Hi nairalanders, i thought this should make for interesting debate.

culled from http://www.thenationonlineng.com/dynamicPage.asp?id=6&menu=main

Are students just lazy? 12/7/2007

Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

Well, are they really? Many tutors would agree they are.
Once, I was at the University of Lagos to see some lecturers. They had gone out of the campus so I hung around the Faculty of Education to wait for them. Soon, I overheard a conversation between a girl and her male classmate which made my wait thought provoking and less boring.

The girl asked if he had completed a particular assignment that was due for submission and he answered in the affirmative. She then complained that she had not done hers because she did not know how to approach the questions. The boy offered to teach her if she could make herself available. Instead of agreeing on a date, the girl slyly suggested that the boy do the assignment and explain it to her afterwards. I guess the boy was not interested in chasing her because he did not accede to her request.

In a typical classroom setting, there are students revered by classmates as gurus. This subset (they are not usually many) are called efikos because apart from being perceived as having extra grey matter bestowed on them by the Almighty, they are also believed to possess exceptional ability to withstand the ‘stress’ of studying and sourcing for materials for seemingly difficult assignments. But, while I believe in natural intelligence, I have come to understand that the average student would do better if only they would exert more effort in their studies.

I read an article in a daily where a lecturer at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye claimed students no longer challenge their lecturers but are more interested in the paper qualification than academic ambition. He added that they read only to pass examinations. Another lecturer, Prof Jerome Adepoju, who heads the Mathematics department of UNILAG, shared a similar view at an event I attended recently. He noted that his students do not like the fact that he does not recommend a particular text for them. On the contrary, he tells them a textbook is any book that clearly explains the topic. The students do not like the idea because it means they have to read wide.

To an extent, I agree with the lecturers that students do not push themselves enough. I say so because of what I have observed at examination centres, my interaction with students and my experience at school. And I think my opinion is backed by research.

Carol Dweck, a Psychologist at Stanford University, USA, carried out studies involving more than 400 high school students that have proven that effort, more than smartness, brings about good grades. In one of the studies reported in the New York Times, students were divided into two groups in which one was taught study skills, and the other, in addition to study skills were told that intelligence is not innate – that the brain is just a muscle that grows new neurons when challenged. The grades of students in the second group changed after the study because they improved their study habits.

As a student, there were times I was among the top one per cent, there were many other times I was just an average student and there was a time I hit rock bottom. My performance was largely a direct result of what I did or failed to do. When I discovered this, I developed habits that conformed to academic success and some of my classmates thought I was a superstar. But I only worked harder.

Oluwafemi James Atoyebi – the 46-year-old who tied with a younger candidate for the best UME score of 325 for the 2005/2006 session said he achieved the feat by dint of hard work. By the time he spent over a year preparing for the examination there was no need or desire to do any back up in form of malpractice. He was confident in his ability to excel.

However, as much as I blame students for being lazy, I also fault lecturers who by their permissiveness encourage lethargy in students. When lecturers insist that their students purchase handouts or textbooks they wrote (and attach scores to such purchase), students usually would not study outside the text. And when project supervisors collect money from final year students to approve their projects, they would go to libraries of other schools to dub past projects without gaining from the exercise or adding to knowledge in their field. The same thing happens when secondary school authorities arrange for expo so their candidates pass the WASSCE, NECO and UME without working for it because they want to make more profit.

I believe many students would do better if teachers challenge them to work hard. Then, the best grades will not be the preserve of a limited few but for anyone who tries hard enough to earn them. Dweck said: "Emphasising effort gives a child a variable that they can control. They come to see themselves as in control of their success. Emphasising natural intelligence takes it out of the child’s control, and it provides no good recipe for responding to a failure." I don’t think there is anything more to add to that.

I will welcome enthusiastic debate via email and SMS on this topic from lecturers and students – possibly for publication in the next issue.