I went to obtain my transcript yesterday (08-01-2014) and while I was being tossed from one office to another, a lady excused me. She showed me an application letter to review and comment on before she submit. The letter was an apology to put it mildly. But that is just a small part of the story.

I later learnt that she was assisting her friend to apply for a replacement of her success letter. Apparently, the original success letter was stolen following an armed robbery incident during her NYSC bla bla bla and as such she wanted the school to provide her with a replacement.

As I said earlier, the letter 'under review' was embarrassingly shameful and highly unbecoming of a 'so-called' university graduate. For starters, the entire letter was one continuous sentence - no comma, no fullstop, no paragraph, no structure. She went further to plead with me to assist them. She told me that her friend had written an initial application but the receiving officer (a non-academic staff) rejected it saying the initial letter was below secondary school students' level. They were not even ashamed to tell me that a non-academic staff rejected their letter. I demanded to see the initial letter and it was indeed far more appalling. Therefore, the letter 'under review' was a second attempt following a combined effort of both ladies.

I hesitated to assist but after some soulful pleading, my 'church-mind' got the better of me and I eventually obliged them but not without giving them a piece of my mind. I refraining from printing what I said to them.

But this got me really thinking. Here are TWO graduates, both already through with NYSC and probably in the labour market or already gainfully employed, yet THEIR combined effort could not produce a passable application letter. I mean, shouldn't our educational system have been designed such that there would be a minimum standard that students MUST attain before they are issued with a certification?

Who is to be blamed?

i blame u for castigating dem b4 d whole world,if u were a politician,press men wil accompany u to motherless babies' home b4 u could give dem a gift.

Corruption is to be blamed when the intelligent students pass Jamb but are not able to scale tru Putme, have you ever wondered why?. When are Fed. Universities have slot you pay bribe of 15ok to be admitted.. I can vividly recall way back then when my school was observing mid term break ma dad took me to his office then Remedial Unit. See University students asking a nursery boy to help em spell words

Our mode of admission should be changed, when i was applying for K.N.U.S.T the kind of questions shocked me, small basic ques. E.g 3+6-2. Jamb is useless nowadays people now buy admission

nsk 1st Son:

You clearly do not know the meaning of what you wrote. While it could be argued that the ladies deserve to be castigated even in public but my article did not mention their names or department (information that I have but refrained from divulging). I did not even state the name of the school. I was just using a personal experience to point to a serious rot in our educational system. I still doubt if you will understand.

nsk 1st son: i blame u for castigating dem b4 d whole world,if u were a politician,press men wil accompany u to motherless babies' home b4 u could give dem a gift.

He didn't reveal their names online, only d problem. So what's ur problem?

chimmy_2: nsk 1st Son:

You clearly do not know the meaning of what you wrote. While it could be argued that the ladies deserve to be castigated even in public but my article did not mention their names or department (information that I have but refrained from divulging). I did not even state the name of the school. I was just using a personal experience to point to a serious rot in our educational system. I still doubt if you will understand.

i understood ur post

chiwuike20:
He didn't reveal their names online, only d problem. So what's ur problem?

Chinwe enwerom any problem,its my opinion dat i wrote

If they both graduated with 3rd class results, Pass, or issued certificates of attendance, then we might understand. But if the reverse is the case, then I think you have a point.

The university has been designed with a grading system such that students are graded based on their performance.

A student with a 1.5 CGPA may likely not write to your expectation.

Project400: If they both graduated with 3rd class results, Pass, or issued certificates of attendance, then we might understand. But if the reverse is the case, then I think you have a point.

The university has been designed with a grading system such that students are graded based on their performance.

A student with a 1.5 CGPA may likely not write to your expectation.

Guy, a graduate with a pass class might not be able to solve 'differential equation' or do an analysis of 'Marx class struggle' but should be able to write an application letter. The point I'm making is that to obtain a tertiary school certification, you should be made (forced, if need be) to attain a minimum standard of enlightenment. Otherwise, you should just be asked to leave or given an 'acknowledge of attempt' if there is such a thing.

nsk 1st son: i understood ur post

You probably did but you clearly did not understand the import of your own comment. And as you can see, that view is also shared by another users.

chimmy_2:

Guy, a graduate with a pass class might not be able to solve 'differential equation' or do an analysis of 'Marx class struggle' but should be able to write an application letter. The point I'm making is that to obtain a tertiary school certification, you should be made (forced, if need be) to attain a minimum standard of enlightenment. Otherwise, you should just be asked to leave or given an 'acknowledge of attempt' if there is such a thing.

Sir, the best place to deliver this message is a Primary/Secondary School.

A University lecturer is not responsible for the secondary school syllabus.

students are lazy...lecturers as well...they com tu class with 1988 notes to dictate... ASUU is a buznes enterprise... n fg is stingy...n u.....I dnt knw wot to say

It's very funny..... I couldnt knw how to xpress my feeling............i wonna ask a question and it goes thus- Which school did they graduated form?

half-baked.

adamic: It's very funny..... I couldnt knw how to xpress my feeling............i wonna ask a question and it goes thus- Which school did they graduated form?

Are you for real?
"GRADUATED or GRADUATE"
"FROM or FORM"
COULDN'T KNOW or DON'T KNOW

And after you blame it on typographical error or predictive text format. Please try to edit before posting or otherwise that's the much of grammatical blunder you can make

@op, what u experienced was just the tip of the iceberg. I have met a lot who could not tell the difference between a formal and an informal letter. It is a pity..

U call.urself a graduate and u cannot get pictures of the two graduates and post it online :-P

nsk 1st son: Chinwe enwerom any problem,its my opinion dat i wrote

I'm sorry I sounded rude to u

fabby26:

Are you for real?
"GRADUATED or GRADUATE"
"FROM or FORM"
COULDN'T KNOW or DON'T KNOW

And after you blame it on typographical error or predictive text format. Please try to edict before posting or otherwise that's the much of grammatical blunder you can make

'edict' or 'edit',i guess that's a typographical error

fabby26:

Are you for real?
"GRADUATED or GRADUATE"
"FROM or FORM"
COULDN'T KNOW or DON'T KNOW

And after you blame it on typographical error or predictive text format. Please try to edict before posting or otherwise that's the much of grammatical blunder you can make

'edict' or 'edit',i guess that's a typographical error

The problem of graduates not being able to write an application letter isn't the fault of the tertiary institutions,the problem is from the foundation i.e primary and secondary education,you don't expect an engineering lecturer to start teaching you english...

I feel so sad when I see some of our graduates finding it hard to defend there certificate. they should go back to primary school..

marvelU: I feel so sad when I see some of our graduates finding it hard to defend there certificate. they should go back to primary school..

Harsh ma

Phemmy99: 'edict' or 'edit',i guess that's a typographical error 'edict' or 'edit',i guess that's a typographical error

Ok,I guess you got me on that one
CONGRATULATIONS, boy

d cause of all dis probs are src skul teachers,eg can u imagine dat wen i wz in ss3,our english teacher wz teaching us wit igbo lang,it wz wen i wz preparing 4 jamb dat som1 sojested a-z english txt book to me,d litle i can do nw z wat i read,so d ladies shuld b fully blamed.

d cause of all dis probs are sec skul teachers,eg can u imagine dat wen i wz in ss3,our english teacher wz teaching us wit igbo lang,it wz wen i wz preparing 4 jamb dat som1 sojested a-z english txt book to me,d litle i can do nw z wat i read,so d ladies shuld b fully blamed.