I'm aware of the fact that entrepreneurship is presently praised and preached more than education. It's an idea I admire because you need food on your table and you need to survive without depending on others.
Yesterday, I read a comment in a post about entrepreneurship/education and all I could deduce was that education makes no meaning simply because employment opportunities are not created to make our certificates useful. Education was reduced to the minimalist and the surprising fact was that the person who made the comment is praying to get admitted into the university. In his words, he said "he just needs the useless certificate so the society won't say he didn't go to school". You can imagine the age of a person who has created a negative mindset towards education. A teenager. I really didn't blame him for his words, he grew up to the cliché that "there are no jobs after graduating" which means that education is of little or no value. You're not going to school for anybody, it's for your personal good and ability to face different kinds of people all over the world.
There's no need sending a child to school if you keep telling him education is of no value because you've restricted yourself to the employment benefits of it. You may end up wasting thousands and millions on a child whose mindset had already gone blur concerning education because of the negative things you say. It's hypocritical when you punish him for not passing his examination but you sit with your friends in front of your child to discuss how useless your certificate is. His failure could be linked to his nonchalant attitude to education because of the things you say directly or indirectly.
It's disheartening how people graduate with certificates but are unable to defend what they studied. Outside defending their courses, they find it hard to express themselves or construct ideas that could earn them a desired job. To be explicit, the government never forced anybody to go to school but it is her duty to provide jobs for those who have acquired extra knowledge to add value to their lives and the society, but when this is deficient, that is when entrepreneurship comes in. There are people who engage in businesses and skill learning before going to school, they have the money but they know what they want and they appreciate education. There are others who resort to abusing their certificates when things don't happen as expected.
The four, five or six years you spent in school is incomparable to the many years you'll spend on earth making good use of the knowledge you acquired. It's not a waste of time. You can come out and have no job immediately but you can create one for yourself because you'd learnt analytical, managerial and other skills in school. A highly placed person can admire your abilities and employ or recommend you for higher positions because you took your education seriously. There are people who are given jobs based on merit and not connection. There are those who are given jobs based on intellects and not certificates provided they are educationally sound, willing to learn and can easily adapt.
Stop dwelling on Bill Gates and other school dropouts who you feel they made it without certificates. In fact, Bill Gates went to school if you get to read his full story. He discovered his talents and computer skills when he enrolled at Lakeside school at the age of thirteen and let's not brush off the part when he said "he could always go back to school if Microsoft doesn't work out". He never said education was useless. He took his education and learning seriously at a very tender age that's why he's where he is. Don't be surprised these people employ either graduates or people who are educationally sound, skillful and can express themselves. Discover your own self and work towards being profitable and relevant. Many people are good vocationally and educationally but they tend to dwell on one and disregard the other because of negative sayings. Destinies are different.
Education likewise entrepreneurship requires resources, energy and time so there's no point degrading one and exalting the other. These two activities are inevitable so far life is concerned. Be diligent in both, you've got nothing to lose.