By
John Chizoba Vincent
If I had to start all over again, I would blame the government with its corrupt system of who-you-know before a graduate can get a good job for himself. I’d point my accusing hand towards the private organisations for demanding unreasonable years of experience from fresh graduates before they could be employed. I would blame all of them, yes, because I don’t see a reason why they would demand ten years of experience from a fresh graduate! How would he gain that? This is disheartening and frustrating to hear or see our graduates experience this each day. The demands are getting too serious, many are tired of waiting at home for their call. Many graduates have committed suicide because of this. How could a country be this weak and frustrating and when is this nightmare going to end?
I will still blame the teachers that told us that great job opportunities await us if we study very hard to get good grades in school. I’ll blame the lecturers for tormenting us with old formula, theories and principles that are not applicable in this contemporary time. We’ll keep living this life of blaming the failed systems of our education and others for the fault of our dreams if we don’t really take action from this phase and understand that the reality of life is beyond the four walls of the school system. Life is beyond what they taught us in school. Good grades cannot give us a good or successful life but digging deeper into the idea that comes out of us can. Why would having a degree make you lose sense of the things you can do? Why would going to school make you a dependant of certificates printed on paper?
It’s not s/he that came out first in class or s/he that graduated with First Class upper that succeeds, but s/he that translates his/her knowledge and gifting into a resourceful venture despites the challenges life gives to him or her. Nothing is new under the sun but we can translate those old things into new things that could be of help to us all. The school system wouldn’t teach you this.
The present school system does not encourage talent development in her wards. There is no part of the curriculum that makes room for this both in our primary, secondary and tertiary institutions. We are being bound by those old theories brought up by men of great will who once brainstormed bravely to conquer the world. Life is beyond these theories. The school limits the building of your abilities and potential. There are no such programs in our schools where special attention is given to these abilities you have within you; you have to fight and gain it yourself when you discover the man in you.
Many of us have ended up cursing everything that the school system represents when our desire for vgood grades could not give us those dream jobs that our teachers lied to us that we’d get when we come out with them. Many years of hunting for unseen jobs has made us all question the need for this so-called education if after all the pain and sacrifices we end up parading the streets of Nigeria scouting for jobs which never existed. Believe me, sometimes you die of regret by believing those things that your lecturers in school promised you. It is not their fault, the reality of life is far beyond those lies they told in our schools.
We should be able to define the reason we go to school so that the essence of going won’t be determined by good grades, getting a mouthwatering job, fulfilling those dreams our parents could not achieve, getting those certificates that our friends or family acquired. We should try to know and understand the reason why we should go to school and what we are going there to do. The world has changed drastically. Things are no longer the way they used to be but the school system has not changed in our country, it is still imbibed in those misleading lies of yesterday. The present school system has failed to recognize the uniqueness of each individual’s abilities, gifts, talent, passion, motivation, inspiration, potential, and capabilities and how these qualities could shape the choice each individual makes to determine his or her future.
Ignorance of the true meaning of education has caused more problems than it solves. Watch what you tell the youngsters that look up to you for advice. Let them know that the reality of life is beyond the four walls of the school system.
John Chizoba Vincent
John Chizoba Vincent is a cinematographer, filmmaker, music video director, poet and a writer. A graduate of mass communication, he believes in life and the substances that life is made of. He has three books published to his credit which includes Hard Times, Good Mama, Letter from Home. For boys of tomorrow is his first offering to poetry. He lives in Lagos.
I love this