WHICH WOULD YOU RATHER BE, A BILL GATES OR NEYMAR?
Many of us were shocked at the news which crept its way into airwaves last week Thursday, August 3rd, 2017, i.e., the biggest contract ever in the history of world football. Neymar Da Silva Santos Junior officially signed for Paris Saint Germain from Spanish giant Barcelona after they met his buyout clause of €222M. Hours later the news of his weekly earnings of about €515,000 or 248 million naira broke into the internet. After taking time to ruminate on the factors surrounding this situation (the individual, the pay, the club, and the essence of education), i was as well surprised like every other person, however, I seem to have a contrary opinion to it. Different from people's clamour to ensure their children - both born and unborn - play football, i still hold the opinion that it might not worth it eventually.
Now, if Neymar without a high level of education (formal and perhaps informal) earns 248 million per week, but then it left me thinking of the how much Bill Gates (who actually went as far as Harvard) earn? Mind you, Bill Gates went to school and was fully education (from all ramifications - formal, informal and non-formal) as far as Harvard, the whole talk of him dropping out is widely misconstrued. He didn't drop out because he was not good enough, neither did he drop out because he was irresponsible, in fact he had a meeting with the school authority when it became obvious that he needed more time to work on the Microsoft idea and in his exact words he told the school that he was going on a "leave of absence" and should return if the idea failed to work as planned. Moreover, he acquired more knowledge most of those who even graduated, he didn't leave the school empty, he left with the knowledge he had acquired, he left having made friends and built a network of like minds, he left having access to mentors from the school (for me, these are some of the most important reasons of going to university in the first place, and not just for that paper called certificate). With that knowledge and skill acquired directly or indirectly by going to school, Bill Gates was able to build Microsoft and in 2013 he earned 11.5 billion dollars in a single year. That figure would give you 1.38 million dollars per hour. What it means is that the 248 million naira Neymar earns in a week is what Bill Gates earns in 30 minutes. Please, which would you rather be, Bill Gates or Neymar.
As for me, I'd rather make a Bill Gates out of myself.
Why would I rather be a Bill Gates than a Neymar? Why would I rather point my kids to Bill Gates than to Neymar? It is simple. If you go by the figures, you have already seen it above. If you want to look at the future, then you will know that Neymar is 25 today, but will he still be playing football at this level at 35? What if in an unfortunate situation where he breaks his leg tomorrow (no one prays for that, but it does happen), that will be the end of everything, football doesn't even provide for pension or gratuity. But Gates can sleep for the rest of his life and the billions will keep flowing because alert has been set on auto run, he has 'programmed' his business directly into his bank account - with his knowledge (you need education to set up that kind of system). What if you are looking at relevance and significance, how many millionaires have Neymar made or will he ever make in his lifetime? Bill Gates has made 3 billionaires and over 12,000 millionaires. Don't forget that Life is not a matter of how happy you are but how many people are happy through you. Please, which would you rather make out of yourself, Bill Gates or Neymar?
It is true that Education, especially in Africa has lost its value, see THE VALUE OF EDUCATION? GONE!, however its influence can still not be underrated. Education is still the key, education is still superior, education has birthed technology and technology is where the money is and not football, take it or leave it. The most valuable club in the world according to Forbes 2017 rating is Manchester United and they are worth a whopping 3.69 billion dollars to edge both Barcelona and Real Madrid. But how whopping is that compared with the worth of Apple, Google, or Microsoft? In fact the total worth of the top 20 football clubs in the world (including Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, PSG, Arsenal, Manchester City, Juventus, Liverpool) is 29.6 billion dollars. Mark Zuckerberg can simply pull out a cheque from his back pocket and buy those 20 clubs without even discussing with the board of Facebook (that sounds like an insult but that is the fact). That is how powerful ideas are, that is how powerful knowledge can be, that is how powerful education can be. What would you rather choose for your child? What would you want them to rather be, a Bill Gates or a Neymar?
The standard of education in Nigeria has dropped so badly that it can be said to have lost its relevance already, but rather than turn our backs against it completely, rather than encourage our children not to go to school, rather than insult it the more, we should champion a course on how to make it what it ought to be and more attractive. We should teach our children the real importance of education and not just to graduate out and get a good job. We should teach them the opportunities they can derive and develop right from within the walls of a school. We should let them know the difference between a literate/educated wealthy man and an illiterate/uneducated rich man. We should make them thread the path of Bill Gates or they may fall on Neymar's path, but not without Education.
Trends are changing, the world has evolved and our educational system must evolve and not be allowed to dissolve.
Don't be deceived. Send your children to good schools if you can afford it, and after that allow them the freedom of choice and if they choose to play football they will become more successful than Neymar if they are diligent enough. They should be taught how to make themselves a Bill Gates rather than a Neymar.
Education, whether formal, informal or non-formal is life, infuse it.
