Why university & following your passions is important

Now earlier in the week I wrote about the injustice of the New Zealand student loan scheme.  NZ news site www.stuff.co.nz has been inviting people, through their Stuff Nation platform, to submit stories on whether or not they think an education in New Zealand was worthwhile.  The overwhelming response was that education is a waste of time unless you're going to become a doctor or a lawyer.  The purpose of today's post is to refute that.

As some readers will know, I have a Post Graduate Diploma in Communications, Bachelor of Arts and a Diploma in Broadcasting.  A lesser known fact is that I hold half a Diploma in Advertisinh & have taken marketing papers at university.

There are people who say you should only attend university to get a job but the problem with that is it could lead to people studying things they despise or that they do not have a natural aptitude for.  This in turn would cost the taxpayer more money because of the cost involved in paying for people's unfinished qualifications.

Often following university one of three things will happen:

1 - You'll get a job in your field easily.

2 - You'll give up either for financial reasons or you just don't care enough about your chosen field.

3 - You'll be so passionate about your field that you'll make sacrifices.

If you fall into category one then you are very lucky however some industries like media and manufacturing are going through changes which means only the truly committed will get a job.

Category two disappoints me because nobody should ever give up on their dreams and passions if that's what gets you up in the morning however it should be acknowledged that dreams can change over time.

Then of course there are the people who try to balance money with their passion.  These are the people who will only work to cover their bills while pursuing their calling.  They're the people who work part time and in their free time they're working on their goals.  You see, they're driven but realistic at the same time.  They know they need to survive but they also don't want to wake up one day wishing they'd followed their dreams.

It's all very well and good for people to say that people should only study at university to get a job but no two degrees are equal because people take different electives outside of the compulsory papers and they approach the job hunt differently.  There are those who make excuses as to why they aren't getting ahead and there are those who are so driven that they'll do whatever it takes to succeed.  These are the people who will use small gains to propel them forward.  These are the ones who are willing to work for free following completion of their study to gain experience.  

Some people don't care about what they do as long as they're generating an income but there are others who can't do jobs they hate.  While I was at university, until my last job at a news agency which I loved until being forced to resign because of upcoming redundancies, I had jobs I hated.  Often if you hate a job you won't perform as well as if you're in a job you live and enjoy going to.

Those receiving welfare don't contribute to society but students through student loans and taxes they pay while working do contribute.  It would be wrong to deny people an education based on what someone deems useful or useless.  What if by doing so someone's exceptional talent doesn't have the chance to be developed and recognised.

People have missed the point of an education.  It is to open up doors and opportunities but like anything it is up to the individual what they do with them.