Segment: 'Finish University First' - The Lie That's Keeping Young Ghanaians From Their Dreams

Summary

Konnected Minds Podcast

Host: Derrick Abaitey
Episode Segment: "Finish University First" – The Lie That's Keeping Young Ghanaians From Their Dreams
Date: February 3, 2026

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Episode Overview

This segment focuses on a pervasive belief among many Ghanaian families: that young people must "finish university first" before they can begin building their lives or pursuing their true passions. Host Derrick Abaitey and guests unpack how this pressure—amplified by cultural expectations, parental dreams, and systemic issues—often stifles ambition and limits young Ghanaians’ potential. The discussion explores the misalignment between traditional educational goals and economic realities, as well as the unintended consequences of following prescribed paths over personal interests.

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Key Discussion Points

1. Parental Aspirations vs. Reality

00:00 – 01:49

• The discussion opens with the observation that many parents running successful market businesses still insist their children pursue "prestigious" careers like medicine or bank management, rather than helping expand the family business.
• Quote [01:17], Speaker A:
  "Why can't you see through that? ... You're doing this business and you are getting 500,000 cedis a month ... and you still say your child should become a bank manager who won’t be making as much."
• Host and guests note a disconnect: parents devalue their own entrepreneurial legacy, believing white-collar jobs confer more social respect—even if they're less lucrative.

2. The Programming Effect of Parental Influence

00:32 – 01:01

• Speaker B argues many kids internalize their parents’ desire to distance them from family trade, making them unlikely to return after graduation:
  • Quote [00:57], Speaker B:
    "If basically every programming has been to not be like me... now what do you think is going to happen at the end of graduation?"
• This pressure leads to a lack of genuine interest in the family business and, sometimes, alienation from self-driven goals.

3. Social Status and Respectability

01:49 – 02:33

• Parents, especially those with modest educational backgrounds, see their children's academic and career achievements as a marker of status, both in Ghana and within the diaspora.
  • Quote [02:19], Speaker B:
    "My mother didn’t have a university degree ... so her son being a pharmacist ... is a vibe for her."
• The perception persists that studying or living abroad inherently brings pride, regardless of actual success or struggle.

4. Family and Community Pressure

02:35 – 04:31

• Host Derrick shares his experience: choosing not to follow a standard university path led to friction not just with parents but the extended family and community, who were more concerned about societal opinion than personal growth.
  • Quote [03:40], Speaker A:
    "Sometimes it’s not just my parents, it’s the people around too. … Family members would talk. You would hear people judging you for the decision that you took, even though they don’t understand anything about your life."

5. The Myth of "Finish University First"

05:16 – 06:14

• Speaker B: Students often attend university only to satisfy their parents’ aspirations, not their own dreams.
  • Quote [06:12], Speaker B:
    "I know people ... who only went to university because they wanted to graduate for their parents. Today they still don’t have jobs."
• Many return years later to finally study what they’re truly passionate about.

6. Forced Academic Paths and "Chew and Pour" Culture

06:15 – 07:08

• Parents dictate not only university attendance but specific courses, pushing children into fields for status rather than aptitude.
  • Quote [07:01], Speaker C:
    "They have to do a science course ... by the time they're done, they'll be doing a course they might not even find a job in."
• This gives rise to rote-learned, passionless education: students study simply to pass and appease parents, not to build skills or careers.

7. Systemic Barriers and University Bureaucracy

07:09 – 08:19

• Both the educational system and universities contribute to funneling students into unsuited programs, often for bureaucratic or economic reasons, rather than student preference.
  • Quote [08:03], Speaker C:
    "Univers[ity is] also a business ... they still have to make money ... to fill up the spaces and to fill up all these other things."

8. Glimmers of Autonomy: Course Selection Nuance

08:49 – end

• At certain universities (specifically the University of Ghana), after the first year, students may have some freedom in selecting courses and structuring their academic paths.
  • Speaker C:
    "In the University of Ghana, I think ... it’s your own choice. It’s not the school that gives to you. I don’t know about the others though."
• The broader issue, however, is still the cultural and systemic insistence on the linear path.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [05:46], Host Derrick (A):
  "If life is how you make it, then let me do it."
  (Reflecting the contradiction between the advice given and the lack of freedom to try.)

• [04:31], Speaker B:
  "Do you think as Ghanaians, we tend to judge—a lot?"

• [07:29], Speaker C:
  "They lied to me. Science is a general course ... but not every course that I could do."
  (Exposing misinformation given to students about their opportunities.)

