It has become fashionable to criticise the necessity of a university education, but this sometimes borders on the ridiculous.
Some say one can be successful without a university education. It depends on how you define success.
A mountaineer can choose to climb Bukit Timah Hill instead of a snow-capped mountain and call his achievement a success. Others say a university is not the only place for education. This is true, but we can also say top-ranking restaurants are not the only places to eat at. One can eat at any hawker centre. But what a difference in enjoyment.
We should applaud those who have achieved much without earning a degree. But if they were better educated, they might have achieved even more. How many Nobel laureates have only a high school education?
Yes, a good teacher need not be a graduate and I agree with that from personal experience. Some graduates should never be teachers. However, some excellent teachers should have been graduates — their students could have benefited so much more.
No tortoise can outrun a hare, except one that is asleep or very sick. To train them together would be a cruelty to both — either the former will die of exhaustion or the latter will die of boredom.
Most people are non-graduates and their efforts should be recognised and duly rewarded. But many of them would not be able to do what they are doing without the pioneering efforts of universities. I did not graduate from any university. I wish I did. I strongly believe that everyone who has the talent, passion, together with the means, ought to attend university for the benefit of himself and society.
EE TECK EE
*Article first appeared on TodayOnline Forums (8 Sep 2014)