PhysicsMHD:

You can't say "liberal arts" with as powerful a sneer and with as much derision in your voice as you can "arts."
That's probably the root of it all. Anyway "arts" is a more accurate term actually. Liberal arts actually included science in olden times.

Jenifa_:

do you mean liberal arts or fine arts?

Natasha,,:


I meant ARTS lol in Nigeria there's nothing like liberal arts if you are an art student it means you are a non science student and that's it. anyway fine art comes up on its own in the UNI i.e for someone who wants to be an artist (drawing , painting etc).

Atreides:

Never heard the term 'liberal arts' in my life.

Jenifa_:

lol.
anyway sha, thanks for the "naija parlance" 101
anymore naija speak I need to know?
[b]but what's the aversion to the use of the term "liberal arts" to cover what natasha is studying anyways? [/b]yea naija call it "arts" but it's still liberal arts. different slangs same definition. ain't it? or is there something else I need to know about this?

PhysicsMHD:

You can't say "liberal arts" with as powerful a sneer and with as much derision in your voice as you can "arts."
That's probably the root of it all. Anyway "arts" is a more accurate term actually. Liberal arts actually included science in olden times.

tensor777:

Lets not get too hung up on terminology but anyway in America Liberal Arts Colleges offer a broad range of courses including not just the arts but the pure science subjects as well like courses like maths, physics, chemistry and biology.

Not many students would welcome such a system in Nigeria as they do avoid the sciences and languages even though thse subjects are of crucial. importance

Natasha,,:


who told you it doesn't make sense? it depends i.e some one who wants to study a course like law should be an intelligent thinker with a very good sense of reasoning and posse

tensor777:

Anyway most of these students are not thinking of going on to university. The whole point of taking these subjects is just to negotiate the school system with the minimum of stress and aggro.
Be that as it may, I think the optional system backfired since as I say most students take the easy way out. Even more importantly the system DOES NEED to produce much more scientists and technicians than it is currently producing. So basically by eschewing subjects like physics and chemistry these students are being constrained in their choice of career after high school.

Jenifa_:


and the thing about expo/ cheating, it should be common sense that that is the result of lack of law enforcement. cheating will always exist yes. but the rate shouldn't be too high if an efficient system is in place.
in fact, when I took primary school common entrance exam, the moderators were reading the answers aloud to us!! talk about blame the system. by secondary school, level of moral was -100% people were leaving school by jumping over fences, cheating in exams were taken for granted. kinda like paying bribe at the airport. when there is no proper system in place, chaos will be the order of the day.

misaac:

After much thinking, I must say though that the problem does not start in secondary school. It starts at primary school. I recently had to learn more about the American Educational system, and the things Americans are taught in primary school, its incredible. The access to facilities, labs, etc its just wonderful. I'm not saying every American kid is this fortunate or that the American system is perfect, no system is.

misaac:

After much thinking, I must say though that the problem does not start in secondary school. It starts at primary school. I recently had to learn more about the American Educational system, and the things Americans are taught in primary school,  its incredible. The access to facilities, labs, etc its just wonderful. I'm not saying every American kid is this fortunate or that the American system is perfect, no system is.

fstranger1:


Some of us had the best education in Nigeria and we would not trade it for anything American.

After much thinking, I must say though that the problem does not start in secondary school. It starts at primary school. I recently had to learn more about the American Educational system, and the things Americans are taught in primary school,  its incredible. The access to facilities, labs, etc its just wonderful. I'm not saying every American kid is this fortunate or that the American system is perfect, no system is.

fstranger1:

^^^

Despite, we have produced a Nobel prize winner, produced Emeagwali, produced Nnaji, produced Okonjo Iweala and her husband, produced Chinua Achebe, produced lots and lots of professionals plying their trade in America including yours truly.

You can say whatever you want about Nigeria, until you get off you sorry azz and do something, you are just as guilty as the people you deride and criticize. Life must be really difficult for you. Sorry you went through a bad childhood.

