University is not cheap. The degree was, once upon a time, a coveted, necessary piece of paper that one must have in order to hold a job.

However, the 21st century has shown us that financial success and the degree have no co-relation. Degrees are meant to get you jobs, but jobs can only get you so far financially.

My mother-in-law taught me this Hokkien phrase “Gong zhi bu chu tou, chu tou jiu xia di” (工字不出头，出头就下地), a pun on the word “work” and how it is written. 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤, 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞.

In 2026, we are not only in the 21st century, we are in the AI century. 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐬𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫?

It was reported that Google has shifted practices to focus on skills rather than academic qualifications. All over the world, data shows a decline in the number of job listings requiring a degree from 93% in 2017 to 77% in 2022.

𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲.

Even education is changing. There are interesting schools such as 42 Singapore that use a zero fee, zero lecturer model and they produced highly sought after talents.

So it truly begets the question: who should pay for university.

Shawn Loh, the member for Jalan Besar said in an interview with a local publisher “[..] I speak personally, but I don’t think university should be funded by parents.”

As a father, I share that view. But I will co-pay it alongside my children. They must fund it with whatever savings they have, and commit to a loan.

𝐖𝐡𝐲? 𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞.

Go to any investor, they won’t give you a cent if you don’t dedicate your own time and money to your startup. Same logic.

When you have skin in the game, everything you do in this journey is going to be thought through very very carefully. Are you going to do a course just because your friends are doing it, or it’s trendy… or can you really make something of this in the future?

Are you going to commit to classes and learning? What will you do to get parallel experience?

Or – are my children going to look at all that money to be spent and say “I have a better idea and I want to put it to work to help people”. And if they say that, I’ll support them through and through.

This is not the 1990s. There is no need to rush to get a degree, nor is it even necessary to have one at all.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 – 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐬.

#singapore

#parenting