₦airaland Forum

Day 6
Can wealth buy happiness

The age-old question of “Does money buy happiness?” has been the subject of extensive research with conflicting conclusions. Some studies claim that money stops making us happier after a certain point, while others suggest that happiness rises indefinitely with income.
Happiness is defined in two broad terms;
* Evaluative Happiness: A person’s overall life satisfaction when reflecting on their life as a whole.
* Experiential Happiness: The emotional quality of daily life, measured through moment-to-moment feelings of joy or stress.
Wealth can actually buy happiness
Money makes you more in control of your life, it makes us more confident, enables us to make more choices and to follow our ambitions. It provides a solid backup for rainy days.
Elimination of misery: Having money has proven to reduce stress, instead of spending hours cooking, you can simply sit in and order something nice for yourself while spending the time doing something worthwhile that will increase wealth. Wealth eliminates practical stresses (e.g., healthcare costs, housing instability), granting more control. Having a higher income, for example, can give access to homes in safer neighborhoods, better health care and nutrition, fulfilling work, and more leisure time.
Money reduces shame: There’s a shame that comes poverty, one cannot be responsible child, friend, spouse when one is poor. There is the perception that you are poor because you brought it upon yourself.
Money promotes our health: Being wealthy grants access to better health care facilities
Wealth makes you a better citizen; you pay more taxes that will be used for the economy, contribution to charities can also bring about self fulfilment that brings about our happiness.
Wealth gives us connections and access: As wealth is increasing so is the right connections to the high and mighty in the society, The political class always likes to curry the favour of the rich and powerful, the rich and powerful also needs the political class to make laws that will be in their favour to safeguard their wealth and interests.
However, if someone is chronically unhappy due to other factors (such as relationships or mental health), money rarely solves the problem.
It’s not that rich people don’t have problems,” Jachimowicz says, “but having money allows you to fix problems and resolve them more quickly.
None of this means that wealth is sufficient for happiness. A person with billions can still be lonely or purposeless. But to claim that wealth cannot buy happiness is to deny the very real ways money reduces suffering and expands possibility. For the billions of people still struggling to meet basic needs, more income would unquestionably improve their lives.

In conclusion, wealth can buy happiness because it buys the removal of stress, the freedom to choose, and the ability to invest in experiences and people. Happiness is not found in a bank balance, but wealth provides the conditions in which happiness can grow. When understood as a tool rather than a goal, money becomes one of the most effective means we have for building a good life.

DAY 5
Should celebrities be considered role models for young people’s .
Celebrities are among the most visible people in the public sphere in recent times, and as such a lot of young people look up to them for inspiration. Celebrities dominate modern culture, they are in theatre, music, football, influencing etc. But should they be seen as role models? No absolutely not, because a person is a talented singer, athlete or influencer does not make them a perfect role model for children. Popularity does not mean a person is found worthy in character.
Celebrities can inspire the youth, but raising them into role model status to be the moral compass is not ideal.
All humans are flawed and the failings of a celebrity can be misrepresented as the norm by the young and feeble mind. A celebrity who is a heavy smoker of cannabis and marijuana or a celebrity that has infidelity issues should not be raised high in the society as a role model.
The social media space is a curated space, the celebrities show what they want the audience to see, they do not show the world their low moments or moments of imperfections. The youth may be led to believe that the celebrity life is perfect and may want such for themselves not knowing that the celebrities do not show their inadequacies to the world they only show the high and flying times. High times like vacations, the luxury life, travel trips, and the high life. Young people may believe that is all to the celebrity lifestyle, and become angry and bitter with themselves if they can’t attain such in their life.
Celebrities are not trained to be life coaches or inspirational speakers, why then will they be viewed as role models when in fact they are not accountable to anyone, A wrong message does not attract strict consequences.
Some advocates of the idea of idolising celebrities may mention that they bring hope to the youth. But what message does the weed smoking Burna Boy in Nigeria has to pass on to the upcoming musician in the slum of ilorin?
Celebrities donate to charitable causes, donating to charities or having a non governmental organisation by Davido does not erase the damage his lewd songs has on the feeble minds of the adolescent.
Role models should be people who have good quality values, the values we want to impact on the younger generation; hard-work, diligence, integrity, honesty and respect. These are values we see everyday with our parents, teachers, friends in the community. These are people the youth are surrounded with, and a guide if going astray, the children see them around and can emulate and ask them questions Celebrities who are seen only on the internet and are not accessible to the average youth are not good role models.
Conclusively, celebrities are not bad people, they are just individuals who has risen to fame because of the nature of their profession, they do not necessarily posses the character or moral qualities to influence the young people positively.
Celebrities will influence the youth whether we like it or not, young people are on social media all the time and the celebrities are there with them. The youth can learn from their hard work, resilience and dedication to their craft. The proper thing to do for the youth is to balance the influence they have, celebrate the good they do, criticise the bad and guide in the right way.

