From Scholar to Street: Degree Holders Reduced to Zero Due to Unemployment

What is the value of your degree? It's no news that some degree holders are actually making waves in white-collar jobs, but to most, they remain unemployed or have settled for less with a degree of honours. Is it that education has failed us in their promise, or the governmental systems have refused to acknowledge the degrees of others until they are politically connected?

Let's dive in. My writing this post is to make a constructive criticism of how the educational and governmental systems have failed us. Not just them; we have failed ourselves too, even with a degree of honours. What am I implying? Let's start from the grassroots with some underlying questions.

• Why are a few degree holders successful whereas the majority with the same degrees are wandering the streets looking for menial jobs for sustenance?

• What makes most degree holders that are successful better than others that aren't?

• With the current rate of unemployment in the country, do you think people would be motivated to chase degrees?

• Are people degree holders for opportunities in the future or to satisfy current needs through jobs they get from the degrees?

• Why the irony? A first-class graduate is being employed by a student who graduated with a pass or probably a dropout.

• Did education promise us jobs after school, or was it just a motivation by our parents just to be graduates?

• If they actually promised us jobs, then why are we jobless with our degrees? What happened to their promises?

• Why do we graduate as engineers and medical laboratory technicians but end up becoming teachers or veterinary doctors?

• Is it because of the location you reside in or what?

There are a lot of unanswered questions, though. I'll be stating my observations prior to my country exclusively and not making it a general term even though it's a problem faced by other countries. My constructive criticism will state an experience that tallies with the title. Our first class graduates have settled for less because of unemployment in white-collar jobs..

My Constructive Criticism

Before narrating my experience and giving my observations, which may tend to put blame on the government, let me ask our Graduates. Why did you choose to settle for less? Our being unemployed is because we expected jobs after school. Such a mentality.

This is what has kept many graduates and degree holders unemployed. How will you put your eggs in one basket? 70% of youths are unemployed in Nigeria, and this is a striking factor in why Nigeria is still a developing country. Let me narrate an experience of a Nigerian graduate with First Class.

Life Experience

A man who is in his late 30s now started life with a middle-class family. His parents were neither poor nor rich. They were just average or among the middle class. They worked hard in providing everything he needed to receive the best of education. I can remember when my parents would make decisions for me concerning becoming a medical doctor in the future.

My teachers would teach me career choices, and then I furthered my education at the university and studied my dream course, which is Electrical Engineering. As a studious student who has never gone below 70%, he has won a lot of competitions and spent 6 years in his discipline. He came out as the best graduating student with a First Class honours of 4.67.

This academic achievement boosted his parents morale and was awarded during convocation day with a sum of 20k, which is roughly 48 steems. Everyone was essentially proud of him because he had created a name for himself. He has created fame for himself in school as a scholar and intellect. Where is the fame now? Where has the scholarly fame kept him?

Okay, he was done with higher education and service and is now roaming round the streets in search of company work with his CV. From careful interrogation, he narrated how he has been in search of a job for almost 2 years with no positive results. He also admitted that after spending 6 years in school, he didn't know how to wire a house.

He had to pay a non-graduate to teach him how to wire a house after being frustrated in looking for company jobs. He then thought about becoming a POS attendant so he'll be able to raise money to start his own business and work concerning electricals, which wasn't forthcoming.

As I speak, he's an enthusiastic POS attendant, still working under someone with a monthly pay of 25k, which is 61 Steems. He's paying rent, feeding himself, sorting family bills, and also transporting himself to the school he's teaching inside 25k. Just see how ironic life is. His colleague who graduated with a second class is currently a realtor and earns nothing less than 100M monthly.

This is a figure the first-class graduate with no real job won't make even when he dies. Just see how people are suffering. He trusted education to give him a well-paying job, and here is the first-class student now, roaming round the streets in search of a well-paying job other than POS. His plans for life are totally wasted and need amends. He spent all his life with raised hopes. Even the government didn't acknowledge his intellectuals.

