In my opinion what I consider as a waste of time and effort is going to school without purpose. Most young people go to school because they major in certain subjects or because their parents or friends told them the course to study. Sometimes they make choices based on where they believe the jobs are. One thing they fail to do is to know who they're and what they want as individual. They have this illusion that a university degree is a golden ticket to success. That is totally wrong.
Sometime ago I read on the social media that a number of S&P 500 companies no longer hire exclusively on the basis of university certification. Why is that? It is because they know that they need talents and good people. Certificates don't guarantee these qualities. Having a certificate does not make one a great employee, it doesn't make one a high performance individual. There are so many other factors involved.
For those that would like to venture into business, I think having a firm grasp of these areas of study is essential
Accounting - the ability to read and interpret financial statements
Economics - knowing supply and demand factors and market trends both at national level and global scale.
Marketing, even though a lot of marketing texts out there are outdated, but it won't hurt to have the basic knowledge.
Communication - how to effectively transmit your ideas to others and get the desired response.
It is equally important to learn how to work on different projects with different class mates, learn how to coordinate and be a good team player.
It is not degree that makes people successful but the knowledge and skills accumulated through school. Equally, there's need to have a plan to develop and continuously hone your skills that would provide the capacity to become better individuals and more competent persons. Thinking that a degree is all you need and that after school, there's no need to learn anymore, that's a big problem. That's the wrong expectation.
Finally, if you want to be successful, have it in mind that schooling may stop but learning is a continuous process.
