Tertiary education- jx a certificate or more

We all dream of having a prosperous life and somehow in Ghana we are made to think the solution lies in a tertiary certificate. Despite the increasing numbers of unemployed tertiary graduates the thought of a college degree still sounds appealing to many young people. And as the years go by more people strive to enter the limited tertiary institutions hence in our country the importance of a college degree cannot be underestimated. How can we complain about the grade-grubbing focus of our students when that is what the world seems to expect from us
 The issue of controversy lies not in the number who can go to college but the big question ‘WHY TERTIARY EDUCATION’. As a country, are we benefiting from the millions of undergrads produced each year or it has it merely become a norm. Are we enforcing college education because it’s done in other countries or because we believe in its significance? Jacob Neusner once said that if we cannot relate the encounter with learning to students experiment in defining our identity we lose sight of what is truly essential. If I can show that what we do that is learning a subject in a critical way is critical to what students become (mature and independent) then I will realize the ideal of college experience.
 Try imagining yourself after 3 or 4 years with your college certificate after your graduation relaxing in your bed then you ask yourself ‘What next?’ what does the certificate signify? Perhaps for you it’s a means of getting a job or stepping stone to climbing the educational ladder or maybe just the feel good factor. These are all genuine reasons for going to college however there is more to it than that. Your mindset determines what you get when you leave school. Some leave with the sole aim of getting a job and when that seems not forthcoming after some time they get disappointed. Its true we all cannot establish businesses some would have to work for others but if doing your work is all about earning your wage then you have to do a rethink; It is more about maximizing your potential being at a place where you are indispensable. Education is the passport to the future, needless tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it. The fact that you were created for a special purpose is irrevocable. The world is like a big ball of puzzle where if everyone is to do what is expected we would fit into the creator’s perfect plan.
It’s quite funny in our country where some educated tend to act more as illiterates. It’s highly accurate that there are more illiterates than literates but should not those who have had that privilege be the pacesetters to correct some ills in society instead of just joining the ignorant masses. Imagine an educated man throwing a rubbish from a moving commercial vehicle; how do you correct the bus conductor the next time you see such an act? Talk of people dumping refuse in gutters when it rains and you find literates as part. With the excuse that all neighbors do that to avoid paying for disposing.
Let us not sit no just sit and just mock illiterates but rather make conscious efforts to change and impact society positively so that the knowledge we have acquired through education would not be wasted.

Ghloriah Addo