I
have always wanted to write this piece but I have often postponed it. Walk with
me as I ask myself these questions. Does having a University degree always mean
that you are better than anyone who did not make it to the University? Is a
holder of BCOM in Accounting a better accountant than a CPA (K) Finalist? Does
a Bsc Engineering graduate make a better engineer than a Diploma in Engineering
graduate from a Technical University? Do we need to remind everybody that we have this and that degree? Must we be called by the so many titles that we have?
A
look at what happened over the weekend at the University of Nairobi graduation
Square reveals the nature of a good number of University graduates to be and
what type of people they will be in the labor market, VANDALS......- https://www.facebook.com/sam.
A good friend of mine then posted this...
A 24 year old KCSE D minus graduate has generated hydro power and connected 77 homes in Murangá yet we have many of our graduates who cannot even change a bulb. John Magiro Wangari who used to score "E" in physics has his own power company 'Magiro Power' . We value papers, certificates and thick Cvs but is important to know education is not an end in itself. The little that you have can be useful to humanity if you exploit your wisdom and abilities well.-Karungó Njihia
Gideon Kibunjah I hope you're not in any way belittling the importance of education. With the necessary qualifications probably he would have achieved even more!
Karung'o Njihia Mr.Gideon Kibunjah; not in any way, all am saying is that one can make an impact in humanity in whatever level of knowledge one is.
Then this comes up.....
Passing by a friends house, i then found this pasted on all the Loo's doors...
Here is a lady demanding that tenants recognize that she is a degree holder and has 12 years working experience.....
A closer look home...Let me use my workplace. This does not mean that we are the only ones affected by this graduates bug.
Over
time, I have wondered whether the University degree craze is really worth the
investment that most of us are willing to spend every single coin in. In the
Police Service, most of us have not spared any opportunity to join a University.
This we have done for all reasons. Some of us not because we really wanted to
do so or because it was always a dream to pursue higher education, but because
graduates here earn a partly tidy sum irrespective of the rank that one is in
and the course that one has invested in.
With
increase in satellite Universities, mushrooming of colleges ‘in collaboration
with XYZ University, the opening up of the digital space hence making online
studies more affordable and convenient, most of us have managed to secure the much
needed paper with a minimum of at least two and half years. To the Lucky ones,
this has also earned us automatic qualification for Special Station Commanders Course which means that a Graduate Police Constable need not pass through the
rank of a Police Corporal, Sergeant or Senior Sergeant to be an inspector of
police but only requires a basic University degree and that’s it!
After
going through this course, one I promoted to the rank of a Police Inspector as
I said earlier which means that this person, holding certain factors constant,
irrespective of the years of service and working experience, he/she automatically
also qualifies to be a Deputy OCS, Deputy DTEO (infamously referred to us
deputy bass commander), Deputy DCIO amongst other positions in the service.
Why
the Long story then?
I
have worked and interacted with a good number degree graduates, have had a spot
check on how they do their work, observed the way they reason and basically the
way they do their things and all that I can say is that there is nothing much
to write about having a University degree as a must for one to stand out
positively in life as many of us have always believed. A good number of us are
proud, impatient, full of male/female egoism, are hasty and most make very irrational
decisions just because we are ''bosses". This does not mean that we do not have
amazing brains, smart and hardworking, change minded and well grounded men and
women, who are degree holders but what am saying is that there is a worrying
trend that anyone who advocates for ‘education is the key’ slogan would want to
look at. May be we need to ask what this key is supposed to unlock!
My
two cents:
Quality education produces quality graduates whereas
compromised education produces compromised graduates. In a country where
Mwakenyas make their way to the exam rooms, where there are rampant cases of sex for
degrees/grades, where almost every college is offering a degree in
collaboration with XYZ University, then, employers will continue complaining of
half baked graduates and Universities will continue minting millions of money
through parallel degree courses and so on and so forth.
In
a Country where we have a good number of Doctors as Governors and Senators who have just perfected
in the art of running down Counties, where we have Professors whose credentials
are questionable but are popular alarmists and analysts for hire, where we have
engineering graduates who cannot replace a burnt bulb, then we got to put our
house in order.
Most of us have just vandalized this Nation but still call ourselves learned friends. Learned friends who cannot come up with life changing innovations, who cannot transform workplaces to respond to the 21st Century demands, individuals who cannot dare change organizational cultures for better organizations but they remain men/women with a bloated desire for recognition and perks that cannot be justified.
Above all, without integrity from the word go, then we can only
continue blogging and writing articles. What is a degree qualification without
Soft skills that gives one that much needed competitive advantage? What is a degree qualification without Integrity, proper communication skills, ability to plan, the hunger and commitment to reward excellence, delegate duties, hunger for quality continuous training and putting in place objective
performance appraisal mechanisms?.... then a degree remains just a paper....and graduates just but Vandals.
