What is important is being productive

ON COMPLETION of secondary school it is now considered a given that one should continue to the university. But the truth of the matter is that universities cannot accommodate everyone and so some are left out either because they cannot afford to pay or simply because there are not enough vacancies. Education Times this week tries to dig up on the issue of alternatives for those who do not make it to university pointing out clearly that there is no need to despair as there is indeed a life outside the university. The world is full of numerous examples of successful people who did not have to go through university first.We have also heard of those who joined university but dropped out to pursue their dreams and still made it big like Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg of the Facebook fame. What all this means is that attending university is a not the only thing one can aim for in life. Instead focus should be on being a productive member of society. We need to fight the diploma disease that has seen people fighting to join universities just to get a piece of paper to claim they are educated even without skills. We now have all sorts of universities advertising and calling for students to join. The problem with this whole commercialisation of higher education is that we now have thousands of graduates walking on our streets in search for jobs yet they are barely employable. When studying for the sake of acquiring a certificate, one is likely to just rush through the course and learn very little. This is why you hear of graduates who cannot write legible CVs or even speak English with confidence. We should urge our youth to aim at being productive. Do something constructive with your life whether or not you make it to the university.