jidegirl12:

Come on now, I don't think it's a problem, in Nigerian context every available choice requires money anyways so what's the difference?? The only free choice is armed robbery / politics and I doubt it's easy to join either.

I'm not surprised at the oyb's guy responses, he's just jealous and it's normal , I felt that too when my dad secured him a job right away after service,while I was sent abroad to further my education in a freezer the guy takes his family around the world for vaca just warming the bank executive seat and making calls. His wife treats me like a queen.

I recalled this guy that came on NL for tuition fee ? Could he have served a purpose of his choice if he had chose to train as a mechanic instead of thriving for education at all possible ways? something to think about.

adefesoj: This question is so stupid! And I cant imagine that such a question will ever be on a social blog as this. Are you implying that people should ever remain ignorant?!

jidegirl12:

So everybody wey you see for unilag is intelligent literate ?

naijababe: OYB!!!! O ju gbogbo eleyi lo now

oyb:

fixed

oyb:

probably not - though i think the issue here may be others expecting you to assist in what essentially is a wasted investment. someone comes to me to ask that i help pay his kid's school fees. it is clear the kid is not particularly smart [ its quite possible that this may be due to environment etal] - so do i throw good money after bad?

i experienced a lot of this growing up, as my dad spent a lot of money sending disadvantaged relatives to school.

cecegorz:
I don't think it's a problem if your dad had the means as long as it wasn't at the expense of his own immediate family.
I actually plan to do same when I get the means but I'll put a stringent KPI. The students must be book smart and MUST maintain above 3.5 GPA @ every semester.

AjanleKoko:

Hmm.
What's wrong with a child of a blue-collar worker learning a trade, and earning money from an early age?
Or, in the converse, what is right about a blue-collar worker begging, borrowing, and stealing, to ensure their four or five children all attend one higher institution or the other?

Are they playing a lottery with the children? The irony is that, a lot of these children also have to bribe or cheat their way to those higher institutions like a lot of other children. And most of them will probably either not do particularly well at school, and may end up sitting at home unemployed. What happens then?

We should move from the 'you never know' mindset, and try to be a bit more pragmatic in the way we live life in Nigeria, IMO.

AjanleKoko: Here is something to think about, albeit a bit controversial.

Why do lower-class blue-collar workers insist on ensuring that their children go to tertiary institutions in Nigeria?
There are many cases I've seen of blue-collar workers, who can ill-afford it, bust their backs ensuring that their children all go to universities. It's noble, but is it really practical?

AjanleKoko:

Hmm.
What's wrong with a child of a blue-collar worker learning a trade, and earning money from an early age?
Or, in the converse, what is right about a blue-collar worker begging, borrowing, and stealing, to ensure their four or five children all attend one higher institution or the other?

Are they playing a lottery with the children? The irony is that, a lot of these children also have to bribe or cheat their way to those higher institutions like a lot of other children. And most of them will probably either not do particularly well at school, and may end up sitting at home unemployed. What happens then?

We should move from the 'you never know' mindset, and try to be a bit more pragmatic in the way we live life in Nigeria, IMO.

AjanleKoko:
...........I was in a situation like that recently. The person was a widow with three children, she was working as a house maid.
My frank advice to the person was to focus on the child that showed the most significant academic promise. For the others, I recommended that they go to trade schools or even get a job, and start supporting their sibling who would school full-time. Needless to say the advice did not go down well with her, and she left discouraged. .........

onegig: Your question really hit some nerves here.

Had a kinda large nuclear cum extended family structure and my nuclear family struggled to send all of us to school i.e uni. but the other family opted for trade and a mix of uni.

But today, those from the other family who had trade training are doing perfectly okay but we that schooled and did everything are still just strugglling to patch things up.

If i look back I wish I had a technical skill much earlier before proceeding to Uni although I do now. But Speaking from experience, I would say as long as you can afford to give your kids sound secondary/high school education. I.e. ability to read, write and comprehend what goes around them then a little trade training of between 1-2 years should be encouraged before even thinking of proceeding to university. By then they would even be able to subsidize their education themselves and earn little money part time which would aid their schooling.

As a rejoinder most of my elders are still in the lurch trying to acquire more certs with meager resources when they realized that even the B.sc they had have not turned up very positive and my dad is kinda bitter about the situation of things.

AjanleKoko:

Well, we have a lot of cleaners, security guards, office assistants in my company that all go to school part time.
Some attend the NOUN.

There is this chap that was an office assistant when I was working in another company in 2001, and he was doing his OND at the time in Yaba Tech. He has since been to get his HND in Insurance, and now works in an insurance company, a multinational one

In fact a number of us who knew him back then are his clients today.

I wonder why we always think a success story must be an exception in Nigeria.

maclatunji:

I think I am getting what you are saying from this post. It is not that children of blue collar parents should not seek higher education, but that they should be willing to find alternative means of financing their education. Is that what you are saying?

I have noticed that it is much easier to get a job in Nigeria at ND level or below. Some even earn better salaries than graduates and you do wonder sometimes if they have not chosen the smarter route. They can then further their education with relatively good financial status.

Your opening post was not it for me, but if what I have expanded on is what you are saying, then, I agree with you. However, each individual and situation is unique. Hence, it might be better to go to school straight and battle the labour market thereafter.

onegig:

Shouldn't even only be about blue collar workers alone but also white collar workers who are finding it hard financing comfortably higher education. There's nothing bad in been independent . No one says getting higher education is bad but seriously they are not yielding the needed for most. So why continue on that route?

Go to University on borrowed money and struggling. Graduate and you are faced with the endemic unemployment situation and you find that there's a total disconnect between the theory you are taught in school and what applies in real life.

So tell me is it worth it?

maclatunji:

I think I am getting what you are saying from this post. It is not that children of blue collar parents should not seek higher education, but that they should be willing to find alternative means of financing their education. Is that what you are saying?

I have noticed that it is much easier to get a job in Nigeria at ND level or below. Some even earn better salaries than graduates and you do wonder sometimes if they have not chosen the smarter route. They can then further their education with relatively good financial status.

Your opening post was not it for me, but if what I have expanded on is what you are saying, then, I agree with you. However, each individual and situation is unique. Hence, it might be better to go to school straight and battle the labour market thereafter.

maclatunji:

Well, for many it is. At least, they can end-up in the civil service after a few years. They may not excel there too but it means that they have a guaranteed monthly income and leave their lives. It is killing the country but it is for most individuals a means to an end.

AjanleKoko:

Wait a minute. There is guaranteed employment in the civil service in Nigeria?
Same civil service that is retrenching by the thousands?

maclatunji:

Don't believe everything you read in the papers.

phoinix: Hey, a university degree in "professional couses" is still the easiest way to evade abject poverty in this country, ofcourse there will be exceptions.