Day 4

Should Artificial Intelligence (AI) Be Integrated into Secondary School Education?
A lot of debates have been going on about how to incorporate artificial intelligence into the school system. A lot of research is going on to determine the extent to which artificial intelligence will benefit and be used appropriately in classroom learning.
Every secondary school student should have the basic knowledge of artificial intelligence to keep abreast of current innovations around the world.
Artificial intelligence helps in personalized learning, individual learning experiences, the dedicated Ai knows the weaknesses of the students and their strengths, the Ai can help the student to improve on their week points and reinforce their strengths.
Artificial intelligence is available to everyone all over the world, this makes information readily available to both the teacher and the student.
Artificial intelligence will also assist teachers in the teaching and learning process, areas not covered in the conventional class will be available on a Ai.
Studies have shown that students learn better and faster with audiovisual which is available on Ai.
As much as Ai has all these amazing qualities, the extent of its application is the bane of contention.
Artificial intelligence is necessary in our secondary schools but it has to be monitored, students should not be given free access to Ai in classroom, the students run the risk of over relaying on Ai which can lead to brain rot, decline in critical thinking and the students not actually retaining what they are learning.
Another reason raised by the critics of Ai in our classroom is that it can encourage cheating in tests and exams. The students can easily access answers to questions to Their assessments on Ai and the teacher wouldn’t be aware that the students have cheated.
The accuracy of information supplied by Ai is not 100 percent accurate at all times.
The first point of call in the integration of Ai into the classroom is the teachers and administrators, the teachers need to be adequately trained for them to introduce it to their students.
Ai should be implemented in our secondary schools under strict teacher supervision, the students should not be left alone to wonder all over Ai to be able to control the content they are exposed to, and to guide them to the contents that are beneficial for them, Ai tools like ChatGPT, Claude etc are very good for learning.
There should be strict and clear guidelines regarding the use of Ai in the classroom. Offending students should be punished.
I support the use of Ai in our classroom, but under the direct supervision and guidance of the teachers and school

DAY 3
Should corporal punishment still be justified in secondary schools??

The use of Corporal punishment in secondary schools has been a cause of debate in recent times and the proponents of corporal punishment have argued that without correcting a student the students will be uncontrollable. I believe very strongly that correcting a student is beyond corporal punishment, correcting a student has to be in love and care and not out of spite or because it has to be passed down from generation to generation.
For those who do not understand what corporal punishment means, corporal punishment is the infliction of physical pain to a students body by the teachers or school administrators; corporal punishment presents itself in a number of ways which are not limited to; flogging with belt on any part of the body, slapping on the face, hitting the students with any available sometimes harmful objects all in the name of correction.
The dangers of corporal punishment are numerous, some of which are;
Severe physical/bodily injury: spanking or flogging a student has led to permanent injuries on a lot of students. A teacher wanting to use a belt on a child mistakenly using the belt on the eye and causing permanent eye damage, or beating a student and leaving scar marks on the body are examples of the disadvantages of corporal punishment in secondary schools.
Psychological abuse: The use of cane on students is a form of psychological abuse, a lot of teachers think corporal punishment should be passed down because they experienced it, the incoming generation should also experience it.
It is against the laws: A lot of countries have abolished corporal punishment in the school system and so using corporal punishment in a country where it is against the law is a crime in itself.
Most of the times, the punishment melted on the students do not fit the crime committed by the students, sometimes the students do not know the offense they are being punished for, so its injustice.
This is not to say that students should be left alone with guidance and monitoring, students need to be corrected, but not with canes and whips.
Some measures to ensure students stay in line and are model students are:
Counseling ; Every school there should be a counseling center where students are advised on proper behavior accepted in the school. This will guide the students in the right path.
Timeout: This involves giving the students time to think about his actions and how they affect others around them.
Positive reinforcement: positive reinforcement is rewarding good behavior, using positive reinforcement has achieved great results in the school settings, giving little things like candy to goo do students can encourage other students to put up good behavior.
Better student and teacher relationship: Building a good relationship with students will help in reducing bad behaviors in students, they wouldn’t want to let down their teacher who is their friend down.
Corporal punishment has no place in the modern school system and shouldn’t be used on a modern student in the 21st century.

