Aim? Simple; to write straight to the point passages about day-to-day topics that impact each and every one of us. Okay… maybe my posts will be tailored towards your millennials/gen x population who are ‘in’ with popular culture but your gran can have a read too! Everybody has an opinion; I’m just finding a new creative way of expressing mine.
First topic; Education. What makes me an educated man? For so many years I presumed it was a degree but last year that idea got shattered. Allow me to briefly set the scene. Got a job offer requiring an upper second-class degree minimum in my maths course. That was the best (and worst) day of my life! That was the day I realised if I didn’t achieve the grades required, I would’ve thrown away my opportunity of working for one of the biggest organisations in the world straight after graduating. It’s not like I weren’t predicted the grades but the pressure of it all crept up on me. I remember ten minutes before my final exam, hyperventilating in my uni dorms, absolutely bricking it knowing I had little to no margin for error. Thankfully for me, my efforts were enough! 2:1 baby, Standard Procedure. I calculated that I would’ve still gotten the grades even if I didn’t show up to my last two exams lol, wish I knew that beforehand! Anyways, next stage was to simply provide evidence of my grades to my new employers. Had my degree certificate in hand, handed it over to the HR lady and after a brief check it was handed back.
…wait, do you know what you just had in your hands? HR Lady, maybe you need a bit more time to digest the information in front of you? That wasn’t just a piece of paper showing my university grades, that was the result of about fifteen years’ worth of education. That was a cost of over ten grand in British Sterling. That was early starts and late nights trapped in its physical form. That was proof of my ability to find x and y and any other letters thrown at me. That was my main goal for the first 21 years of existence and all it got was a brief check? HR Lady, please do a bit more to stroke my ego lol. May I please suggest you take a further look at my certificate and then spontaneously break out into song and dance. Newspaper recognition may be a tad overboard, but a round of applause wouldn’t hurt. I’ll wait!
It was only until then that I started thinking about what I’d actually achieved. The majority of subjects that I took for me to prep for the real world actually had no relevance whatsoever. The majority of problems that I faced could’ve been solved by Wikipedia and a scientific calculator at best. Photosynthesis is all well and good, but I still have no idea about taxes and what political party to vote for. My degree claims that I’m an ‘Educated Man’ yet I seemed to lose knowledge every time I was instructed to stop writing after each exam was up. I remember when people would ask me what answer I’d put down for a particular question after an exam… silence. Not because I didn’t want to speak about it, but I’d genuinely forget what exam I’d just come out of. One and a half hours of pain and misery, I suppressed those thoughts real quick! Education taught me to cram information, rearrange my own sleeping pattern and stress over numerous conundrums involving Alice, Bob, Carla *insert names beginning with D,E etc here*.
I believe how educated one is should mainly be based on experience not theory. Schooling gave me a good grounding, nothing more. I was deluded into thinking that my grades would define me yet it was only worth a brief glance to someone else. I believe that I am an ‘Educated Man’, not because my degree tells me so, but because of the trials and tribulations I’ve conquered in everyday life. And sure, I have a lot more to learn and a hell of a lot more to experience but I’m more than ready for the challenge. Schooling is a wonderful thing but don’t allow yourself to get so blinded by the grades that you forget what it’s actually worth. But if you come out with a third-class degree, I can’t lie it could get long for you bro.
Joe
