Is School a Scam?

I'm sure when people from my country are asked if they think getting a degree is still worth it in this current age and time, the majority of their answers might be no. This isn't because we don't see the value in the education; we certainly do. It's just that the education system here is so bad and outdated that most people, knowing what they know now (having been through school and all), would rather prefer to spend that time and money learning a skill than going to classes where you're taught nothing while you spend money like crazy.

_{photo by VFP Fineart}

I, for one, happen to be someone who values education (if it's been taught well), and I surely would one hundred percent want to go to school to study if those schools actually do take their time to lecture and really make an impact in my life.

Unfortunately, most people these days no longer see the university as a place of learning how to become an engineer or a businessman; rather, they now say that the university is where you build your character and evolve into a man/woman. They say it's where you get to learn about the world and how to survive in it.

Now I'm not saying that's wrong, but who said we can't do both at the same time? By the way, shouldn't learning your books and what is being taught in class be the most important thing about going to school, while everything else is secondary? It just goes to show you that no one really cares about what's being taught anymore, but rather what you teach yourself. And of course, I'm speaking based on my own experience from the school I went to.

Now, usually, when someone asks you if you think getting a degree is worth it, that question should be a no-brainer if schools were actually how they should be, but how can I confidently answer that question when, as an engineering student, I've heard my lecturers advise us on multiple occasions to go learn some electrical skills outside the school because, apparently, the school wouldn't teach them to us?

So tell me why I get to pay hundreds of thousands of naira to school here, attend both theory and practical classes, and yet you want me to go learn how to properly wire a house from a local workshop outside the school. Shouldn't all that be taught during the practical classes?

Instead, when I go to these practical classes, I find myself writing more notes than I would in the theory classes, when I should actually be getting busy with my hands, showing the practical work that I had learned, practicals that should be more than enough for me to handle myself out there when I find myself in a situation where they need some electrical work fixed.

Sometimes when you ask me if a degree is worth it in an educational system like the one I have in my country, my answer is no. I would learn a skill outside the four walls of the university and make a life for myself. But if it just so happens that I find myself in a better country with a better education system, then of course getting a degree is definitely worth it.