See also EDUCATION; A LICENCE TO WEALTH
- rewritten by nomoloS
Many of us were shocked at the news which crept its way into airwaves last week Thursday, August 3rd, 2017, i.e., the biggest contract ever in the history of world football. Neymar Da Silva Santos Junior officially signed for Paris Saint Germain from Spanish giant Barcelona after they met his buyout clause of €222M. Hours later the news of his weekly earnings of about €515,000 or 248 million naira broke into the internet. After taking time to ruminate on the factors surrounding this situation (the individual, the pay, the club, and the essence of education), i was as well surprised like every other person, however, I seem to have a contrary opinion to it. Different from people's clamour to ensure their children - both born and unborn - play football, i still hold the opinion that it might not worth it eventually.
Now, if Neymar without a high level of education (formal and perhaps informal) earns 248 million per week, but then it left me thinking of the how much Bill Gates (who actually went as far as Harvard) earn? Mind you, Bill Gates went to school and was fully education (from all ramifications - formal, informal and non-formal) as far as Harvard, the whole talk of him dropping out is widely misconstrued. He didn't drop out because he was not good enough, neither did he drop out because he was irresponsible, in fact he had a meeting with the school authority when it became obvious that he needed more time to work on the Microsoft idea and in his exact words he told the school that he was going on a "leave of absence" and should return if the idea failed to work as planned. Moreover, he acquired more knowledge most of those who even graduated, he didn't leave the school empty, he left with the knowledge he had acquired, he left having made friends and built a network of like minds, he left having access to mentors from the school (for me, these are some of the most important reasons of going to university in the first place, and not just for that paper called certificate). With that knowledge and skill acquired directly or indirectly by going to school, Bill Gates was able to build Microsoft and in 2013 he earned 11.5 billion dollars in a single year. That figure would give you 1.38 million dollars per hour. What it means is that the 248 million naira Neymar earns in a week is what Bill Gates earns in 30 minutes. Please, which would you rather be, Bill Gates or Neymar.
As for me, I'd rather make a Bill Gates out of myself.
Why would I rather be a Bill Gates than a Neymar? Why would I rather point my kids to Bill Gates than to Neymar? It is simple. If you go by the figures, you have already seen it above. If you want to look at the future, then you will know that Neymar is 25 today, but will he still be playing football at this level at 35? What if in an unfortunate situation where he breaks his leg tomorrow (no one prays for that, but it does happen), that will be the end of everything, football doesn't even provide for pension or gratuity. But Gates can sleep for the rest of his life and the billions will keep flowing because alert has been set on auto run, he has 'programmed' his business directly into his bank account - with his knowledge (you need education to set up that kind of system). What if you are looking at relevance and significance, how many millionaires have Neymar made or will he ever make in his lifetime? Bill Gates has made 3 billionaires and over 12,000 millionaires. Don't forget that Life is not a matter of how happy you are but how many people are happy through you. Please, which would you rather make out of yourself, Bill Gates or Neymar?
It is true that Education, especially in Africa has lost its value, see THE VALUE OF EDUCATION? GONE!, however its influence can still not be underrated. Education is still the key, education is still superior, education has birthed technology and technology is where the money is and not football, take it or leave it. The most valuable club in the world according to Forbes 2017 rating is Manchester United and they are worth a whopping 3.69 billion dollars to edge both Barcelona and Real Madrid. But how whopping is that compared with the worth of Apple, Google, or Microsoft? In fact the total worth of the top 20 football clubs in the world (including Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, PSG, Arsenal, Manchester City, Juventus, Liverpool) is 29.6 billion dollars. Mark Zuckerberg can simply pull out a cheque from his back pocket and buy those 20 clubs without even discussing with the board of Facebook (that sounds like an insult but that is the fact). That is how powerful ideas are, that is how powerful knowledge can be, that is how powerful education can be. What would you rather choose for your child? What would you want them to rather be, a Bill Gates or a Neymar?
The standard of education in Nigeria has dropped so badly that it can be said to have lost its relevance already, but rather than turn our backs against it completely, rather than encourage our children not to go to school, rather than insult it the more, we should champion a course on how to make it what it ought to be and more attractive. We should teach our children the real importance of education and not just to graduate out and get a good job. We should teach them the opportunities they can derive and develop right from within the walls of a school. We should let them know the difference between a literate/educated wealthy man and an illiterate/uneducated rich man. We should make them thread the path of Bill Gates or they may fall on Neymar's path, but not without Education.
Trends are changing, the world has evolved and our educational system must evolve and not be allowed to dissolve.
Don't be deceived. Send your children to good schools if you can afford it, and after that allow them the freedom of choice and if they choose to play football they will become more successful than Neymar if they are diligent enough. They should be taught how to make themselves a Bill Gates rather than a Neymar.
Education, whether formal, informal or non-formal is life, infuse it.
See also EDUCATION; A LICENCE TO WEALTH
- rewritten by nomoloS
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