ITE will spell the end of a student's academic life if he doesn't strive harder than the previous weak effort he had put in to get himself there in the first place. He will forever be stuck in the 'rut' of ITE.
However, life isn't always about scoring high in academics or getting a PhD or Masters. And as the saying goes, when there's a will, there's a way, and some ITE students still find a way to fight back up society's ladder to obtain a reasonable to good amount of achievement later on in their lives. They can also climb the academic ladder again if that is the pathway they so choose. This will take a few more extra years of course, but it is far from impossible to do so if the student= has done a complete 180 degree turnaround in his attitude to studying.
But to be perfectly honest, in order to reach that bottom rug in the educational ladder, let's face it - you have to be exceptionally lazy in your studies to get there. It's a fact that MOST of the ITE students who continue to exercise such ill discipline in their studies will continue to be the bottom feeders of society. MOST, but not all. There are always exceptional cases who go on to be exceptional.
But for most of them, they will just have to lie in the bed they made for themselves.
No matter how we wish to fight against the educational system and debate the relevancies of the 'paper' certificate, the heart of the matter is that if the majority of society recognises it as a hallmark of an individual's capabilities, then the minority will HAVE to abide by these social rules. Of course, the minority are free to choose whether to abolish their pursuits of the Paper if they so wish, but in doing so, they should be consciously aware that in a society where getting a good degree is a normality to be achieved, they WILL be limited om their opportunities in the workforce.
The above argument does not take into account the few lucky individuals who will inherit a gazillion dollars from their long lost grandfathers.
On a personal note, I am about to further my studies with a Masters degree, though I am doing so more for the thrill of learning and a sense of personal achievement in my field of expertise than for anything else. I am, however, a firm believer that the most valuable degree one can have is a PhD in Life, or a Bachelor's Degree majoring in Contentment and Life's Satisfaction. And that is something ANYONE can strive to achieve, regardless if they're from ITE or a University.
