Formal Education: Worth or Worse?

I wanted to share my view on this topic long ago, but apparently my laziness and some lack of time and general enthusiasm have prevented me from sitting down to note my ideas on the benefits and drawbacks of the formal University education.

Well, after I have gone through my 5-year course at Minsk State Linguistic University, I can well congratulate myself on completing a lengthy and rather tedious assignment. On the other hand I am now a proud possessor of a longed for diploma (a certificate with an A4 sheet of paper stating my grades for most of the subjects studied by me).

So now the question is - what should outweigh in the long run: five years spent on "acquiring" formal knowledge while struggling with the rigidness of the system or skills and experience received while doing real job - and getting money for this =)

With many pros and cons that you have already come up, I would just allow myself to tell my story - and give a piece of advice specifically to the language specialists.

Good knowledge of a foreign language can become a piece of bread and butter for you and secure a good position with some possibilities of future career growth. However, I think I will discourage you by stating that most (truly, most) of the graduates with diplomas of linguists end up teaching a foreign language to high school or, if they are lucky enough, to university students. This may sound attractive especially for those who are students themselves at the moment, but eventually the attractiveness will slowly disappear with quite poor paychecks and very often absence of job satisfaction.

And worst of all, requalification can become a very painful experience for the teacher. I am not talking about the customary further training, which is an obligatory part of the teaching career, but I mean a complete change of one's profession, which in terms of an academic specialist can sometimes be even impossible due to the atmosphere the school creates. School is a society within society with its laws and conventions, and once you have been assigned a niche in this community, it is extremely difficult to escape and start on another way to your further achievements. The main obstacle appears to be not the lack of talents and knowledge, but the inability to deal with real life situations.

So the most important drawback of a linguist diploma is the initial career limit that one will eventually face. Well, I can of course provide some examples of successful careers built up in the teaching sphere, but those are mostly exceptions. Even if you continue and work to your PhD and further titles, it will be a hell lot of time before you start earning some decent money for your work. Naturally, if you are not that career minded and can do without your personal auto and other conveniences that come along with money, than you are on the right way. But if you do mind not having enough means to purchase some things that belong to the notion of human comfort… Well, the choice is all yours.

My advice to language specialists is not to focus on the knowledge of the language as such but rather on additional skills and competences that you can either acquire or already possess. A manager with an excellent knowledge of two foreign languages will be an asset to any company, so be sure to engage in different classes or courses that offer this kind of training. Computer skills are indispensable as they always are in any profession. If you learn some basic HTML or better still acquire additional knowledge of some specific programs, you will find many jobs or projects which will be as profitable and challenging as you may wish for. Sometimes exactly these projects uncover your hidden talents and may lead you to gaining a second degree in a completely new sphere of knowledge.

And of course never lose your heart and fall into despair. Good jobs are few and have to be deserved. While you know that you possess the necessary skills and talents, there is one more thing that all of us probably need to achieve a little more success than we have for now. Good luck!