Segment: 'Go to School, Get a Job' - The Outdated Promise That's Failing African Youth

Summary

Konnected Minds Podcast
Host: Derrick Abaitey
Episode Segment: "Go to School, Get a Job" – The Outdated Promise That's Failing African Youth
Date: February 5, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Derrick Abaitey and his guests engage in a candid conversation about the long-standing narrative in Africa that education is the guaranteed path to a stable job and prosperous life. The discussion challenges whether this traditional promise still holds value for contemporary African youth, exploring the realities of the job market, the shifting relevance of academic curricula, and the psychological and cultural factors that keep this belief alive. The speakers share personal stories about their educational paths, career choices, and the search for meaning beyond conventional education.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Limitations and Pressures of the Traditional Path

• Financial Barriers to Education

  • Guests reflect on how financial limitations affected their schooling and forced early consideration of alternative ways to earn or save money.
  • "Sometimes I would try to save the money my mom gave to me for school to gather some amount of money and think of what I can do with that money to double it up or something." – Speaker A [00:53]

• The Wasted Effort When Schooling Isn't Complete

  • A recurring theme: if one cannot continue to university after secondary school due to lack of funds, it feels like all prior schooling loses its value.

2. Questioning the 'Go to School, Get a Job' Narrative

• Obsolescence of the Old System
  • Speaker C explains that the educational system was historically designed to produce factory workers and 9-to-5 employees, matching a bygone era's economic needs.
  • "They were set up to churn out people who work in the factory… That was the problem they had at the time." – Speaker C [01:19]
  • The disconnect today: companies are not expanding fast enough, and current graduates lack innovation-driven skills.
  • "Some of them… are not equipped with skills to innovate and create more companies. So you have two things going on: companies are not being created and the companies that have been created are failed." – Speaker C [02:30]
  • Job Scarcity
    • "The job market is full, is full." – Speaker A [02:53]
    • Many graduates face saturated markets and a lack of opportunity for meaningful work.
  • Lack of Innovation in Higher Education
    • "There's no one to innovate because everybody who's going through the systems is not being taught the right way to innovate." – Speaker C [02:56]

3. Youth Perspectives: Migration, Desperation, and the Reality Check

• Exodus in Search of Opportunity

  • The prevailing solution among peers: migrate for better prospects.
  • "Mostly those that want to get a job after university, they're all thinking of flying… they want jackpot." – Speaker A [03:09 & 03:16]
  • “If there are no opportunities here for me to eat, we’ll fly.” – Speaker C [03:44]
  • The panel empathizes with the urge to leave while also lamenting the drain of talent.

• Role of 'Protocol' and Workplace Nepotism

  • Many jobs are secured through connections or luck rather than merit or qualifications.
  • "There are little spaces left that goes to people by chance, by luck… it doesn't make sense in a way to you right now." – Speaker A [03:49]

4. Personal Journeys: Rejecting the One-Size-Fits-All Approach

• Disillusionment with Academic Content

  • Speaker C describes a personal disconnect during secondary school exams (WASSCE), questioning the practical application of what was being learned:
  • “I'm learning the physics and the, and the atoms... and one day I'm sitting, I'm like, where am I going to use this?” – Speaker C [04:24]
  • Instead of following the default route, Speaker C decided to take a gap year, seek interests in marketing and psychology, and self-educate with modern resources.
  • “I actually looked through the syllabus… the things that they were teaching are not exactly what I want to learn. And the things that they were teaching are outdated and they wouldn't serve me now.” – Speaker C [05:50]

• Family Expectations and Social Pressure

  • Speaker A shares the difficulty in deciding whether university made sense for him, especially in light of family examples of entrepreneurship and resourcefulness.
  • "Every money he spends and that's nobody, none of the kids complains… everything is being taken care of… I think I would have been somebody bigger." – Speaker A [07:14]
  • Exploring entrepreneurial activities became a more compelling path than traditional academia.

5. Why Do African Parents Insist on University?

• Status & Social Aspiration
  • University education is viewed as a status symbol—an enduring cultural ideal.
  • "I think during income's time… the people, the corporate workers, I think they had a high status in the community. So everybody wanted their kid to at some point to go and become like that person." – Speaker A [08:29]
  • "When a mother's child becomes a doctor… they mostly start to forget their names. They will say 'Oh, doctor…', the status, you understand?" – Speaker A [08:45]
  • The older generation’s dreams for their children sometimes overshadow the child's personal interests and aspirations.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [01:19] Speaker C:
  "They were set up to churn out people who work in the factory… That was the problem they had at the time."

• [02:30] Speaker C:
  "Some of them… are not equipped with skills to innovate and create more companies. So you have two things going on: companies are not being created and the companies that have been created are failed."