DAY 2
Should Mobile phones be allowed in secondary school classrooms.

Mobile phones are a means of communication and the debate has been on for a while now on why mobile phones should be allowed in secondary schools. I will base my opinion on Nigerian secondary schools.
I will advocate guided use of mobile phones in the classroom, students use of mobile phones should have some restrictions, not unmonitored access.
Mobile phones are a major means of distraction to the students in the school instead of paying attention to their lessons they rather surf the internet laughing at TikTok’s videos.
Furthermore, social media also helps in examination malpractice, a lot of resources for examination preparation online are used for malpractice, instead of the students to prepare with the contents, they use the materials for cheating in the exams.
The use of mobile phones in classroom causes a lot of indiscipline and disrespect from the students to the teacher. They feel too big to listen to the teacher.
At the same time, mobile phones cannot be eradicated completely from our school systems. It should aid our work not hinder it. Teachers and students are to work in conjunction with technology to make learning more effective. The advantage of the usage of mobile phones far outweighs its disadvantages, some of the advantages of the use of mobile phones in the classroom are;
-Students use of mobile phones in class will make the lesson more real, they can see pictures and videos of the lesson being taught.
-Students can fact check the teachers lesson, errors made can be quickly corrected if the students are on the same page with the teacher
-Students use of mobile phones will make them more at par with their counterparts all over the world and they wouldn’t feel left behind.
I advocate for guided use of mobile phones in the classroom.
- The guided use of mobile phones in the classroom, not unmonitored access, only educational applications should be allowed on the phone so as to control what the students will have access to on the mobile phones.

- Maintain classroom policies and ensure that the students abide by the policies laid down by the beginning of the class. Policies like no use of mobile phones outside of the slotted time,
- Appropriate punishment should be melted out to students who err so as to deter other students from doing the same.
The use of mobile phones in secondary schools should not be outrightly banned, it should rather be monitored access for effective learning.

[How Teachers Can Maintain Classroom Discipline in the Age of Social Media and Technology”

Social media is a means of connecting and communicating to the world through the media.
The use of social media and technology in today’s classroom cannot be erased. We can’t ban the use of social media in today’s classroom, rather we have to learn how to adapt and cope with it and use it for our benefit. At the same time, we cannot leave our students to be completely dependent on social media without adequate guidance. There has to be a balance.
The modern teacher today is faced with how to maintain classroom discipline in the age of social media and technology. Students no longer listen 100% their attention is almost always on their phone so, to pay attention and listen to the teacher is proving quite difficult, As we know that social media is addictive prying children away from the screens to even eat is proving difficult not to talk of paying attention.
Today’s teacher has the responsibility to maintain and keep the students attentive irrespective of what’s happening. To make that happen, the teacher has to make the classroom interactive and engaging to capture the attention of the students. This first step is to have rules and regulations for the class and appropriate punishment for erring students. There should be time to use the social media and time for classroom activities. One should not take priority over the other.
We cannot shy away from the use of social media and technology we have to find a way to incorporate it into classroom learning. As the advantage of technology far outweighs the disadvantages. We only have to find a balance

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