Losers, are only good for trades. Nothing more. Winners, go to university.
And I was certain of it throughout high school. But with a H.E.C.S debt and a useless B.Arts, I’ll now tell anyone who’ll listen to ditch uni and get a trade.
My high school steered kids towards uni when they began year seven. Around the start of each year, the principal held a special assembly for the previous year’s H.S.C high achievers. Each guest would stand, the principal would announce their U.A.I to the whole school and the degree they chose. Usually it was something fancy, past the reach of a pleb like myself.
So unless an old boy becomes the boss of McDonalds again, like Charlie Bell, the guys that are successful without university aren’t recognised. Nonetheless, I wanted to be on that big stage too, so I accepted my school’s world view unquestioningly.
The end of year 10 split my form into the guys staying and the early leavers. In my mind, the second group looked doomed to rotate in and out of Centrelink. I stayed because I thought university would give me something better than a dole check. So once the first batch of welfare bludgers left, exam marks divided my year further into the uni bound super kids and those earmarked for the trade.
And any prestige that might come with the degree evaporates fast when they leave with debt and no job. Also, they’re four ways screwed if they haven’t networked with potential employers and graduate into a job market that’s oversupplied or downsizing.
With disproportionate focus on the H.S.C relative to its actual value, the other options available to us received little to zero attention. If only HSC strugglers learn a trade, my low U.A.I condemned me to join them. In its aftermath, I remarked that I was too dumb for uni but smart enough for T.A.F.E, an unintended consequence from six years of indoctrination.
I went to uni eventually but now I question if it’s truly needed for success. If Jay-Z can go from a housing project in New York to multi-millionaire entrepreneur, then he shows there are other paths. Uni is simply there to let those who have the interest and potential to become architects and doctors and these fields can be lucrative. A Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws at the University of Sydney however, slugs a student $40,000 after five years of study.
And any prestige that might come with the degree evaporates fast when they leave with debt and no job. Also, they’re four ways screwed if they haven’t networked with potential employers and graduate into a job market that’s oversupplied or downsizing.
If your job requires a university, go; but understand that you’re just qualified to work in that field. You may or may not get rich. And if I could travel back to 2010, I would’ve gotten a trade instead of enrolling in a media comms degree.
I know can’t time travel, but now I’ve found a timber manufacturing traineeship. Studying for my degree kept me in part time work, but my traineeship is full time and I’m paid to learn. Also, I’m highly mobile since people everywhere need furniture and shelves. An arts graduate though, not so much. I won’t get much money at first but it’ll increase if I stick around.
My BArts has taught me to think critically and write but I still debate its value. Although I got a job in public relations with it, that I was shit at, entry into this field should only require a T.A.F.E diploma. The rest is up to the individual’s ability to talk and write convincingly. Yet there’s qualification inflation here because the universities keep producing more grads which allows P.R firms to be picky.
We need doctors and university is the only place where they can be trained. Yet indoctrinating kids to believe this is their only option must stop. I discovered that wasn’t the case after my own graduation and people like Richard Branson and Jay-Z demonstrate that success is possible without uni.
Plumbers and electricians can earn more than the average lawyer, so it’s not so much earning power as it is prestige. A choice between weathered boots and dusty days or tough leather shoes and a firmly pressed suit.
I think trades will becoming increasingly attractive to grads as more and more fail to find work in their chosen fields. The key? Flexibility.
Image Source: Kmart.com.au