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Segment Timestamps

• 00:00 – 01:49: Parental aspirations and business legacy
• 01:49 – 02:33: Social status, respectability, and diaspora perspectives
• 02:35 – 04:31: Derrick’s personal family experience and societal pressure
• 05:16 – 06:14: University for parents’ sake & delayed dreams
• 06:15 – 07:08: Forced academic paths, lack of job prospects
• 07:09 – 08:19: System-driven course allocation, university as a business
• 08:49 – End: Limited flexibility in course selection at University of Ghana

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Tone and Language

The conversation is informal, candid, and introspective, featuring personal stories and relatable analogies. Speakers use Ghanaian references and colloquial expressions, with a thread of gentle frustration at long-standing cultural practices, balanced by an undercurrent of hope for change.

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Conclusion

This candid segment from the Konnected Minds Podcast powerfully critiques the "Finish University First" dogma in Ghanaian society. Through personal anecdotes and sharp analysis, Derrick Abaitey and his guests highlight the gap between societal expectations and the actual landscape of youth empowerment, arguing that true fulfillment and success mean trusting young people to chart unconventional courses—whether or not they fit tradition.

Transcript

[A]

For communities to see that my child is a doctor. What I find really interesting, Right. Is that when you go to Makola, there's so many market, women, market, market men who are there who have big businesses. They are selling biscuits, they are selling charcoal, they are selling this, this, this. And with that business that they have in Makola, they will take their child through primary, through shs, through the university. And when their child finishes university, they want their child to go and become a bank manager. They want their child to go and become a doctor instead of helping them grow their business and make it bigger.

[B]

You know what the problem is? I'm gonna have to comment about this. Sometimes the kids don't want to do it.

[A]

Really?

[B]

Yes. I mean, think about it. Think about it.

[C]

I just want you to think about it. Yeah.

[B]

Mostly you have a parent that has pushed their child away from what they do, away for about 15 years of the kid's life.

[A]

Right.

[B]

If basically every programming has been to not be like me.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Now what do you think is going to happen at the end of the graduation?

[C]

They are not going to come.

[A]

Exactly. And that is where I think the problem is. So it goes back to, this is the promise that they were given and the status that they will get. And so because of that, it affects the daily habits and the daily reactions. Because you are a father. So you know this, you know that, like, one thing you can say to your child today will affect them for the rest of their life. And so because of that, if they keep on building, just as you said, they keep on building on this thought that. Hey, Mayor. Dr. Mamu, come and become a doctor for me. Come and become a doctor for me. And they don't cherish the business that they are doing, which is where I find it very, like, jarring. Like, it's very confusing to me that you are doing this business and you are getting 500,000 CDs a month or 500,000 CDs at any rate, whatever it is. And you still look and you say your child should become a bank manager who won't be making as much. That is where my, my thing is. It's like, why can't you see through that?

[B]

You know, in our local dialects tree, one of the languages we have in Ghana, they call something krachi and araba. Yeah, My parents, I think my mother didn't have a university degree.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

She struggles to speak English. So her son being a pharmacist and crutchy is a vibe for her.

[A]

Right. Right.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Now to Even make it worse is when you travel abroad, whether you are struggling or not, they don't care.

[C]

They don't care.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

Abroad, that's it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Now, I want you to take me back to the time when you were making that decision and what happened between you and your parents.

[A]

Okay? My dad and my mom, they love me, you know, like, I don't think it is ever. Your parents don't ever love you. Like, when they bring you into the world, they love you. And so they love me. So because of that, they care for me and they care what my future looks like. And so if I come to them and say something as scary as I don't want to go to university, which is the path that everybody is going on, understandably, they were, they were concerned. And so because of that, there was a lot of back and forth to some extent. I wouldn't say they didn't support me, but we had a lot of conversations, a lot of difficult conversations about this matter. Sometimes, you know, like, of course, it is Africa. So it's not just my parents, it's the people around too. So you have people. I don't even think the thing is that my parents don't want me to do what I want to do. I think sometimes it's like what other people will say about, you know, I think that is the. That is actually the challenge. And so it was hard for them to understand, but I promised them that, you know, me, we've been in the house for 18 years, you know, that when I set my mind to something, I'm going to do it. And one thing that my dad told me a year after this is that when I said it and I came back from, immediately I came back from school, he saw me studying, he saw me like, I'm finished with shs. A week later, I was studying, trying to figure out how to create content and all these kind of things. And then when he saw me, that solidified it in his head that I'm going to do something, you know, he didn't know where it was going to lead to, but he believed that there's work going to be done. So there was friction. I wouldn't say there wasn't friction. There was friction. Family members, you know, family members. I don't want to go into, deep into it, but family members would talk. You would hear family members talking. You would hear people judging you for the decision that you. You took, even though they don't understand anything about your life.

