Is college and university education worth it?

Growing up in a country like Uganda, one is forced to think about the need for school and whether it is worth the effort and lots of money our parents and guardians pay. It is not uncommon for one to find an unenthusiastic student sitting in class trying to find sense in the words of the teacher but hardly succeeding. Education is supposed to address the problems of a given society; unfortunately, this is not the case for most third world countries. And this is why there are questions about the importance of education everywhere in our countries.

Students have been taught how to cram best, and that’s the only way to getting the best grades. It is survival for the best crammer. People will often have straight A’s but a failure in the applicability of what’s taught to them.

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School is supposed to be a place where our intelligence is harnessed to greater heights; however, looking at the scores from previous tests pushes students to think again about their level of intelligence. Do we still have to wonder why there are lots of young people who have low self-esteem?

We watch parent selling off their pieces of land and cattle, while some parents will contemplate sinister ways of seeing us through school when the situation gets tough. This shouldn’t be worse, however, watching your child return home to ask you to provide for his needs even after graduation from college because of lack of jobs in a country. Is this not enough to think twice before supporting another child through school? Are we still wondering why most parents in third world countries don’t send their children to school?

Due to so many factors, children in Uganda are forced to pick on courses they hardly love. Right from secondary school, we have compulsory subjects. Now doing something you don’t love is so tricky because the zeal to excel is rather low. The situation doesn’t differ at the University, in fact, it rather worsens. People are made to settle for other courses due to high levels of poverty since the dream courses are rather obscenely expensive even in public universities. Education in a country like Uganda is seen as a luxury especially by people who live in rural areas.

In conclusion, should people still sell their body organs to support their children in school? Should education be the basis for measuring people’s intelligence? Shouldn’t we think about restructuring these education systems? Shouldn’t we be looking at attaining a type of education that addresses the problems of a given society rather than bending towards conventionality?

By Golda Desiree

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