"Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune." Jim Rohn
Today there are millions of graduates all over the world who have received their formal education from the prestigious and not so famous universities with good grades but many of them are still jobless searching for jobs and employment opportunities. These people didn't make a right choice between formal and informal education. Formal education here refers to the academic qualification while the informal education means the self-education that is undertaken by individuals to excel in life without much formal education.
The 96% of world population are well aware of the formal education system and they count on it for the living. They look for jobs to earn a living so that they could feed their family. This is the only way they know and they take up whether they like their jobs or not. As long as they get their regular paychecks to survive, they are happy about it and wish that this goes on forever. Formal education is important no doubt but that is alone not enough in this 21st century. The combination of both is perhaps the best solution to challenge the changing period of history.
It is better that the youngsters make a right choice between a living and a fortune. There is a great difference between these two. Whichever suits, you must choose that and take upon yourself the responsibility to make it happen. Working for a living is limited while working for a fortune is expansive. There is more to gain in pursuing one's fortunes than a living. Making a living doesn't require all our passion, talents and interests, it just needs our formal education to qualify for the post.
There are people who have quit their formal education and embraced informal type of education. These people are successful, rich and are having a better lifestyle. They equipped themselves through the process of self-education that they are very much qualified today to attract all the fortune that they aspire to acquire. It is their particular choice, which made them make a fortune for having a great lifestyle. They don't look for jobs rather job opportunities come in search of these highly enterprising people.
What we can do is to encourage people to take upon themselves the informal education so that they can continue to grow and improve their skills according to the changing trends. Taking upon oneself self-education for life time makes a great sense than formal education which lasts for few years. Self-education is continuous and unending. It is always updated freshly and matches with time.
Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Michael Dell, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison and many others made a right choice between these two types of education. It is very clear what education system they chose and followed. There is freedom in choosing self-education because one works smart to make a fortune come true. In my opinion, people must learn to make a right choice for themselves and follow the decision to the full.
Alwed Ekka
Guide Coach Mentor
