When your top degree is worthless

The first class betrayal topic hits close to home for many who have been conditioned to believe that education is the key to everything.

It is a wake up call for the person who chose medicine over the arts because there is no way his parents would let him study music with an A. Never mind that he sang before he could talk.

It is relatable to the family that had to sell its land to send their three daughters to national schools, and later, university.

The three daughters who are now jobless and at home, being asked when they’ll marry because marriage seems a better prospect than job seeking.

This story is the echo of many untold stories. Like that of students who had to drop out of campus and take on odd jobs for a while to raise money for their parallel degrees. Degrees too expensive that the Higher Education Loan’s Board could not cover. Loans that will be paid by their children because they will never pay them in their lifetimes.

It is a kick in the face to the parent whose child bankrupted them studying abroad only to come back to no job and no interest in seeking employment.

It is the chorus to the unsung song that is proper networks, street intelligence, connections and godfathers that are necessary for one to excel in this country.

It is the story of many others who are watching their friends succeed as they fight depression and poverty.

What is even sadder is that the same parents tarmacking today will goad their children with the cliché “Education is the Key” more times than they’ll tell them they love them and that they should pursue their dreams. Parents who will check their children’s grades more times than they will ask them how they are doing before tweeting how the ‘First Class Betrayal’ tale is shocking.