They said “school is a scam.” And maybe they were right. We were sold a dream: Go to school. Get good grades. Graduate. Get a good job. Live a good life. It sounded so simple. But nobody mentioned the detour. Nobody told us we’d graduate into a world that barely notices your certificate.
That you could finish top of your class and still end up begging HR for a chance. That you’d sit in interviews where your degree didn’t matter — only “connections” did.
We entered school with hope. We left with uncertainty. So yes — maybe school is a scam. But here’s the part people don’t talk about: school taught us more than just academics. It taught us how to live.
It was where we learned how to endure hunger with style — how to make a ₦300 budget look like a meal plan. How to mix beans and spaghetti like it was a culinary invention.
How to survive on bread and indomie for three days and still write exams with a smile. It taught us to laugh in spite of hardship. To wake up after three hours of sleep, dress up like we had it together, and walk into a class full of uncertainty, pretending we understood the lecture. It taught us how to be tired — and still show up.
And the life lessons? Unmatched. You learn loyalty when your roommate saves the last slice of bread for you. Or when you come back from class and you see your roommate has cooked.
You learn betrayal when your coursemate steals your project topic or when they refuse to tell you the answer during exams after they have agreed to share with you. You learn strategy when you haven’t read for an exam but know who to sit beside. You learn to negotiate — with yourself, your lecturer, course rep, and sometimes, with the person selling handouts.
School taught us hustle. How to be broke and still be presentable. How to study in the heat. How to smile through stress. How to be creative with zero resources. It taught us how to fake confidence, how to work with people you don’t like, and how to keep going when you’re emotionally drained.
It wasn’t always pretty. There were days you cried silently in your hostel. Days when you questioned everything: your course, your life, your future. There were days the system broke you, and you almost gave up. But even in those moments — you were growing.
You didn’t just get a degree. You got grit. You got courage. You learned how to fail and not let it define you. You learned how to stand up again after your CGPA humbled you.
Maybe school didn’t give us the dream it promised. But it gave us memories we’ll never forget. People who changed our lives. Moments that built our character. It gave us the street sense they never put in the curriculum. The resilience they never tested in exams. The emotional intelligence you can’t learn from a textbook.
So yes — maybe school is a scam. But sometimes, the biggest lessons don’t come from the classroom. They come from everything in between. From the struggle. From the pain. From the laughter. From the survival.
And if you came out of that system stronger — if you’re still standing, still dreaming, still fighting for your life… then maybe school didn’t completely scam you. Maybe it was just preparing you for the bigger scam — life itself.
And if you are yet to graduate, you might say “school is a scam.” However, make sure you collect your certificate.
Wishing you well…
Have you ever felt like school didn’t give you what you paid for, but still gave you something priceless? Let it out in the comments.