Some of us had the best education in Nigeria and we would not trade it for anything American.

misaac:

I'm just wondering, is it totally right to say we have produced those guys? Are you sure these guys would be who they are now if they had not left Nigeria? If Nigeria was so good, why did they have to leave? Could it be because something was/is lacking?

In 1936, Achebe entered St Philips' Central School. Despite his protests, he spent a week in the religious class for young children, but was quickly moved to a higher class when the school's chaplain took note of his intelligence.[10] One teacher described him as the student with the best handwriting in class, and the best reading skills.[11] He also attended Sunday school every week and the special evangelical services held monthly, often carrying his father's bag. A controversy erupted at one such session, when apostates from the new church challenged the catechist about the tenets of Christianity. Achebe later included a scene from this incident in Things Fall Apart.[12][13]

At the age of twelve, Achebe moved away from his family to the village of Nekede, four kilometres from Owerri. He enrolled as a student at the Central School, where his older brother John taught.[14] In Nekede, Achebe gained an appreciation for Mbari, a traditional art form which seeks to invoke the gods' protection through symbolic sacrifices in the form of sculpture and collage.[15] When the time came to change to secondary school, in 1944, Achebe sat entrance examinations for and was accepted at both the prestigious Dennis Memorial Grammar School in Onitsha and the even more prestigious Government College in Umuahia.[16]

Modelled on the British public school, and funded by the colonial administration, Government College had been established in 1929 to educate Nigeria's future elite.[16] It had rigorous academic standards and was vigorously elitist, accepting boys purely on the basis of ability.[16] The language of the school was English, not only to develop proficiency but also to provide a common tongue for pupils from different Nigerian language groups.[17] Achebe described this later as being ordered to "put away their different mother tongues and communicate in the language of their colonisers".[18] The rule was strictly enforced and Achebe recalls that his first punishment was for asking another boy to pass the soap in Igbo.[17]

University
[b]In 1948, in preparation for independence, Nigeria's first university opened.[22] Known as University College, (now the University of Ibadan), it was an associate college of the University of London. [/b]Achebe obtained such high marks in the entrance examination that he was admitted as a Major Scholar in the university's first intake and given a bursary to study medicine.[22] After a year of grueling work, he changed to English, history, and theology.[23] Because he switched his field, however, he lost his scholarship and had to pay tuition fees. He received a government bursary, and his family also donated money – his older brother Augustine gave up money for a trip home from his job as a civil servant so Chinua could continue his studies.[24] From its inception, the university had a strong English faculty; it includes many famous writers amongst its alumni. These include Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, novelist Elechi Amadi, poet and playwright John Pepper Clark, and poet Christopher Okigbo.[25]
In 1950 Achebe wrote a piece for the University Herald entitled "Polar Undergraduate", his debut as an author. It used irony and humour to celebrate the intellectual vigour of his classmates.[26] He followed this with other essays and letters about philosophy and freedom in academia, some of which were published in another campus magazine, The Bug.[27] He served as the Herald's editor during the 1951–2 school year.[28]

While at the university, Achebe wrote his first short story, "In a Village Church", which combines details of life in rural Nigeria with Christian institutions and icons, a style which appears in many of his later works.[29] Other short stories he wrote during his time at Ibadan (including "The Old Order in Conflict with the New" and "Dead Men's Path" examine conflicts between tradition and modernity, with an eye toward dialogue and understanding on both sides.[30] When a professor named Geoffrey Parrinder arrived at the university to teach comparative religion, Achebe began to explore the fields of Christian history and African traditional religions.[31]

Education and personal life

Okonjo-Iweala is an Igbo[3] from Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State where her father Professor Chukuka Okonjo is the Obi, or King, from the Umu Obi Obahai Royal Family of Ogwashi-Ukwu.
Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was educated at Harvard University, graduating magna cumlaude with an A.B. in 1977, and earned her Ph.D. in regional economics and development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). [/b]She is married - her husband is from Umuahia, Abia State[4] - and they have four children. The eldest, Onyinye Iweala [b]received her Ph.D. in Experimental Pathology from Harvard University in 2008 and graduated Harvard Medical School in 2010. Her son, Uzodinma Iweala, is the author of the critically acclaimed novel Beasts of No Nation (2005).'