[B]

Do you think as Ghanaians, we tend to judge a Lot, A lot, A.

[C]

Lot people, people like to give ideas or people like to give suggestions like they fully understand what is really going on, but they don't. They really don't. So that is something even happened with me because even my mom, when I completed shs that my dad bought me forms for UDS that I should go. I couldn't trust that man. And I couldn't trust that when I'm going to the school it there's going to be full support like that. But this woman wouldn't mind, wouldn't listen and like because my senior brothers have completed eds, I should, I should at least complete the university and then I can come and do whatever I want to do.

[B]

Okay, so I heard those same words. Mind you, I'm in London. I bet you anything, any dollar, any city, any pound, if I had said I didn't want to go to university, I would have ended up back in.

[A]

Ghana.

[B]

I bet you. I mean, look, my father always said that, Derek, I know you love music and I know you love what you do, but finish university. Yeah, he always said it and at the end of that sentence would be, life is how you make it. And then I'm just thinking to myself, if life is how you make it.

[A]

Then let me do it.

[B]

But he won't listen, you know, even when simply by being abroad, as people saw it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You know, you're a burger. He still wanted you to go to university right now. So much so that I know people and I had friends who only went to university, which is what I'm gonna get into. Only went to university because they wanted to graduate for their parents.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Today they still don't have jobs.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And some of them after 10 years is now that they are going back to university to study what they want to study. Yeah, to get a job.

[C]

Yeah, that one is a, that, that, that, that is a huge problem we are having here because, okay, like parents deciding what they, their kids should do in a university. Even in sh, it starts from there because maybe the kid would want to do maybe arts or maybe want to do homocons or something. But then their parents are like, I want you to be a doctor, so go for the science. Yeah, the kid might be a brilliant student, but then the, the, the, the space you are putting them in, they are forcing. But then at the end of the day they don't find interest in what they're doing. So they are just chewing and pouring for their own sake for you, for you to be happy, to impress you. The same thing. So from The SHS now their path is being directed. They have to do a science course at the university too. So that is what is going to happen there. So by the time they're done, they'll be doing a course. They might not even find job in Ghana.

[B]

I heard somewhere, okay. That in Ghana even the university can choose a course for some of the students.

[A]

You'd be the best.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Because I think when I said when I as a. I like me being a science student, my courses were limited. But this is what, this is the problem we are talking about here because they lied to me.

[A]

Oh.

[C]

Science is a general course. You can do a lot of course you want to. But when I was selecting the courses in university, not every course that I could do. Why? I don't know. The system is programmed the way that if you're a science student you have.

[B]

To do science related courses. Okay.

[C]

But then before that they told me science students are like. We are like general arts. We could do anything. General could do what? Science. I. I didn't really understand like it wasn't making sense to me at that point.

[B]

But then, but what I'm hearing is when they actually get to the university because the university just wants to fill up the courses, they push people into courses.

[A]

I heard that too. Yeah, I heard that too.

[B]

For that one.

[C]

For that one. I can say for a second someone.

[A]

Was speaking to me is like their thought processes at the end of the day, univers also a business and they need to make money. Right. And so because of that if I say I want to go and do marketing in the university, they won't just give me marketing pet to go and do.

[C]

No.

[A]

They would add all these other things that are unnecessary in our eyes and they will pro. They will say it is necessary, but in my eyes I know it is unnecessary. They'll give you all these things because they still have to make money to so to fill up the spaces and to fill up all these other things. But again I'm not an expert in it. But that's what. When I was. I was having a conversation with someone who is now working like they are grown and they are going back to uni, doing evening classes and we're seeing something like that, that it's a business. So all the other things need to be filled.

[C]

Yeah. What I understand is you, if you, if you come into the University of Ghana or like person like University of Ghana is what I know. It's only I think in the first year that they add some unnecessary course that you have to do compulsory, but then I think after the first year, it's up to you to add it, because we do combine and measure, like single measure and then combine. So you can choose to add some causes to what you're already doing as your main, and you can choose to focus on what you're doing. So, in the University of Ghana, I think that one is your own choice. It's not the school that gives to you. I don't know about the others, though, but then the University of Ghana, think about it. Connected Minds Podcast.