As institutions of learning, schools typically help students to imbibe knowledge, build skills, and capabilities and develop the necessary attitudes in accordance with the aims and principles of the educational system.
But Jonathan Majin, the author of Reality Cheque, feels that schools’ institutional functions should be beyond that.
Speaking to Nairametrics during our Business Half Hour Programme, he explained the motivation behind the book which was launched officially in 2022. He also spoke about the developments in the creative industry.
The book: Reality Cheque touches on outside school skills that average persons need to equip themselves with and how they need to improve their finances and income outside of their regular jobs. Majin said:
- “A lot of people are just going through the motions without thinking about what is the best thing for their own lives and so when we talk about income, a lot of people take the 9 to 5 routes which I have no issues with.
- “The issue I have is with people just doing it because they feel like that’s the next step to do without figuring out what their own skill set is and what can give them the level of lifestyle that they want. Because a lot of people who are working are underpaid, and that’s because in this country we are very overpopulated and so that gives the employer the upper hand because they can underpay you and if you don’t do it, somebody else will take the offer.”
He task the educational institute to do more in terms of equipping students with fundamental skills that they would need after school.
- “You spend 18 years in school and then you come out and you still don’t know anything about the real things that you should know about. You’re not equipped on how tax systems work, or what credit is. You don’t know how to think.
- “You have a bunch of people who are going to school doing very well in school, and then they still have to come out and join a company that has to train them. Why does a company still need to train you for a year as a graduate when you’ve been in school for 18 years and you have spent a lot of money on a four-year degree that is supposed to bring you out as a specialist?” he questioned.
The shift is happening: With the recent inclusion of entrepreneurship programs in some schools, Majin believes that the shift is already beginning to happen although he hopes that Reality Cheque would bring trigger people to go back into trade and going back into entrepreneurship even if it’s in addition to the job that they are doing to pay their bills. He said:
- “At the end of the day economies are built on the trading of goods and services and not about money. If you found yourself stuck on a remote island somewhere and you had a lot of money, the money can’t do anything for you as the skills and services. So, economies are built on skills and services, and if people continue to develop their skills and services and find ways to market them and satisfy them properly, I feel they would be a lot better off than just saying I’m done with school and next thing is to find a job.”
Expectations: Majin highlighted a few things to expect from the book; one is as human beings and our resistance to change and how that has been weaponized against us. The other is how he believes that education should be focused on as opposed to what we know. There is also the part about income and how all three are connected.
