Contest: "Going to school is not worth it?"

Going to school is a waste of time and resources? Now that is a great question and one that actually requires some thought. First of all, I can say that when I started first grade, I was not yet quite 6 years old, I certainly thought it was a waste of time and was only good for killing my sleeping time. Eventually, in second grade I had become adapted and no longer saw school as a torture chamber but as a necessary evil. You know, I found out I could actually learn a few things in school.

So that is how my school life went until at last I graduated from High School and went to college for a while. Frankly, and I must say I don't even know if I qualify to participate in this contest as I am from Honduras in Latin America, anyway what I saw in college was not encouraging. most of the teachers were stuck up graduates from the same university who, unable to find a job out in the real world, had to just take a job as a college teacher, I just reasoned if these guys can't find a job outside, how can they be good teachers? So as I do have a funny way of being I quit college.
I went around doing nothing but drinking and wasting my life for a few years until at last I landed a job. At this job my ideas were confirmed, most of the people with college degrees were absolutely clueless about what they were doing, I usually had a better understanding of what had to be done than they did. Of course I was at a disadvantage salary wise as their degree automatically gave these guys the right to a higher salary.

I have just written this to let you know about how I feel about the question your contest is about. Everyone needs an education, but in countries like mine, their needs to be an education revolution because education has stagnated, there is no experimenting, no innovation and graduates come out knowing less than the little their teachers know. I do believe teachers could and should be better trained so they can be more qualified for their work.

So is education a scam? My answer is, every child must be educated, every child has to learn to read, write, know his numbers and what to do with them, and I do think schools manage to do this and the outcome for a child depends on the effort he puts in. Sadly many kids from poor families who are very bright go no higher than elementary school because that is as far as their resources can get them. But higher education is another matter, at least in my country. We were in pretty bad shape when I tried college and the only university we had was the public university a school that now has over 100,000 students. During the time that elapsed from when I was there we have seen at least a dozen private universities appear, sadly, as far as I can see, most of these private colleges will graduate anyone as long as that person is up to date with the payments. What does this mean? Even less qualified professionals.

So even though I would not dare to call these schools a scam I do think they need a complete restructuring of their curriculum, and you graduate only if you are qualified. I guess this about rounds up my feelings about education in my country, it could be much better, but in the end something is better than nothing.