‘If you think education is expensive, wait till you see the cost of ignorance’
Rob Brown, Professor of Finance, University of Melbourne, keynote speaker for the 2005 graduation ceremony
Now that I'm officially jobless until I start Uni again in July, I've had a lot of time to think about many things. Was reading through my 'Notable quotes' file when I noticed the latest entry above.
Education. It used to be the one thing that sets one person apart from the others. One would almost be guaranteed a job if s/he had a degree from a prestigious university (or for that matter, any university) just 20-30 years ago. Fast forward to the modern time. Almost ALL the people on the street own a degree, and you would be the odd one out if you don’t have one. The prestige of the university, from which your degree is issued, has therefore become the all important tool to get you the first job (for which you have to go through countless interviews, if you are one of the average students).
Graduates are being produced by the truckloads these days, and before you fight with students from other universities, you first have to get in front of those of your own cohort within the campus. ‘What is it that sets you apart from the rest?’, that’s the question that is often asked. I have found my own answer to this, but for those who hasn’t (which is what I experienced at first), the question can be rephrased into a statement that is equally discouraging, ‘You are unique, just like everyone else’.
That’s right. Every of us have unique talents that has set us on our own evolution journey. Perhaps no one will ever develop the same set of skills. If skills can be classified into codes, everyone will have some common ones and some very different ones. For example, A and B goes through the same education system since they were young, and for that they get the same skill set I code as UOM. However, A is a very sociable person and has excellent negotiations skills, which I would code here as Y. B, in comparison, is a quiet but very creative person, a skill I would code as Z.
My point here is, people will have different sets of skills, depending on what they have seen and done in the past, and for the people who can’t seem to find jobs, it is just a matter of not being able to correctly applying their skills in their chosen field, or in simpler term, not knowing how to sell themselves. It sucks to imagine that after studying in a top university for years, someone would end up without a job while being laden by tens of thousands of dollars worth of study loans.
I have often questioned myself whether it is really worth it to spend my parents’ money on something that doesn’t produce absolute return. After all, my dad could have invested the money in something else and get a higher return out of it than letting me study overseas for almost 10 years now. In fact, we could have lived comfortably back in Indonesia without ever needing to work again if we hadn’t stepped out of it back then. So why did he opt to send me out 10 years ago?
Knowing my dad, one of the main reasons he sent me out was because he wanted us to lead our lives outside and never to return to Indonesia again. Indo wasn’t what it used to be 20 years ago, a land of opportunity with money to be made everywhere (though the perilous conditions had existed since then). Right now, it is a land still fraught with danger, but unlike in the past when people could make serious money (Risk-return tradeoff), there is very little chance for entrepreneurs to make their ways up that easily anymore. Hence, there is no reason why the next generation should live our lives in fear (in Indo) anymore.
& packed our bags we did. Since then, I have stopped many times to wonder, what would I have turned out to be if I hadn’t left Indo back then? We might be a little richer than what we are now, but I wouldn’t be sure to say that our lives have improved. Money is a measure of happiness for some people, but what happiness is there when you have to spend your money in fear? Furthermore, I have learnt so much outside on my own than when I was staying with my parents in Indo, something that can’t be really measured with money.
All the unquantifiable stuff, you say? Where else can you get all the valuable business contacts if you don’t go through school? I think I’ve made more friends that might potentially be my future business contacts in these 10 years then what my dad has managed throughout his whole career! I’ve also managed to start doing some business on my own, which is already helping to cover for my expenses now. By the end of this year, I should be able to be financially independent, even if I’m not able to find a job yet.
Last December marked an important occasion for me as well as my close extended families: I’m officially the first university graduate in our entire history. Some of my cousins are now in the US, and one of them, the oldest in our generation, will be graduating this June. My own degree represents a more important landmark to our family than to myself: the shift from the old thinking of minimum education and start business early, to the focus on higher education. I certainly hope that my younger cousins can follow our footsteps and stride down the path of further education in the future.
