Echoing What’s Important To You

I have a sister who studied interior design, but now works in a travel agency. My younger brother finished SPM earlier this year, and refuses to continue studying; he said he didn’t know what to study anyway. A friend of mine switched from full time studying, part time working to part time studying, full time working. He’s earning about 2K per month now.

I’m currently taking a degree in accounting, but most of the time, I have no idea of what I’m learning. Some of the things we learn are not even applicable in real life, but we apparently ”had to know”. When asked why, the teachers would just emphasize the fact that those unnecessary bits of “information” were included in the syllabus. Not to mention that we never remember much of what we studied after the final examinations are over anyway.

News articles reported statistics as high as 70% for unemployed graduates back in the year 2006 and 2007. Anyone consider this just a mere figure ? This is a staggering number and most definitely a numbing shock. So, if graduates can’t get a job even with their degrees, and some (maybe most) of us end up not working in the fields that we studied for, then what the heck is the scroll for?!

The answer?

*drum rolls*

Societal expectations.

For a good percentage of people in our society, that is the case. You go to school to get good grades to get to a good university to get good CGPA to get a good job to get high pays to live a good, comfortable life. Yes, we study to get a “stable job” in the eyes of society. That is the mantra which has been drummed into our heads since we were born. SPM may be a passport, but these days it’s naught but toilet paper. Hardly anyone goes for diplomas (unless they’re the only option) because they’re apparently too low in standard. And thus, it is no wonder why the multitude of working people out there have at least a degree in hand.

Admittedly, you do need to study really long and hard if you were to pursue a career in, say, medicine or engineering. These are fields that are highly specific that you really can’t find any other method to learn them up. I suppose you can say accounting is a specific field too, although I haven’t learn much specific subjects (okay, maybe taxation).

But do we really need the degree to be successful in our life? This kind of question is usually accompanied by a list of dropouts’ names who then became millionaires, so I guess I’ll comply. These are some of the famous, rich people who were once dropouts:

1) Quentin Tarantino

No kidding! Successful writer and film director, best known for his movies Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill Volume 1 and 2, Reservoir Dogs, From Dusk Till Dawn and many more, dropped out of high school in grade 9.

2) Dave Thomas

Guess who he is? His franchise recently opened in Sunway Pyramid, the first in Malaysia. He’s best known for his chain of fast food restaurants, Wendy’s. He got his first job by the age of 12 and moved out and dropped out of school at the young age of 15 years old. After invested in KFC restaurant chain upon meeting Col. Sanders in 1956, he became a millionaire by the age of 35 and by 1969 Dave Thomas had opened his first “Wendy’s” and the rest is history. Although, he did end up graduating almost 45 years later in 1993. =]

3) Johnny Depp

My favourite man in Hollywood! If you don’t know who he is, you should be ashamed. At age 16, shortly after his parents’ divorce, Johnny dropped out of high school to go on to be a movie star making his millions.

4) Li Ka-shing

Sometimes regarded as the Superman of Hong Kong due to his business prowess, he’s the Hong Kong tycoon who came from China knowing nothing… and ended up owning everything.

5) Peter Jennings

He was a journalist and news anchor; he was the sole anchor for ABC’s World News Tonight in America till his death in 2005. He dropped out of 10th grade and then out of college, but became one of American television’s most prominent journalists.

6) One of the top-grossing films of 2005, War of the Worlds was written by a dropout (H.G. Wells), was directed by a dropout (Steven Spielberg) and starred a dropout (Tom Cruise).

7) Gregorio Perez

He’s Argentina’s sole billionaire. He’s worth $1.7 billion. He was a high school dropout.

Amancio Ortega

He’s Spain’s richest resident. He’s worth $14.8 billion. He was also a high school dropout.

I can’t find any notable dropouts in Malaysia, but the closest thing I can get to would be the founders of successful websites like YouthEcho, TheCicak and AsiaPartTime. No, no. They are not dropouts. But they have been quite successful before they graduated university, so I guess that counts for something, right? Even our editors here… how many of them are graduates?

So does that means that your degree is going to be worth nothing, after all that you’ve spent on it?

Maybe. No, seriously. Depending on what career you wish to embark on, a degree is not the most important tool (but if you don’t have a degree, then you better have one hell of a determination).

What you do with it makes a difference.

A lot of students study really hard - they practically memorise the books! - but they don’t really know what they are learning. Worse still, they have no skills other than ’study skills’! If I just defined you, then your degree is definitely going to be useless.

In Malaysia, it is much easier to find a job if you own a degree; your resume looks a bit more interesting. In a way, having a degree is a safe bet. But aside from learning inside your classrooms and getting your A’s, you need to learn outside the classrooms too. You need to learn to manage a project. You need to learn to manage the people (but be sure you can manage yourself first =p). You need to learn to speak. You need to learn to sell. These are a few essential soft skills that you (and your future employer) would appreciate later.

Robert Kiyosaki said in his book ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ that we must learn to sell, because through selling, we learn to convince and persuade. This is especially true in business, where you need to sell your ideas and propositions. Even when you are trying to apply for your study loan, you have to go through interviews where you have to convince your interviewer that you are worthy of the the loan.

Obviously, to be able to sell yourself properly, you have to be able to speak well, to begin with. Stop speaking Manglish, for starters. You’ll make a lousy presenter. Majority of the people I’ve met (students and lecturers alike) cannot speak good English and can hardly make a good class presentation despite having a degree with them! Most of them do not speak English in their daily life, so doing it in public while being graded is scary. But if you’re going to make a fool out of yourself, it might as well be in front of your classmates than your potential clients or subordinates in the future. That would be more embarrassing.

So I guess in conclusion, a degree is just another piece of paper. But you can make it worth a lot more. Have an attitude, not a string of A’s (although that’d be a nice bonus too).