How to get past 5 obsolete promises of traditional education

(Author is far left with Junior High School classmates)

"Anak, mag-aral ka nang mabuti para magkaroon ka ng magandang trabaho na may malaking sweldo at gumanda ang buhay mo [at makatulong ka sa pamilya natin]." (Child, please do well in school so you can secure a good job with high pay. A good education will ensure a better life for you than what we had. [Hope you can also help our family soon].)

The above should have been a constant parental advice transferred from parents to children in traditional Filipino households. I should know, mine is a typical lower middle class family who believed in the widely accepted formula of "traditional education" + "good grades" = "success."

Though personally, there was never a demand to "give back" in our household. My parents are still self-sustaining even in old age. The strong pressure I've been through to do well in school must have rested on well-meaning agenda which were collaboratively put forth by my parents and teachers. And I do not fault my younger self and many others for having believed in "academic meritocracy".

As a mid-30s career and family woman, I eventually saw how the above statement leans on the flawed premise of over glorifying traditional education that hardly welcomes customised learning and individuality.

Don't get me wrong. I understand that a "good" education remains the default and most structured option to ensure economic sustenance from generation to generation. The likes of Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg, who remarkably had no college degrees yet made lifelong contributions to humanity, may be considered as mere "outliers" from the American education system.

In the aftermath of the global Covid-19 pandemic, a "good" education has thankfully morphed to take on plural forms. The evolution of homeschooling and distance learning strengthened the knit of the figurative 'umbilical chord' between parents and children. No longer are parents mere providers who stand at the ringside of their children's formation. Now, parents are more actively involved in co-learning with children from early years to pre-college with the growing popularity of home-based education.

Further, no longer do we confine uniformed students in 4-walled classrooms. Instead, each student is encouraged to focus on his/her individual strengths, and co-create using such. With the inevitable recreation of modes of learning, it is high time to redefine key concepts from this entry's opening statement, and eventually address how to get past the obsolete promises of traditional education.

1. A "good job" does not necessarily equate with employment. One can surely create his/her own through an entrepreneurial spirit that matches his/her core strengths with the world's most pressing need. Canva's Fil-Aussie CEO Melanie Perkins founded the DIY graphics design tool to 'layman-ise' artistic jargons and empower everyone to create high-impact visuals. Zoom's Chinese-American CEO was catapulted to the billionnaires' league after wide usage of the online meeting platform. Both self-employed individuals went beyond traditional modes of learning and application, and addressed critical problems at a time of high demand.

Sure, a placement in established/listed local or global corporations can provide one's youth with necessary work experience. It can yield avenues to polish one's potentials through professional development programmes, but it is certainly not life's end-all, be-all. So instead of leaning on "job security", itch to value add and do something that can benefit humanity long term even on a small, unpretentious scale.

2. A "good" pay would require more than just one steady stream of income. One has to diversify the streams as early as possible, no matter how small the seed investments can be. My first monthly pay range as a full-time employee wouldn't go beyond USD 400. As a fresh out-of-school 20-something, I had close to 0 financial literacy skills and no idea whatsoever about compounding investments. I would live on paycheck to paycheck. It was only until I finished my masters that I started to seriously save for longterm, big ticket investments.

Beyond just money, I learned to invest priceless and highly personal resources to my advantage. Every day, I make conscious decisions to use my youth, physical strength, time, attention, energy and emotions to grow three key assets: health, relationships and finances, which personally define a good and satisfying life.

3. A "good life" should always go beyond just a "good job with high pay". A World Happiness Report cited "freedom", "social support", "trust" and "generosity" as some of the key factors for "happiness". Nordic nations (Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, and Norway) swept the top five spots in a world ranking of 156 countries. No wonder, these countries collectively believe in "slowing down", "smelling the roses", and "living in the moment" versus counterparts that promote "work efficiency", "production", and "consumption" at the expense of personal time and familial bonds. While I do not endorse the definitive parameters of "happiness" in this report, I certainly agree that there are loose correlations between good grades in traditional school and one's happiness index.

4. As mentioned in #1, no "good and high paying job" can provide one's security in this dynamic, fast changing world. A huge corporation that takes pride in absorbing excellent manpower can go ruthless anytime without notice. The sad reality in corporate jungles is "no one's indispensable", unless one thrives to stay relevant.

"Security" is also more than just reinventing and up-skilling one's self. Ironically, it calls for a sustained desire to service a perpetual need - be it in business, education, governance, and so forth. One cannot afford to be a redundant copycat. One has to adapt fast, and not simply take orders from top-down.

5. No education nor good grades can define one's "chance to help" others - this is never tied to one's degree of formal education. One can volunteer time, presence, words of encouragement and appreciation to another regardless of social standing, monetary savings, race or colour.

I know of a PhD graduate who had 2 masteral degrees to his name. He struggled finding employment and tenure after his postdoctoral stint as a Research Fellow. His job hunt took some time, but he managed to use the waiting game to help similarly struggling individuals with research needs. While officially unemployed, he offered pro-bono services to others who cannot pay him back just yet.

Overall, the out-of-date formula of traditional schooling + good grades would ensure "a good, secured, high paying job that can snowball into a good life and a chance to help others" is simply NOT true. Traditional education ends in graduation, but "real" education finds no end and would keep evolving for life.