• [03:44] Speaker C:
  “If there are no opportunities here for me to eat, we’ll fly.”

• [04:24] Speaker C:
  “I'm learning the physics and the, and the atoms... and one day I'm sitting, I'm like, where am I going to use this?”

• [05:50] Speaker C:
  “I actually looked through the syllabus… the things that they were teaching are not exactly what I want to learn. And the things that they were teaching are outdated and they wouldn't serve me now.”

• [08:45] Speaker A:
  "When a mother's child becomes a doctor… they mostly start to forget their names. They will say 'Oh, doctor...', the status, you understand?"

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:00]–[01:00]: Personal financial struggles with schooling and early entrepreneurial thinking
• [01:11]–[02:56]: Systemic issues of the educational system and the obsolete 'good job' promise
• [03:03]–[03:49]: The desire to leave for better economic opportunities and reality of the job market in Ghana
• [04:20]–[06:50]: Speakers question the value of university education and share their routes into self-guided learning and business
• [08:29]–[09:19]: Deep dive into why parents push university, focusing on status, social perceptions, and generational ideals

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Conclusion

This segment of the Konnected Minds Podcast presents a raw and insightful look at why the "go to school, get a job" narrative is increasingly failing Africa’s younger generations. Through a mix of social critique, personal stories, and real talk, the episode urges listeners to challenge outdated expectations and consider broader definitions of success, relevance, and personal fulfillment.

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Listen to the full conversation for more real stories and deep dives at:

https://youtube.com/@KonnectedMinds
https://www.instagram.com/konnectedminds/

Transcript

[A]

Sit down and think about it. Me going to school, I want to say, as a dad said, I was a little, little issue. So things were not that good. So I was like, even schooling, you have to, you have to. There has to be something pushing you. There has to be a protocol, There have to be something before you can become something best or something greater from school. Because say if, even if you go to the school up to like shs my time, we're paying fees. So say if you are going to school up to SHS and then when you're done with shs, and then there's no money for you to continue in university, it means like it's been a waste. Do you understand? So then what, what can I do? Then I have to start finding something for myself. The earlier the best. But then the earlier the best as at shs, there's nothing I could do. I was just in school always thinking, always thinking. So I even brought my academics down a little bit because I barely go to school. Sometimes I would try to save the money because I was a day student, let's say from form one and form two. I want to save the money my mom gave to me for school to gather some amount of money and think of what I can do with that money to double it up or something.

[B]

You know, why can't you just accept what you have been told, that if you go to school and get a good, get good grades, you can potentially get a good job and live a good life?

[A]

Yeah, that was.

[B]

Why haven't both of you accepted that?

[C]

So should I go first? Fine. I think that is just not true. In the time that we are living today, if we think about the systems, the way school was set up, the systems they were set and when they were set up in the early 1900s, the were set up to churn out people who work in the factory, to churn out people who work in 9 to 5, essentially. And that is great because that was the problem they had at the time. They needed these people to work in these factories, to work in these companies. So the companies would grow. So it was great. However, what happened, right, generally around the world and also in Africa especially and especially in Ghana, is that my father's generation and his older, like his father's generation, they filled the sports and they kept on filling the sports. Now the only time they leave is when they are 60. So if this guy is. They went to the job at 40, in 20 years time they will leave. Which means that all the university students coming out in his 41st year, in his 42nd year, in his 43rd year, all those university students, where are they going to fail? And it became even worse because again, think back to where these students came from. They learned to become factory workers, to work in nine to five, not to innovate. They were there to just fill positions. So these children that are coming out of the university, some of them at least or most of them, are not equipped with skills to innovate and create more companies. So you have two things going on. Companies are not being created and the companies that have been created are failed. That is why we have the problem we have today. And so a lot of students go to university, they have this big promise because it worked before, it's not working today because there are no spaces, the.

[A]

Job market is full, is full and.

[C]

There'S no one to innovate because everybody who's going through the systems is not being taught the right way to innovate.

[A]

When you sit around in your friendship.

[B]

Circle, what are some of the conversations you have about getting a job after university?

[A]

So mostly those that want to get a job after university, they're all thinking of flying, they're all thinking of flying outside the country.

[B]

Jackpot.

[A]

Yeah, they want jackpot.

[C]

They want left inside because they think.

[A]

That is where they are going to get a job and that's where it's going to pay them well enough to live maybe the life they want to live or starts whatever life they want.

[C]

To start, which you can't, you can't judge them for, you know, because there are no opportunities. And so if like each one for himself. But Fossil, you know, we all want Ghana to succeed. Great, me too, I want to succeed. Me too. I want to, I want to eat, you know, and if there are no opportunities here for me to eat, we'll fly.

