On October 29,2018 it was reported that approximately 800 new students, and an estimated 1,600 returning students of The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona Campus, had been deregistered for failure to meet their tuition fees. In joining the age-old debate, commentators have posited some daring claims imploring the Government to “deal with the financing of tertiary education once and for all”. But I wish to challenge some of these claims about the value of tertiary education and submit a proper proposal for the Government to consider on the burning question of the rationale for financing tertiary education.

One claim is that tertiary education is a dream for high school graduates; hence, the Government must devise a policy to finance same; and further, that the future of the nation depends on the ability to educate and advance the human capital of our nation.

Firstly, all the yearning for tertiary level training has never been and will never be the base of the resolution to finance tertiary education. The idea that the wholesale promotion and full financing of tertiary education in Jamaica is the panacea to our social, economic and political woes is asinine and bears no absolute truth. The present tertiary academic craze is a scam foisted on the world’s population which has now become an incurable pandemic. A cursory review of human achievements in the area of inventions of the modern and post-modern epochs will dispel this well-ingrained idea that social and economic success and advancement are based on tertiary education.

It seems to me that the reverse is indeed the veracious position. It’s well known that it’s those among us with the C grades are the employers of the A grades — a complete paradox that reflects the reality of the human experience.

Www.fastcompany.com supports my claim. “Who says a college degree is the only path to success? These famous industry leaders all have one thing in common: They dropped out,” it writes and lists the following 10 famous founders who did not graduate from college:

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/opinion/tertiary-education-is-no-panacea_149854