doctor” in addition to being an educator, I have no qualms in saying that an academic education is not the key to success, although I believe that at least a basic level of education is absolutely necessary for anyone to progress in life. One of my friends recently said that an education is the key to what society considers to be a good career, but not necessarily success by any measure. I completely agree.

Our society needs to move away from pushing academics down the throats of our youth, so that we do not continue to struggle with such an educated, yet unemployed population.

This year, hundreds more will walk across a stage at one of the too many tertiary institutions in our country; many of whom will find themselves underemployed or unemployable and unemployed for years to come. Others will decide to pursue postgraduate education because it is better than sitting at home doing nothing – sadly, it is that easy to obtain such a qualification in Trinidad and Tobago. Subsidised Master’s degrees for inexperienced people who are clearly not “masters” in their respective fields has to be the craziest thing in the world, but thanks to GATE , we now have a pool of over-qualified postgrads and no one sees why this aspect of the programme must be abolished.

At the end of the day, if we don’t start appreciating the role that every individual has to play in our society, we’ll s imp l y r ema i n a thirdw o r l d dump of educated idiots.

j a - mille85@ msn.com