Are you aware that a degree used to take 3 years, and a PhD 2 years? Or that secondary school was once 7 years? Even recently, SHS shifted to 4 years and then back to 3 years.
That if you fail WASSCE, you can’t get into university, but if you fail at 25, you’re suddenly eligible for admission. That many scholarships come with age limits.
Have you ever paused to question why the years and timelines keep changing, and why your age seems to be such an important factor?
It is called the ‘game of school’. The truth is, school is a complete gamble, nothing more than betting, you either learn to play the game or risk spending your entire life chasing air.
Let no one deceive you, Education is still the key to success. By all means pursue Education with all your resources, but learn when to take the bold decision to QUIT the formal classroom.
Understand this: School is just a man-made institution designed to keep you occupied, often at the expense of living real life. It’s a system perpetuated by those in power to give you an illusion of something grand waiting for you upon completion.
In reality, it’s a carefully orchestrated game to keep you checked and restrained with your knowledge and skills capped, so that you don’t ‘surprise’ the world. You are supposed to be a victim in the grand scheme of things.
Let me use the real-life story of myself and my friend Bella to illustrate a point. The day I gained admission to the university, my friend Bella also got admission into police training school.
While I was still in my first year, Bella had completed her training (which lasted about six months or so) and had already been posted to her station.
She started working and earning a salary while I hadn’t even completed my first year.
By the time I graduated after four years, followed by a year of national service (making five years in total), Bella had been working for over four years. She had set her life in motion, had gotten a land, started building her house, and even launched a small provision shop on the side.
Our lives had become worlds apart. She was inching closer to becoming a Senior Officer, nearing the completion of her degree, married, and already raising her first child, Aseda. All this while, I, her mate, was just starting out and hustling to find my footing.
And no, it wasn’t a case of “who laughs last, laughs best.” My degree didn’t put me ahead of her six-months training in any way. If anything, she was ahead—earning more and nearing completing her degree too.
I don’t think life is a competition, and everything I’m sharing here comes from the conversations Bella and I often laugh about. Even now, she would joking say, “Dan, this your route is too long.”
This isn’t a tale of comparison. In fact, I never aspired to be a police officer (and if I had, I’m sure she’d have linked me up). What I’m sharing are lessons I’ve picked from our peculiar paths—lessons that might draw you attention to something you’ve probably never given a serious thought, as the year draws to a close.
While I believe life is not a race, I also believe some journeys are unnecessarily too long and wasteful. Avoid those paths if you can. Take this as a controversial yet practical piece of advice: School can be a complete waste of time. And you may never recover the time you waste in school because time wasted cannot be regained.
In many senses, school is a system designed to delay progress. If you’re someone who idolizes schooling, everything in your life will likely delay—your career, marriage, wealth, building your home, etc might all delay.
The school system is structured such that no level of schooling feels enough. A diploma feels inadequate, so you’ll push for a degree. Then, the degree won’t satisfy you, and you’ll chase a masters. After that, a PhD.
By the time you’re done, your age is advanced and fast approaching retirement. You’d look back and wonder where the years went.
That’s when you’ll realize you’ve been scammed—wasting your life in the four walls of the classroom, and never truly ‘living’. Many old people reduce their ages to avoid retirement because they didn’t see it coming.
Never laugh at such people; that pattern is closer to you than you think. School is addictive, much like betting: every level leaves you craving for the next.
Trust me, school is a system designed to keep you away from the ‘table’ for as long as possible. Sadly, by the time you’re done, most of the knowledge you acquired will not even be applicable (the world is evolving frighteningly fast).
Spend 4 years acquiring knowledge and the world would have moved past that knowledge longest. Moreso, you’d have spent all your savings (or worse, taken loans) for fees, hostels, books, and transportation, draining your finances completely.
It’s no coincidence that many successful people today either dropped out of school or did the bare minimum. They recognized the trick early and opted out. It takes confidence to say, “This is enough,” and focus on building a life.
Maybe 2025 is about that year somebody makes that tough decision. Don’t get caught up in the web, learn when to jump out.
I’m a complete advocate for Education and schooling. Education is supposed to be lifelong, school is not lifelong. Making school lifelong is the biggest mistake you’d ever do. Go to school only if you genuinely love formal learning or if your dream job absolutely requires it—like being a doctor, lawyer, or engineer, teacher, accountant, etc. Even then, the bare minimum qualification needed to secure the role should be enough, and pivot to other life pursuits as quickly as possible.
Remember, there are only two ways to make money and live comfortably: rendering a SERVICE or selling a PRODUCT. What service you can render or provide in exchange for money and what product you can sell for money. That’s all.
No matter how long you stay in school, you’ll still come back to face this same formula: SERVICE or PRODUCT. So why spend 30 years in school when 30 days training could equip you with the knowledge or skills sufficient enough to get you going?
This isn’t about shortcuts. I don’t even believe there’s shortcut in life. It’s about avoiding unnecessary delays, wasting your time and being aware of how artificial school is.
We live in an era of countless short courses, online tutorials, and AI tools. Take advantage of these. Platforms like YouTube and TikTok are brimming with free lessons on graphic design, video editing, and other in-demand skills. Learn something.
It’s 2025, baby. The world revolves around skills than certificates. It pays you for the relevance you add to the team than the degrees you have. Professional training is taking roots than academic accolades.
Four months of targeted learning can be more impactful to your life and family than four years of traditional schooling. If PhD is the minimum qualification you need to secure your dream job, go for it.
If it’s master’s or degree, go for them. But, never make school a lifelong journey, cut it off at some point, else, you risk wasting your life away.
Thank you for reading today’s episode. Continue to follow the insightful articles I share on this page.
See you.
Writer: Daniel Fenyi
The writer is a licensed counselor, educationist, professional writer and career coach who guides young people through his writings. You can reach him via email [email protected]
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