Stay Broke Or Fix It

Suli Breaks

One of the most compelling statements I have heard is "We will not let exam results decide our fate."

It's interesting especially being raised in an environment in which education is a priority. I grew up knowing that most Nigerians Africans preferred STEM majors. As a teenager, I was certain that I would become a doctor. Biology and Chemistry weren't intriguing subjects but I assumed this was destiny.

Fast forward to my freshman year and I was completely invested in research and writing, discussing social justice, and campaigning for human rights. I decided to follow the passion and not the profession. It was worth it and I am thankful for the personal and professional development that comes with attending a University.

Now on to real life, higher education is one of the best institutions that perpetuates being broke. Consider this, students attend higher institutions with the desire to be employed after graduation. The harsh reality is jobs are not guaranteed. It is embedded in society's norm to become an employed and productive adult. An adult without a job is seen as simply being lazy and even misguided.

The 2008 economic recession brought about a series of reality checks. It meant that everyone was susceptible to being broke and possibly poor. Imagine the horror of a degree in one hand, and  zero job prospects. If  I learned anything from the recession, it had to be perseverance. It was a full-time job looking for a job. Not to mention the countless companies that preyed on recent graduates and purposely underpaid them.

On the other hand, the recession stirred up creative juices  in people and it became an avenue for more income. As opposed to wallowing in a self-fulfilling prophecy of being unemployed and broke, many people shifted their financial planning from a single job to diversifying their income. YouTube is one of the biggest segue to success and is an inspiration and testament of creative geniuses. It is a platform that offered archived videos in every area of  development for free! The 2008 economic recession helped me to understand education isn't confined to a classroom and learning is infinite. There's nothing wrong with being broke but there's something unsettling about staying broke and I happily worked towards fixing it.