Emeagwali was born in Akure, Nigeria on 23 August 1954.[1] His early schooling was suspended in 1967 due to the Nigerian-Biafran war. When he turned fourteen, he served in the Biafran army. [b]After the war he completed a high-school equivalency through self-study. He travelled to the United States to study under a scholarship after taking a correspondence course at the University of London.[citation needed] He received a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Oregon State University in 1977. [/b]He worked as a civil engineer at the Bureau of Land Reclamation in Wyoming during this period

In 1940, after attending St. Peters Primary School, Soyinka went to Abẹokuta Grammar School, where he won several prizes for literary composition. In 1946 he was accepted by Government College in Ibadan, at that time one of Nigeria’s elite secondary schools. After the completion of his studies there, Soyinka moved to Lagos where he found employment as a clerk. During this time he wrote some radio plays and short stories that were broadcast on Nigerian radio stations. After finishing his course in 1952, he began studies at University College in Ibadan,connected with University of London. During this course he studied English literature, Greek, and Western history.

In the year 1953-1954, his second and last at University College, Ibadan, Soyinka commenced work on his first publication, a short radio broadcast for Nigerian Broadcasting Service National Programme called "Keffi's Birthday Threat," which was broadcast in July 1954 on Nigerian Radio Times. Whilst at university, Soyinka and six others founded the Pyrates Confraternity, the first confraternity in Nigeria.
Soyinka gives a detailed account of his early life in Aké: The Years of Childhood, which chronicles his experiences until about the age of ten.
[edit]Studies abroad and at home

Later in 1954 Soyinka relocated to England, where he continued his studies in English literature, under the supervision of his mentor Wilson Knight at the University of Leeds. He became acquainted then with a number of young, gifted British writers. Before defending his B.A., Soyinka successfully engaged in literary fiction, publishing several pieces of comedic nature. He also worked as an editor for The Eagle, an infrequent periodical of humorous character. In a page two column in The Eagle, he wrote commentaries on academic life, often stingingly criticizing his university peers. Well known for his sharp tongue, he is said to have courteously defended, affronted and insulted female colleagues.[citation needed]

Gani had his early education at Ansar-Ud-Deen Primary School, Iyemaja - Ondo from 1947 to 1953 and his secondary school education at Victory College Ikare, a Christian School from 1954 to 1958, [/b]under the leadership of the Late Rev. Akinrele where he sat for and passed his West African School Certificate Examination in 1958.


Law Student

Gani enrolled at the [b]Holborn College of Law- University of London to read law in 1961. While at University, his father died. He completed his academic degree in London with a measure of difficulty due to lack of funds. This involved doing various menial jobs in London.
While in college, he was popularly known as "Nation" because of his passionate interest in national, legal and political affairs. He was an avid reader of Daily Times and West African Pilot, the most popular newspapers in Nigeria at that time.
On June 11, 1993 Fawehinmi was awarded the biennial Bruno Kreisky Prize. This prize, named in honour of Bruno Kreisky, is awarded to international figures who advance human rights causes. In 1998, he received the International Bar Association's 'Bernard Simmons Award' in recognition of his human-rights and pro-democracy work. In 1994 he and some other notable Nigerians formed the National Conscience Party of Nigeria which exists till today and he stood for a presidential election in 2003 under the umbrella of the National Conscience Party.
Gani Fawehinmi was elevated to the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), the highest legal title in Nigeria in September, 2001.

misaac:

I'm just wondering, is it totally right to say we have produced those guys? Are you sure these guys would be who they are now if they had not left Nigeria? If Nigeria was so good, why did they have to leave? Could it be because something was/is lacking?