Geezholla:
Good one. The problem with our educational system is that it has made making As and Bs a priority. Students are eager to make them than to actually learn. Even those who tend to learn will end up being branded lecturers and most of them end up der. No real learning in the educational system

It's not only peculiar to the education system here. It's what obtains globally.

tosyne2much:
[i] This is to tell you that our education system is nothing but a mirage

''Mirage" is hardly the proper description. "Poorly equipped" and "under-qualified'' better describe Nigeria's education system.

I think our intelligence in this part of the world is only expressible on thick papers, because it beats my imagination how varsities keep churning out first class graduates who, at the end of the day, have nothing to contribute to science, art, technology and in their respective fields.

This is a very unfounded statement, and I suspect that it's a tad "envy-tinged". There are many of our first-class graduates who have contributed massively to science, art, and technology, both on a local and international scale. From what I gather, Seun Osewa was a first-class student before he decided to drop out of OAU so as to pursue his personal ambitions (Nairaland). Can you then say Seun has contributed nothing even after seeing the positive impacts that Nairaland has had on thousands–perhaps millions–of people? Like I said before, this is a very unfounded statement.

Quick question, did you know that a Nigerian family (Imafidon family) was named the smartest family in the U.K.? This only shows that the fault lies with the system and not with the individual units. No matter how talented or avant-garde, there is still a limit to what one individual can do.

Isn't it degrading that someone who studied mechanical engineering cannot dissemble a tiger generator to fix a broken part, and isn't it even more degrading that such a person came out with an outstanding result? Why? Because everything learnt was only within the confine of old and recycled handouts with little or no practical orientation.

Mr. Tosin, you don't study mechanical engineering so you can know how to "dissemble a Tiger generator" or any of those simplistic and uninformed balderdash you and many others on this thread have spouted.

I'll refer you to this man:

alpontif:

That is why I said your question stemmed from a place of ignorance /wrong assumption.

It's like the common wrong assumption people make about mechanical engineers, thinking that they ought to be able to design and repair Cars. Not knowing or caring to clarify what mechanical engineering is, and know that it is different from automobile engineering or Motor mechanics technology.

A mechanical engineer will not know anything about motor vehicles unless his speciality is automobile engineering.

So when you shout up and down that Mechanical engineers are incompetent because they can't repair cars, you are only announcing your ignorance to the world.

In some parts of the world, we have people who are just average students yet they are very innovative and are wizards in their fields but here, it's a different thing entirely. Even in this so called country, there are some illiterates who are more innovative and practically oriented than the so called professors even in their own field of study ooo.

Being an "illiterate'' does not make you any less innovative than your "literate'' counterparts. Literacy is only the ability to read and write, not the ability to think or to be innovative.

This more or less shows that many people in this part of the world have a very superficial understanding of what "education'' entails–of what "formal education" entails.

Education–formal in this case–only helps you become a thinker or someone who can think for himself. And in its most elitist and advanced form it aids in refining the thoughts of those who can already think for themselves. Formal education does not make you an "inventor", so let us now all do away with the ignorant preoccupation of finding correlations between "how educated a person is" and "how many things s/he has invented". It is rather silly.

Also, my good man, not everyone has to be "practically oriented". That's why we have theorists and conceptualists. Some people have the ability to come up with ideas and mental schemas, and others the innate ability to have these mental conceptions implemented and converted to concrete form.

There are many first-class graduates I have met and I can tell you categorically that they are all brilliant young men and women. In fact, considering the many challenges one faces in "ALL" Nigerian universities (excluding Private unis)–Challenges such as: (I.) Unenthusiastic and sadistic lecturers (II.) Frequent strikes (III.) Poorly stocked libraries and laboratories (IV.) Outdated curricula and non-availability of sufficient course material (V.) Economic hardship (VI) Unhabitable hostels...
.Really, I do not think anyone who after going through all these challenges and graduates with first class honours from a Federal or State university in Nigeria, would have nothing upstairs to offer.

Come to think of it, first-class graduates (excluding those from Private Unis) usually only make up less than 1% of the student population of any graduating year.
Consider LASU for example, when they did their 20th convocation ceremony in which two graduating sets were combined, there were only 8 students who graduated with first-class honours out of more than 17,000 graduands. Here's a link if you think that this is some cöck-and-bull tale > https://www.nairaland.com/3115733/lasu-convocate-17695-20th-convocation

It's a game of numbers really. Don't you think it's rather unfair and unintelligent to zero in focus on those 8 first-class graduates and spare the other 17,000 who graduated with 2.1, 2.2, or a pass? Even so, don't you think the much more smarter thing to do would be to supplant the ineffectual system (by this I mean the government in all tiers) and to create an enabling environment in which fresh graduates would be able to thrive and implement that which had been imparted unto them at the Ivory Towers?

