Steem4nigeria Accelerator Contest Week 61: Is formal education the only path to financial freedom?

When I was a little girl, we were told that education was the key. What kind of key if I may ask? My father said to me adiaha, education is the key to success. He said, when I'm educated, that I will be rich, respected by people and I will also be attracted to wealthy people. With that, my husband will give him a big bride price. He even said he would use my bride's price to buy a brand new (tear rubber) car.

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Hilarious, right? No, it's not funny. As a little girl, I made up my mind that I must be educated to make my father proud. I was so focused on my education till a lot of people in my little village noticed and testified to it. Now, is education truly the key? Let's find out.

When talking about paid jobs, to my understanding, a paid job is a formal job. And before you can be well paid in such jobs, you need a good level of education to be employed in any of these big organisations. For instance, if you desire to work with the United Nations and big companies such as those in oil and gas and other sectors, you need to be well-educated to be paid a good amount of money.

That's to say that if you're not educated, you're an unskilled worker who may have little or no education at all. And, that's because you have little or no education, you may also be paid a minimal amount too.

On the other hand, there are people who do not work for anyone, but they have good businesses which they manage and earn as much as those working in big organisations. I hope you know that big businesses such as this aren't just a day's job, it has taken so much planning, effective management and so much funding invested into it.

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In my opinion, this topic is not trying to condemn education. It is to encourage young people to go into learning a skill while pursuing education in order not to begin searching for work after school. I also believe that it is to enlighten people about the need to be business oriented and not to depend on"white collar" jobs which are no longer available as they used to be and sometimes not paid as well.

Oh yes, it is very dangerous to believe that money-making should be after schooling. That reminds me how my mother pleaded with me to learn and acquire a sewing skill before going to the university. I refused, thinking I can always make money when I'm done with my education. That's because I had the mentality that "education is the key" according to my daddy.

Today, I regret not learning the skill. My younger sister, who grabbed the opportunity and went to learn sewing, has been surviving pretty well for years now. While I am with my "certificate" for going to school, I'm jumping from one private job to another trying to make ends meet since I don't have money to establish my dream business.

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I'll conclusively state that education is good but making money early enough is the best option for anyone, not until after schooling.

Ah! Steemit is a platform that has helped young people to invest in their future. The best part of it is that it doesn't stress one making money from it, you do it at your own pace and in the niche that interests you most. This has helped people to invest in their future even while schooling, to the point that they may not be searching for a job after school. The Steemit platform has helped them to earn and also invest at the same time, not necessarily until you graduate before you can earn from steemit.

Education is the key, money is the way!

@missyleo
@chilaw
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