Decades ago, parents placed a high value on education. They believed education was the ultimate key to success. The only key that could give you cars and big houses. But times have changed. The tables have turned. Education is no longer the ultimate key. Now, it seems like business is. Take a good look at it, business has provided more employment opportunities than education. Instead of going from one organization to another, applying for jobs, many people have resorted to creating businesses and that has worked for them.
Using my country as a case study, most people make money through businesses. Some people dive into big businesses like gym houses and schools while others do small businesses that still put food on their table. While it is great that the business world is expanding and providing employment opportunities for society, it is also breeding a problem: absolute focus on profits. In today’s world, the business sector has taken over almost every aspect of life. From agriculture to education and even healthcare, everything revolves around profits. While this seems good on the surface, the truth is that all most of these businesses care about is making profits. Of course, a business aims to make profits, however, it seems that profit-making has overshadowed love and passion.
Today, hospitals are built to make money and not necessarily to cure people. I don’t know how it works in other countries, but here in my country, hospitals prioritize patients who cannot afford the hospital bills. I had always heard stories about how hospitals refuse to admit a patient because they couldn't afford to pay. What if the person dies? There have been many cases that have led to death. I didn't know this was real until a friend witnessed this first firsthand. A hospital refused to operate on a patient because the family couldn't afford to pay for the operation.
They had to run helter-skelter to gather the money. Luckily, it wasn't too late. If the person had died, no one would hold the hospital responsible. This mentality has now affected the new generation. Today, some people want to become nurses and doctors not because they actually like the idea of taking care of sick people, but because of the money. Nurses are well paid (at least compared to other professions) in my country and that is why some people decide to venture into that profession not because they are passionate about it.
The mentality of prioritizing profit over passion and love cuts across other aspects like education. Today, most schools don't care if they are instilling the right values in their students. They might care a little about their grades, but they care more about making profits. They prioritize students' school fees over the teachings. Sadly, this is evident in all sectors of education; primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions.
I recently graduated from the university and I can boldly say that the school cared more about making money than they cared about the students’ abilities. Some lecturers barely came to class, they only came a few times when exams were close. Others didn't even come at all. As long as they dumped PDFS, they believed they had played their parts. There were only a few lecturers who took their jobs seriously. Yet, every semester, students pay school fees. Students who do not pay school fees would not be allowed to write the exams. Why not channel the same energy into holding lecturers who refuse to teach students accountable? Why not channel the energy into building more lecture rooms and libraries? But no! They would not do this because they are more concerned about making profits.
In my opinion, the profit-over-passion mentality has gone deep into society that it will probably be impossible to change that. The only way we can tackle this issue is to hope and pray that more people and organizations will at least balance profit-making with passion and love.
Thanks for reading.