Theory is Overrated: I hate "school" but love education

                              

         

By Ishoyor J.Ufana            

  Education is said to be the key to success and if you don’t get educated, you’re a waste to society. Upon asking how to get educated, the answer was a unanimous “Go to school!!!” Everyone simply implied that if you don’t get a good certificate, you’re a loser and disappointment to self, family and society at large. In short, you were a weight taking up valuable space on earth and really should rather move along to The Great Beyond where matter doesn’t matter. But I digress … .

    I believed this hook, line and sinker until I got into a higher institution and began questioning: How true is this assertion?  Instead of being taught the art of Mass Communication, my brain was being loaded with theories of some “scholars” who died hundreds and thousands of years back and probably never saw the Wright Brothers’ plane.

I was inspired to do this piece after watching a London teen’s video explaining why schooling shouldn’t be over-prioritized but emphasis should instead be laid on education. I’m therefore going to define education as depicted by the big red chunk of muscle inside my skull, not Mr. Oxford.

    Education is simply “being enlightened in a particular sphere of life”. There are a thousand and one educated persons who never saw the four walls of a school, or went to school but didn’t graduate but are today successful in life. Mr. Windows (Bill Gates) and that Facebook Boy (Mark Zuckerberg) are popular examples.

When I got into the university, I saw so much competition, I almost got scared. Students with different backgrounds and orientations converged in one learning environment, and suddenly a four-year race for validation had begun. If you aren’t “focused,” you could trip, be disqualified and lose out. Examinations are set before you, and your brain literally wants to answer the questions practically but all you get is a pen, sheet of paper and really annoying persons called invigilators screeching “45 minutes more!”

This piece isn’t to meant to be indolent. The notice calling for articles encouraged “MACOSA, have your say!” and “come on: let’s see what you’ve got!” So, well, this is what I’ve got to say:

The current instruction system doesn’t avail young people enough opportunity to show the world what they’re capable of. Instead, young minds are forced to adhere to instructions and procedures that people long dead formulated to make things in their era work, hence evaporating young dreams and stifling great talents that would have made the world stare in utter astonishment.

A character in the Indian movie ‘Three Idiots’ said; “Don’t chase success; follow your dreams and success will chase you”. I sincerely hope the present generation of educators and educationists takes heed and changes this ‘dead educational system’ or we could have a really bleak future as a nation of extraordinary could-have-beens.

I really would love to get educated but the learning system just ain’t cutting it. In a nutshell?

More practicals and less theory, please.