Just imagine a first-class student with a BE degree becoming a POS attendant. How ironic... 6 years wasted for just the knowledge and application but no financial integration. This is actually what happens now in life as many graduates, be they first-class or second-class degree holders. They are doing something menial and entirely different from what they intended.

Most of them lived with the euphoria of getting a well-paying job after school, but where are they now.? The government has failed them. The educational system has failed them. Could it be so? We failed to learn a skill before venturing into higher education and are now picking crumbs on the streets just to survive. We start a new life after learning our educational accomplishment was just a waste of time and can't even save us from the impending danger that comes with hunger and being irresponsible as a man.

Most people have strategised their own source of income and have learnt skills far off from the walls of education to feed themselves. 70% of people that went to school and got a degree aren't doing what they studied in school. Their degrees are rendered useless and can't be boasted of in society. How sad!.

Now come to think of it, most of us have our degrees in our bags but are out in the streets hustling badly. Did we sign up for this? I thought when we graduated with a good degree, we would get white-collar jobs. What a deceitful thought!

I won't entirely blame the three parties involved here because this topic is broad and depends on the dimension you're coming from.

• There are people looking for degrees to go far in life as they have connections but don't have money to further their education and get a degree.

• There are people with these degrees who are in the streets, looking for who will accept their degrees and give them jobs. They have what it takes to work but can't find a good job. They have to settle for less.

• There are people without the degrees that are making waves in life. They integrate online and physical skills to become outstandingly positioned in society and are highly recognised but without a degree.

• There are also people who have these degrees and have left them in their envelopes in search of greener pastures. They have a well-paying job from virtual and physical skills other than with the use of the degrees.

So what's the use of the degree now? **If you're offered an opportunity to get a degree in higher education or an opportunity to become a wealthy businessman, you'll definitely choose the business opportunity, or would you go for the degree with future plans in mind?

Let's talk about the three parties involved...

• "The Degree Holders:* They are also the reason why they are frustrated and wasted in life because they live in the euphoria that after school, they'll get a degree and a white-collar job. They failed to have alternative plans for their lives. Reasons why most of us are rendered irresponsible graduates. Most graduates passed through school and didn't allow school to pass through them. They end up wasting their lives because of not being able to express themselves well as worthy graduates in the presence of opportunities.

• Educational System: The question of if the educational system promised jobs remains unanswered. The educational system has failed in the sense that most people get turned down from getting jobs because they are not professionals. When the school system lacks facilitation and materials to make learning applicable other than theoretical, what do you expect from the students? You expect them to be employed youths so they'll continue causing chaos in the industry? Poor educational facilitation is one of the reasons many are unemployed today.

• Government: This plays a major role in contributing to unemployment in Nigeria. There are no industries, and work after school is limited, as limited numbers of staff are needed now due to the advent of technologies that make work easier. Their unavailability of these work facilities, as many find it difficult to become self-employed, has been a problem too. I won't say much.

Candid Advice

My advice to the undergraduate youths and those yet to graduate: I wish you all the best of academic performances if not a graduate, and to those that have actually graduated without jobs, it's not too late to make amends. Waiting for God's time without doing anything won't solve it. You just have to look for opportunities around you, whether a skill online and offline or other forms of physical skills to support yourself.

Education is good as it has helped groom you into becoming someone that can speak in public. You just have to make plans before leaping so you'll not end up leaving scars for your children to inherit. Your degree hasn't taken you anywhere; it doesn't mean your life would end because of this. Be determined; look for alternatives to make yourself responsible. Sometimes settling for less is more problems for you. Extend and look outside the box since the mistake is already made.

To those who haven't graduated, be on the watch to avoid becoming a scholar on the street. Careful planning and alternative plans can help you own this degree and still be successful in life. I won't tell you what you need to do to become successful. Your future is in your hands. You're the one to make the decision with the little advice and encouragement we provide. Remember, you cannot bring the past to the future but you can make good use of your present to make a change. Thanks for reading through