Do our kids really need university?
By: Marcus Wallis
Tags: Marketing, University, Education, Parenting Advice, Career Advice

I was a lousy student. In 1992 I enrolled at a technical college to study chemistry. After two years I changed my mind (it happens) and I started studying business at university.

I’m not sure why I studied either of these subjects. Most likely, just like my friends, I went to university for a ‘bit of a laugh’ and to have a good time. Also, in my hometown, it was expected that you went to university. If you didn’t, well, you had failed.

Twenty-five years on, it is clear to me now, that the education system led me in the wrong direction.

In those days (the early mid-nineties) attending university was not that expensive. Eccentric students roamed the campus, lived in dingy flats and went out drinking two or three nights a week. Undergraduates studied a myriad of different subjects and new ideas were discussed over lunch or while playing $5 rounds of golf. It really was a magical time.

I have visited universities in recent years, maybe it’s just me getting old, but I don’t see that same magic on the campuses of 2021. Is attending university really worth all the time and the money? I doubt it.

University is only one option - consider the other alternatives.

When I graduated at the end of 1996 I was twenty-three years old. I didn’t know what I wanted to do and had no work experience at all. I owed $20,000 and had spent five years gathering qualifications. As I was to discover these qualifications were already in plentiful supply and had questionable value within the labour market.

Let me make a quick distinction here regarding a common misunderstanding. Marketing and sales are different. Marketing is a collective term for the decisions which are made to position the product/service package. Selling is the process of getting people to sign on the dotted line. When you graduate with a marketing degree you will be selling not marketing. Universities choose not to tell marketing students this fact because very few students would do the course.

With my B.Com (Training / Marketing) double major completed I assumed that my future employment would involve certain things. Having a nice car, going out for long lunches and making lots of money. Well, that wasn’t quite how it worked out. I discovered that my degree qualified me to work as a salesman. I visited customers, with my red vinyl clipboard ‘at the ready’. Reaching my weekly sales target was a truly hellish experience. My old boss Bill exemplified this with a motivational line he dispensed liberally “If you can’t reach your sales target don’t bother coming back.”

Like a lot of young people at that time, when the post-university dream failed to materialize, I saved face by hopping onto a plane and going off to see the world.

I knew that a ‘real’ job would come my way. ‘No more vinyl clipboards for me,’ or so I told myself.

In summary, since graduating in 1996, I had worked in sales in Auckland and Wellington, New Zealand — it had been stressful and far from glamorous. From 1999 until 2001, I worked in retail in Perth, Australia — it was tedious and the pay was low. In late 2001, I flew out to the United Kingdom on a two-year working holiday visa. Surely, I thought, there will be work for me here? Well, yes and no. Yes, there was work but most of it was so menial that the local people were not prepared to do it. I spent two years shambling around the UK doing a range of temporary jobs whilst teetering on the brink of poverty.

The day I turned thirty years old was not too flash. I found myself in a state of cognitive dissonance. Nearly a decade had passed since I had graduated. It was 2004 and I was washing dishes in a cafe in Brisbane, Australia. Under the counter job, great people and even a few free beers after work but I wondered…….What the hell am I going to do with my life?

Few will admit to it but my experience, as detailed above, is actually quite a common post university outcome. (Students and parents take note!!)

I’ve been extraordinarily lucky. I came to Japan, there have been some challenges but it’s worked out well. I have a wonderful wife and two kids Luca aged nine years old and Juno aged six years old. We call them Loo and Joo — they are bright, bubbly, ferocious, and everything that kids their age should be.

So, when Loo and Joo reach university age (a decade from now) what advice should I offer to them? Let’s imagine for a moment that eighteen-year-old Loo (or Joo) is crazy about Egyptian history. Do I suggest that he/she invests four years studying for a degree in Egyptian history? You must be joking? If you factor in the loss of potential earnings the cost of that degree will balloon to over $100,000.

Alternatively, do I tell Loo (or Joo) to continue cultivating their interest in Egypt? Perhaps, find a related job, accumulate a little money and take a trip to Egypt each year?

For most people, the second option is the preferable choice. The idea of students spending years ‘broadening their horizons’ and learning to ‘think’ is an idealistic view of what education should be. It’s not a true reflection of what happens at university these days.

Of course, the choice is theirs to make. I hope that my experience helps guide Loo and Joo into making smarter choices than I did.

If you are a parent whose child is finishing high school, forward this article to them. A university degree most certainly does not entitle you to an easy life and automatic career success. I hope this short article goes some way toward communicating that fact.

A period of change and adjustment lies ahead for young people and the educational institutions that depend upon them.