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As an educator, though primarily a healthcare worker (a status which also affords me the opportunity to health educate), I would like to approach this topic from a more pragmatic point of view (POV).

First of all, the phrase "education is a scam", is a term that develops from anger and frustration from unmet expectations. Even the good old book reminds us that "expectations postponed make the heart sick". So, anything can be a scam, even your parents, if they do not meet your expectations.

With that out of the way, let’s answer the question raised by first delving into what education truly is and what education as a concept and practice promises to be.

What exactly is education?

In my training as an educator, we were provided with a very simple but rich definition of the term education:

Education is a relatively permanent change in behaviour, usually as a result of exposure to experience.

What does that tell you? Education is more than we know. Plants even receive education. For example, if a plant starts experiencing discomfort because of poor access to sunlight, it changes its behaviour by growing more towards the sun. Can we now call the plant educated as a result of this?You know the answer!
But with this in mind, an educator will have you believe that there are at least, three types of education:

Informal education: This is education we receive without our knowledge and without any form of structured learning.

Formal education: This is the education that we say is probably a scam, the one we receive in a structured learning environment, particularly in schools.

Non-formal education: This is structured education that is not available in schools.It is the type of education that comes in the form of skill acquisition primarily, so, think of things like apprenticeships; they comfortably fall into this category.

So, you cannot generalize that education is a scam. If you make such a generalization, it's as simple as generalizing that all light-skinned people are racists. You are a racist for making such a generalization. Such a statement will mean discrediting all you have learnt from conception to date, as in the world of education, some schools of thought believe that a child is born empty (tabula rasa), so the learning process is the shaping process and begins from your day one on earth.

So, it could sound nicer to say, school is a scam or maybe, more professional to say, formal education is a scam. Sounds funny, right! But is it actually true that school/formal education is a scam?

School is Scam?

Formal education provides a more structured learning environment, with a curriculum designed by experts to dictate what is best for an individual to learn. Through formal education, one is provided with a challenging learning environment since most of the time, what has been preselected for you to learn, are learning experiences that, if given a choice, you will let it pass.

That is why you will hear people make statements like, "all the x's and y’s we learnt in mathematics, what is their usefulness now?". You are not seeing its usefulness because formal education is not designed that way. Formal education is designed to make you look educated, smart, and improve your thinking. By undergoing formal education, you develop more logical thinking and the ability to read, write, and interpret facts. You can engage in a work environment or among peers in a more productive way, and you can earn yourself a job (but it’s in this job that the problem lies).

The "Scammish" Nature of Schools

Most people consider education a scam because it has failed to fulfill its promise, and that is: After school, you will earn yourself a job. After all, the basic idea of formal education is to train people who will work for the government. If you want to be self-employed, the non-formal route is a better choice, and with non-formal education, your chances of working for the government are very thin.

So, at the end of the day, you go through basic education (basic education is universal, whether you wish to work for the government or not), and thereafter, you are qualified for the main task, tertiary education. After going through years of stress, unnecessary rifts with lecturers and fellow students, threats to sanity and sometimes even threats to life, you scale through two years of education, while others can get up to nine years or more (Ph.D and undergraduate degree/studying medicine or law). You expect a warm welcome by the government with a nice job as an award for making it out of the school in flying colours. But, so sorry dear, there is nothing for you.

Sometimes, instead of offering you a job, they simply increase the benchmark for getting one. They demand that you take some more professional courses, and that translates into further education. In the end, we end up frustrated and cry out loud: education is scam.

Yea, they tricked us! And they failed us! So, the government is the main scam here. The school has done its part by offering the needed training and development required for the government to consider you worthy of employment, but now you are ready, and the government is like: Lol! We were just kidding! Go back home, there is nothing for you here!

How to Avoid Being Disappointed

To avoid disappointment, the best thing to do is to... Lol! There is no best thing to do. You will still end up disappointed, my friend!
But you can do something to reduce how the disappointment feels.

Instead of getting 100% disappointed, you can manage 40-70%, which is better than 100. One common option is to seek employment in the private sector. You know that those guys will use you to the finish, but it is better than nothing. You have not been able to pay yourself for using yourself while not letting someone else use you and pay you. That is why the private sectors are there!

Alternatively, you can go the non-formal education route, after or even along with the formal education route, and learn a skill, whether it be a soft or hard skill. In the end, you may be able to cater to your needs while waiting for the government to be more responsible.

For those that can, starting a business could make sense as well, but starting a business is more than having capital, so you really have to know what you are doing.

But Education is Still a Scam.

Yea, formal education, I mean. The main problems I see here are:

• The lecturers are working for the government and most of the time, they deceive the students into believing that they will all be useful after receiving their training in their preferred course of study. You will hear vague terms such as this: You can work anywhere, really! The fact is that the government makes a lot of money through education, so exposing the truth will not be the best, so, your lecturers will keep sweet-mouthing you into completing your schooling, that is the only way to get you to pay another school fee.

• Another major issue is that schools are designed to give you a kind of importance and unnecessary pride that is false. After graduating, a person just develops a false sense of pride and self-importance. Who is more important, my people: someone with a Ph.D. or someone with money?lol! Sometimes, it is pride that makes us lose out in life and end up crying, Education is a scam.

Closing

The statement, education is scam, is half truth and half lie. Being educated gives one an edge in life. However, the promises made to us by formal educational systems are still not met, till there is a guarantee that one will be gainfully employed after receiving ounces of learning and exposure to a strenous learning environment, we will not stop crying and shouting, education is scam.

^{But do you know what else is a scam? Adulthood. Hi @Bruno-kema, please, you may consider featuring the scam of adulthood in our next voting, I think it will make a lot of fun. For now, I drop my pen and scatter my keyboard 😆. Peace out!}