Remember the time you were in nursery school? Which I am not sure, if I should be happy or sad that i never got such an experience.  Anyways, do you remember those moments, when you were asked what you wanted to be in the future? Even today, when you ask kids what they want to be when they grow up, they say: “Doctor”, “pilot”, “teacher”, “actor” and many more of them. Thus for those kids who can afford to have toys, they will fill up their rooms with items of their dreams. Believing that someday the dream will come true.

Hollywood today constantly reminds us that if you do not achieve the dream you had as a kid, then you are a failure. Here are some quotes that can seriously blind a person:

 “Don’t ever let someone tell you, you can’t do something. Not even me. You got a dream, you got to protect it. People can’t do something themselves, they want to tell you you can’t do it. You want something, go get it. Period. All right?”

– Chris Gardner, The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)

“Well, it’s no trick to make a lot of money… if all you want to do is make a lot of money.”

– Bernstein, Citizen Kane (1941)

“There’s no such thing as too far. You understand? You push everything as far as you can. You push and you push and you push until it starts pushing back. And then you push some goddamn more.”

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– Walter Abrams, Two For The Money (2005)

These were just a few quotes on what the movies entice us to think. They make us believe that money is everything. I know you will ask me, “ISN’T it?” In High schools, we write in our journals of the life we want to have in the next six years. I want a really awesome job, so I can get a house, a car and a swimming pool in the backyard.

You are almost heading off to college and everyone is asking you what you want to study. Why you want to study it and how that will bring money into your pocket. You are in the university, and almost graduating and everyone is asking you: Have you applied for a job yet? How many responses have you gotten? Where would you like to work? Will you go back to your own country? Why don’t you want to work here?

Then you move on to do a Masters’ Degree  if that is the fastest way of finishing up so you don’t have to stop in the middle of whatever adventure you find yourself in, and you decide to do a  Masters in peace for example. Everyone continues to ask you: What kind of job will you get with that? Why Peace? Who do you want to work with? The UN?  NGOs? No one ask questions as in, Will you provide jobs for others? What is your passion? What can you do with it?

I am not saying dreams are bad, but will money be the only reason you go through education? Shouldn’t education be the ticket to making a difference in your society? When I was heading off to do Masters, everyone was asking me whether I would go back to Africa. Why don’t you want to stay in England and work there? There’s more money there. Personally, it sounded appetizing and dreamy, but that was not why I went to school and decided to go for Masters. I have more to give to my society than you think. Education should be a founding ground for people to get ideas as to what they can do to change their circumstances. It should be a ticket for you to fill a need that you see.

Dr. David Francis yesterday in our Education for Peace in African lecture, echoed the same thoughts I had been wrestling with for the last two years.  “We should not be grooming people to go out and have white collared jobs, but we should be helping them think for themselves. Education should be a guideline for people to be innovative with their lives. You have skills and knowledge; use it to provide jobs for others who have not been privileged to have your education.”

I felt like standing up in the middle of the lecture and clapping my hands. God has given us all talents, skills and knowledge. We should exercise them in ways that are not greedy, self-fulfilled, but life changing for others. Groom others into using their own skills.

All I really wanted to say is this “Schools are not the road to getting high paid jobs. They are a map for you to help change your community.”