From the quality of graduates I'm seeing nowadays, I wonder if it's even worth it to get a college degree at this time and age, especially in Malaysia.
First of all, it takes money and time to attend college. And the cost is not only for tuition fees but also the allowance for supporting someone who is still a dependent.
Second of all, it appears that colleges aren't even doing nearly enough to prepare students for the working world. So many individuals come out unable to communicate properly, unable to effectively complete tasks, and with a rather slow learning curve. And I haven't even mentioned about some of the attitudes yet.
If I were to look at it logically, maybe the solution isn't to send them to college then. Seriously, what's the point if they are not prepared for the next stage in their life?
Let's say there's a kid finishing Form 5 who went straight into work in a specific industry, learning the ropes and being paid a lower salary than a fresh graduate. By the time the fresh graduate of the same age comes out of college, that kid has already finished four solid years in a relevant industry and has had the chance to demonstrate that he or she can deliver to tasks in the working world effectively.
On the other hand, the fresh graduate has had no practical experience whatsoever and has a general degree to fall back on but no employer will be able to know whether the person can even perform or not. Even worse, the fresh graduate will come out with delusions of RM 2,500 to RM 3,000 starting salary and expect to have good work-life balance.
As an employer, who would you choose?
In a heartbeat, I'd choose the person with the practical experience. And that person would have been able to support himself or herself throughout that four years, while the fresh graduate continues to leech off the parents.
The question then, is whether the entire education system needs an overhaul to properly prepare students for the working world, or whether the new rules of the marketplace don't even require college as a necessity unless it is for a specialised role such as accounting, engineering, law or medicine.
Sometimes it seems that parents park their kids in college not to learn how to be relevant in the workplace, but to wait until their children is more mature and responsible as a result of older age rather than what they learn in the education system.
That's rather sad, isn't it?
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