[A]

Exactly.

[C]

And that is why a lot of.

[A]

Great talent, even though people pay to get jobs though, because mostly they say protocol brings some people or some people bring their family into the, the workspace they are in, but then I'm not sure they can fill the whole workspace with their family members. They are, there are little, little spaces left that goes to people by chance, by luck, and then looking at the number of people out there hunting for jobs and then the spaces available, it doesn't make sense in a way to you right now.

[B]

You've come to really accept that university is not for you?

[C]

No.

[B]

Talk to me.

[C]

So it started a little bit in the latter part of shs. So I'm studying for Wasi now, right so I'm studying for wasi. I'm learning the physics and the, and the atoms and all these things and I'm studying it and one day I'm sitting, I'm like, where am I going to use this? You know? And that is a common like thought among a lot of the youth. Where am I going to use this thing that I'm studying right now?

[A]

Right now?

[C]

Yeah. And for me, I couldn't find a good answer. Now that doesn't mean that it doesn't matter. No, at the time I couldn't find a good answer. So I was like, okay, I just study, I'll pass this wasi and give it to my parents and then say, yo, this is I'm done. You know, So I finished that through that struggle was very painful for me during the last part of my shs years. It was very, very painful because I didn't see why I was doing it. And if I don't find my wife, if it doesn't push me enough, I would just like, I'll dread it and I would just get angry at it. But I still do it because I have to please my parents. So I did that right now after the conversation came up again. So I told my father, I told my mom, like, I genuinely don't know. So it's two things. I genuinely don't know what I'm going to do in the universities, right? So we had that conversation and so I want to take a year off and figure out what I want to do in that time. I tried to look through what they are teaching at the universities and I realized that the things that I was interested in at that time, I'm interested in marketing, I'm interested in psychology, and I'm interested in a lot of other things now they teach those things at the universities, but are they teaching the things that are working today? That was the question. And so I looked through this. I actually looked through the syllabus, I actually looked at the things that they were teaching and I realized that the things that they were teaching are not exactly what I want to learn. And the things that they were teaching are outdated and they wouldn't serve me now. And so the thought process was, what if I just do it? What if I just, instead of going to study for four years and do the thing later, what if I just enter it around and find out, right? Like just enter it and see what happens. And that is what I did. So I started creating videos on the Internet, started reading books that were set now and not books that were set in 1950s to understand how the marketing space worked, how psychology worked, how storytelling worked today and not yesterday. And that is the reason why I think that is the main reason why I think I didn't go to the university. Now of course there were consequences to that, right? Because we live in Africa. Obviously generally in Africa everybody wants their child to go to the university. In Ghana, everybody wants their child to go to the university.

[B]

Just pause, right? Why?

[A]

For a moment there I think I had the same thoughts. I didn't know what I'm going to do in university in the first place. So even when I completed this is. It took me three years before I go to the university because I was still trying to figure out what can I do, what can I do that is going to work aside the university. So I think I started with, that's when I did music. I tried the importation because I was, I was watching my dad, I have this stepfather that's import. I used to watch him how he do, how he does his things, the importation and everything. So do you know the first thing that made me wanted to do this thing more was this man had like nine kids with me and my brothers three making 12. So if you, if I look at the expenses of this man, every money he spends and that's nobody, none of the kids to complains like they are not paying the school fees are not being paid. He puts food on the table, everything is being taken care of and all that. And he was, he was using this old CE 180 bands. So what, what came in my mind was sweet. If I imagine myself like if I was having this business but not having this family, not having these people to take care of, I think I would have been somebody bigger. I would, I could, I could do something that somebody wouldn't sit somewhere and say oh since he's a small boy and he's got this, he's a fraud boy, that means there's legit something I can do at my age if I don't have, I can do a lot of things. That was when I was like then need to start following this entrepreneurship thingy.

[B]

But, but the question is why.

[A]

Like.

[B]

Sean said, why do most African parents want their children to go to university?

[A]

So I, I, I, I learned, I learned I read a little issue about this whole thing. I think during income's time and I think at, at that time the, the offices, the people, the corporate workers, I think they had a high status in the community. So everybody wanted their, their, their kid to at some point to go and become like, that person. So I think it's something that's in most of the mother said, like, because there's something they, they say and play with it when, when your child, when a mother's child become a doctor or let's say bank manager, they mostly start forget their names. They will say oh or something again, oh, the status, you understand? Mostly the status. And they even sometimes go beyond forgetting what the kid actually wants to be in life.

[B]

Right.

[A]

They actually forget that.

[C]

And, and, and I think it's really interesting that that that happens. Right. Of course. The promise that you were given that. Or I'll get this at the end of that. Right.

[A]

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