EMPTY WORKSHOPS, EMPTY CLASSROOMS: WHEN THE FUTURE GETS K-LEG

By Ojo Evans 

Empty workshops. No apprentices. Empty classrooms. No students. Yet, everywhere you turn, the desire to drive a Benz, wear designer clothes and live a flashy lifestyle appears stronger than ever.

There is something deeply troubling about a generation that is increasingly becoming disconnected from the two traditional pathways to a better future: education and skills acquisition. For some young people, school has become “scam,” while learning a trade is seen as too stressful, too slow or beneath their ambitions.

Walk into some workshops today and you may find the machines, tools and equipment sitting idle. The master is ready to teach, but there are few young people willing to learn. The apprenticeship system that once produced mechanics, electricians, welders, plumbers, fashion designers, carpenters and other skilled professionals is gradually losing its appeal among some young people.

The same story can be found in some classrooms. Students who should be preparing themselves for the future are increasingly distracted by social media, quick-money schemes and the pressure to maintain lifestyles they cannot afford. Education, which should be viewed as an investment in the future, is sometimes dismissed because the rewards are not immediate.

But here is the irony: while the willingness to learn is declining, the appetite for luxury is rising. Everybody wants the Benz, the latest phone, expensive clothes, exotic vacations and the picture-perfect lifestyle. The question, however, is simple: who is going to pay for the lifestyle when the skills to create sustainable wealth are missing?

There is nothing wrong with dreaming of owning a Benz. There is nothing wrong with wanting comfort, success and financial freedom. The problem begins when the desire for the reward becomes greater than the willingness to endure the process required to earn it.

Success rarely happens overnight. Behind many successful businesses are years of apprenticeship, education, discipline, rejection, failure and persistence. The mechanic who owns a modern automobile workshop today may have started as an apprentice. The entrepreneur employing dozens of people may have once sat in a classroom learning the fundamentals that later became useful in business.

A society cannot build a productive future when its young people abandon both education and vocational training. Not everyone must attend university, and not every successful person needs a university degree. But everybody needs something valuable to offer—knowledge, a skill, creativity, craftsmanship, technology, entrepreneurship or a profession that can solve problems and create value.

The future becomes dangerously uncertain when young people want the fruits of success without planting the seeds. If the classrooms remain empty, the workshops remain abandoned and the appetite for instant wealth continues to grow, then indeed, the future get K-leg.

Perhaps the conversation we need to have is not about mocking young people for wanting luxury, but about reminding them that the Benz is not the beginning of the journey—it is supposed to be one of the rewards. Before the Benz comes the knowledge. Before the lifestyle comes the skill. Before the success comes the sacrifice. School no be scam. Learning trade no be punishment. Skill no be poverty. The real scam is expecting a beautiful future without preparing yourself for it.

Ojo Evans is the Publisher and Ceo of De Parrot Media