Are They Really Important?

The idea of technology taking over many jobs in the near future is trending globally. A lot of people can't stop thinking about how irrelevant their skills and services would become, forgetting that technology still needs humans to operate properly. I have said it severally that instead of panicking about what the future holds, it's best to acquire more knowledge that would still make you relevant in your field whether technology takes over or not.

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The Hive Learners prompt is an interesting one, and it's not my first time getting into this particular conversation.

My thoughts about scrapping some courses in the university used to be yes, so many courses really need to be scrapped because we don't have qualified lecturers for these courses, and there are no jobs in the country for students who spent years learning, writing tests, and taking examinations to become graduates.

I was rigid with my thoughts, but things changed when I started reasoning from different perspectives. I have a friend who studied forestry, and I was one of those who teased her for choosing such a course. She graduated about 3 years ago, and her first employment was in a bank. Recently, she joined an auditing firm that pays double her salary as a banker, and I still can't understand how a forestry graduate is doing great in the finance sector.

Reflecting on her employment journey, I came to the conclusion that there are students who are very flexible when it comes to learning. They pick things up fast wherever they find themselves, and their adaptivity level is top notch. They can fit in so many organizations not related to their field and still succeed.

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As a Nigerian, we know quite well that the course you studied doesn't guarantee the type of job you are going to do, so going to the university is more about getting certificates for many students. They don't care about the type of course and even go for the easiest of courses, knowing fully well how irrelevant the course is in today's Nigeria

People who do these things understand what the labor market looks like; many companies prioritize your degree over your skills, and that's why banks are most especially filled with sociologists, environmentalists, botanists, and many other unrelated fields of study.

This reminds me of a time when I went for screening at one of the leading banks in Nigeria. I interacted with a few of those who were there, and to my surprise, none of them had a degree related to banking and finance. Even I went with an unrelated certificate, but with the system here, we knew that we had a chance.

Another thing that changed my idea was the fact that these courses might not be relevant in Nigeria, but it's the other way around outside Nigeria. We can't tell what the student plans for choosing that particular course—he or she might have the intention of relocating from the country, so those courses are not completely irrelevant.

I have always believed that no skill or knowledge is a waste, and sometimes, opportunities unexpectedly show up so that thing we think is irrelevant can eventually become relevant. As much as many of us want those courses scrapped because of their irrelevance, bagging a degree is all someone out there needs to set their lives straight.

So judging by the Nigerian system where what you studied doesn't determine the job you will end up with, scraping courses is somehow unnecessary. Like I mentioned earlier, these courses might be of great importance elsewhere.