As far I am concerned, the OP has failed woefully in the treatment of the subject. It lacks depth and it is horribly simplistic.

DarkRebel69:


''Mirage" is hardly the proper description. "Poorly equipped" and "under-qualified'' better describe Nigeria's education system.



This is a very unfounded statement, and I suspect that it's a tad "envy-tinged". There are many of our first-class graduates who have contributed massively to science, art, and technology, both on a local and international scale. From what I gather, Seun Osewa was a first-class student before he decided to drop out of OAU so as to pursue his personal ambitions (Nairaland). Can you then say Seun has contributed nothing even after seeing the positive impacts that Nairaland has had on thousands–perhaps millions–of people? Like I said before, this is a very unfounded statement.

Quick question, did you know that a Nigerian family (Imafidon family) was named the smartest family in the U.K.? This only shows that the fault lies with the system and not with the individual units. No matter how talented or avant-garde, there is still a limit to what one individual can do.



Mr. Tosin, you don't study mechanical engineering so you can know how to "dissemble a Tiger generator" or any of those simplistic and uninformed balderdash you and many others on this thread have spouted.

I'll refer you to this man:





Being an "illiterate'' does not make you any less innovative than your "literate'' counterparts. Literacy is only the ability to read and write, not the ability to think or to be innovative.

This more or less shows that many people in this part of the world have a very superficial understanding of what "education'' entails–of what "formal education" entails.

Education–formal in this case–only helps you become a thinker or someone who can think for himself. And in its most elitist and advanced form it aids in refining the thoughts of those who can already think for themselves. Formal education does not make you an "inventor", so let us now all do away with the ignorant preoccupation of finding correlations between "how educated a person is" and "how many things s/he has invented". It is rather silly.

Also, my good man, not everyone has to be "practically oriented". That's why we have theorists and conceptualists. Some people have the ability to come up with ideas and mental schemas, and others the innate ability to have these mental conceptions implemented and converted to concrete form.

There are many first-class graduates I have met and I can tell you categorically that they are all brilliant young men and women. In fact, considering the many challenges one faces in "ALL" Nigerian universities (excluding Private unis)–Challenges such as: (I.) Unenthusiastic and sadistic lecturers (II.) Frequent strikes (III.) Poorly stocked libraries and laboratories (IV.) Outdated curricula and non-availability of sufficient course material (V.) Economic hardship (VI) Unhabitable hostels...
.Really, I do not think anyone who after going through all these challenges and graduates with first class honours from a Federal or State university in Nigeria, would have nothing upstairs to offer.

Come to think of it, first-class graduates (excluding those from Private Unis) usually only make up less than 1% of the student population of any graduating year.
Consider LASU for example, when they did their 20th convocation ceremony in which two graduating sets were combined, there were only 8 students who graduated with first-class honours out of more than 17,000 graduands. Here's a link if you think that this is some cöck-and-bull tale > https://www.nairaland.com/3115733/lasu-convocate-17695-20th-convocation

It's a game of numbers really. Don't you think it's rather unfair and unintelligent to zero in focus on those 8 first-class graduates and spare the other 17,000 who graduated with 2.1, 2.2, or a pass? Even so, don't you think the much more smarter thing to do would be to supplant the ineffectual system (by this I mean the government in all tiers) and to create an enabling environment in which fresh graduates would be able to thrive and implement that which had been imparted unto them at the Ivory Towers?

As far I am concerned, the OP has failed woefully in the treatment of the subject. It lacks depth and it is horribly simplistic.

Nairaland is the stumping ground for shallow and simplistic articles.

freebuddy:
Our educational system does not encourage creativity. It only encourages getting good grades and coming out with first class or 2:1.

Countries like China, Japan, and many Western countries emphasize doing stuff, solving real problems of society, etc. That is why they are miles ahead of us.

That’s the advancement we need in our education system

Ojugunrege:
I am here...doing my best...designing oil & gas completion systems & installing same for an oil major.
& there are quite a lot of first class graduates where I work..

a few of my colleagues are out there...outside Nigeria...in research mostly

iwe aye

igi iwe

Tolexander:
iwe aye

igi iwe