EDUCATION IS NOT ENOUGH

Education as defined by dictionary.com is “the act or process of impacting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the power of reasoning and Judgement, and generally preparing oneself or others intellectually for a matured life.” I have gone through this definition a couple of times and I can’t still find where Education as promised to provided wealth or riches, it promised mental development which is a tool for success not success has we have been conned to believe. I remember my mum used to say “you better read your books if you want to somebody in life”.

There is a particular lecturer we all didn’t like back in my undergraduate days, he was termed terrible, wicked, emotionless and ruthless by students, we even called him some “unspeakable” nicknames, but like a dead clock that tells time correctly twice a day, his words could be deep sometimes. Which makes me advice, since we all have the right to like and dislike anyone, I suggest we listen to words spoken by anyone cautiously.

Mr Paul Sailas (not is real name), was an infamous lecturer in my department back then at the university, he came into our lecture hall one day and got irritated by our lousy, youthful and thoughtless acts, looking at us like the lost generation that we seem to be he started a sermon that has forever been a part of my life.

He start by asking us what was Good about the morning when we greeted him then went on, let me just write his word has I remember them…

“What is making you happy, why can’t you just sit down and think, some of you are wasting your time here and you don’t even realise it, some of you have been psychologically hypnotised that once you finish university you will start working, money will start flowing, you will marry your sweetheart, build your dream house, then travel the world and live happily ever after. Well am sorry, in as much as I pray that life and destiny favours all of you, some of you will have it easy and for some the road will be rough, infact some of you won’t even make the journey pass a particular point before you are called back by the supreme being,”

At this point all of us murmured a little prayer for long life and prosperity.

Still angry with a lot of concern written on his face he continued..” I have seen some of you’s grades, read your scripts and listen to you talk. I can’t help but ask myself, what some of you are doing here, what the hell happened to vocational skills and talent development, some of you have got great talents and intuitive skills but have lost the ability to develop it to your undivided love and bais for western education, I am your lecturer but do you guys know I have a farm? Yes, I am a farmer, I plant cassava and sell in to Companies, I also have a shop were I sell stationary, I know people that have far less education than I do and they are doing better at the same business I am doing, some of them still come to me for advise on how to run the business I met them in, Do you know why?”

We were all quite at this point, as the sermon was already having effect on all of us. He continued..

“It is because of the education I have acquired, they think I know it all because I have used my education as a developmental tool, I have use it to adjust my thinking and discovered new and modern ways of farming. I am doing my own business in style, I don’t sell my cassava to middle men, I sell to companies and make my money, now they all want to link up with me and sell to the companies too.”

He stopped cleared his throat and looked round the lecture hall like he was looking for an offender then he continued his mind broadening sermon..

“I want you all to think and reason well, life after you leave the wall of this university isn’t going to be all smooth, so I advice you all start now, or remember what I am telling you now and use it
when your journey tilts towards the rough edges. Start thinking now, what can you do more than every other person? What do you have a passion for?, what do your parent do that you can develop and take has a career? What is lacking in this school, your area, your state or even in Nigeria that you can provide a solution for?, that is what education will do for you, it will open your mind to think better and make better decisions but it won’t bring Dollars and Pounds to your door step”

he concluded by showing the Academia that he his by referring us to the theory of management, he said: ” some of you are what we call the theory Y, in management theory, you will wait till you start losing, or scolded or ordered before you act and some of you are the theory X, pro-active, smart and sharp at the edges, no matter what, you all should decide and get your acts together because, no one will tell you this but the truth is Education is not Enough.”

Several years after this sermon and a lot of further acquisition of Education, this words are as real as it was spoken. Look around you, heaps of jobless graduates on the streets and more are been let loose every quarter of the year by the Nigerian Government after the compulsory one year youth service programme while those that have previously graduated are still under-employed or somewhere in Europe, Asia, America or The North Pole struggling to survive, I took a bike recently and the rider told me he is a graduate. “My guy, wetin man go do, man must survive” he consoled himself as we yarn.

I have friends who do white collar jobs and still find it difficult to live comfortably after spending three quarters of their present life getting Education. They work 9a.m – 6p.m and still struggle to pay bills, our engineers are cashiers, marketers and tellers in the banking hall, our chemist and micro-biologist are selling insurance and our Doctors after spending a decades to get their certificates are underpaid.

Discipline of study is not important anymore, Everyone just want a place to go to everyday. Something to call JOB, the pay isn’t much of a discussion, just employ me. Modernised slavery is the word. Let the capitalist hear this, we are making money for you treat us right…

Don’t get me wrong, and I am not a critic of Education, I won’t be able to write this if I wasn’t Educated and I know people who have made a lot of money from working after their Education, people build Schools and employ staffs, it helps reduce the jobless graduate on our street. I have met people who will always thank the idea of Education for what they have achieved in life but let’s compare the percentage to the number of people on the streets struggling.

All I am saying is, let’s re-visit the idea of Education, how can we better enforce, impact and absorb it, Education is necessary has a tool for general knowledge acquisition and human intellectual development but not a ticket to success and Wealth in its entity, it is a tool to be used to achieve a plan and not the plan itself.

Developed countries are already changing how Education is been impacted and absorbed, their society has realised the unique benefits of developing talents that is why they are at the forefront in sports, creativity and entertainment to list a few fields. Lets emulate them, at least that is what we did to absorb Education, lets copy them again and build a better future, a future based on talent development and entrepreneurship skills, a future where Education will be a tool that helps develop sustainable human capital and a better nation.

” The idea of Education should be, Get Education and use it to achieve this and that, not get Education and be this and that”. Oludare Afolabi.

Good advice

Good food for thought. We hear these things everyday, its application is what we need. God help us all.