₦airaland Forum

Are you for real; 1.5 naira per word; do you know what it implies? It doesn't measure at all...

CATCH MY DRIFT
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination was in three weeks’ time and teaching for the SS3 students wasn’t really tedious any longer; the students were given more time to revise and engage in group studies. However, SS3B students were still active in their noise making and Dolapo, as well as the twins, were still championing the campaign. Those that desired to study had to go to the library to study else the gyration in the class would distract them from attaining anything tangible. Dolapo and his crew were indeed fortunate to have been paying attention and closely observing the gestures of each and every teacher that came to the class to teach even though their motives had always been to mimic the teachers when they must have left the class.
Their dispositions and intentions helped them to understand the topics that were explained during the revision periods as they listened attentively to what each subject teacher revised with them. They were very sharp and brilliant and they could catch what was taught and how the teacher was teaching. They were thus average students and often times those that claimed to be studious had lower grades than them. They only had slight issues with the mathematics teacher whose teaching was boring and tiresome.
The form master of SS3B Mr. Dele came late to the class to take the record of the students’ attendance. He was disappointed as he entered the class and saw some of the students chatting away as they sat in groups and others sleeping. The class looked scanty thus some seats were empty; he suspected that some students must have gone to the library to study.
“What are you guys doing there?” Mr. Dele asked as he entered the class.
“Group studies Sir.” Dolapo muttered.
“I don’t see what you’re doing to be group studies but group chatting; do you know your SSCE examination is just a week away?”
“Three weeks Sir to be precise.” Cecilia muttered.
“Even though it's three weeks; do you think there’s still time to chat away? No time is too early or late to study and no amount of studies can be satisfactory or enough. Education often makes us seem insufficient, you can never acquire all; as such it humbles you when you realize that it's never enough; there's no time in our being when we stop learning and in your existence as students when you should stop reading especially at this moment. Everything you study at this moment of your life matters; your brain at this stage is not preoccupied with mundane things and responsibilities so you ought to load it with academic work. Now is the time to build yourself, widen your horizon and scope, expand your vocabulary and project your vision through useful production and activities. There’s nothing good that can come out of noise making when you're not a journalist yet. And even if you want to become a journalist, you have to start building yourselves now and enjoy reading.”
“Dolapo, go to the library and call those students that are not in the class.” Dolapo stood up and left the class.
“If you start building yourselves up early enough, a time will come that people will respect you for being eloquent and outspoken; they will be intimidated and afraid of you for being confident. However, if you fail to acquire the necessary knowledge now, you'll become timid and defensive in the nearest future and you won’t like yourself for being that way; that's what makes good and kind people become aggressive and suspicious; they will see the world around them to be intimidating and will be angry with the world and the people in it for not being considerate and accommodating. You won’t be given any space; you just have to endure being relegated. People can sympathize but it won’t be long; nobody will understand that you don’t know when you ought to know. People don’t tolerate mediocre minds for long, the world wants you to always offer something and if there is nothing there for you to offer, you will be discarded and left alone with little or no penny.”
He went outside and peeped at the staff room to see what was happening there; the teachers seemed to be waiting for a meeting. He came back to the class.
“People will encourage you that there is no age too late for you to learn; I won’t deny that, but there’s a stage that you ought to have some fundamental and basic knowledge else you will be classified as myopic and incompetent. At that stage, when others are progressing and perfecting themselves to be better than average, you will have to withdraw and try to catch up as such you will always be behind which could be the genesis of your poverty story. You are open to learning from experience, but different people interpret different things and the way you interpret events around you determines the impact it'll have on you. People that have acquired functional and quality skills will take more from life as they'll see opportunities in all occurrences around them. Whereas if you waste your time and ignored the basic and fundamental skills needed to be acquired, you'll always be overwhelmed with fear and guilt when experience pounces on you and you'll be blind to opportunities.”
Mr. Dele signaled Dolapo and all the students that went to the library to study to come inside the class as they had been waiting at the door and seeking permission to come in.
“You guys have to have a quiet moment for yourselves and figure out what you really want to make out of your life; anticipation and expectation had succeeded in making life short; you'll think that there’s enough time available as you’ve been deceived to assume that you can attempt all the possibilities around you; but the moment you engage yourself in one endeavour and should that one become unsuitable for your person someday, you’ve wasted a better part of your life. When you find yourself, you'll have to start afresh when others are perfecting themselves. People will tell you that no knowledge is wasted but what will be the use for it when you're not proud of it and don’t appreciate it. People can only know the stuff you're made of from your composure.”
“So how do you choose your career? Before I answer that, I would like to know the career choice of each and every one of you in this class. So we'll start from those sitting at the right corner of the back seat.”
Dolapo ‘engineer’; Cecilia ‘medical doctor’; Tope ‘police man’ and everybody laughed when Tope said he wanted to become a police man.
Tunde ‘prophet and musician’ “Fuji” everybody shouted and they laughed. Chide ‘engineer’; Wale ‘engineer’; Akin ‘pilot’; Adeleke ‘medical doctor’; Yinka ‘medical doctor’; before Kolawole would speak; Tope said ‘die’ and the class burst into laughter. Tope was fortunate that Mr. Ola didn’t understand what he said. Kolawole ‘mechanized farmer’; Bisi ‘biochemist’; … Deborah ‘scientist’; Funmi ‘I don’t know Sir; I haven’t figured it out yet.”
Mr. Dele was surprised to hear Funmi who was completing her secondary school education said that. “What are you waiting for that you're yet to figure it out?”
Funmi was ashamed and didn’t know how to appropriately answer the question Mr. Dele asked. “I don’t know sir.”
“Didn’t you write Jamb?”
“I wrote sir.”
“Which course did you choose?”
“I chose electrical electronic engineering.”
“Then why did you say you don’t know the career you’ll love to become in future?”
“I'm not sure if that's what I want; I chose it because my Dad is my model and wants me to study what he studied in the university.”
Mr. Dele didn’t want to go further in interrogating her; he understood that she was becoming embarrassed and he wouldn’t want her to become uncomfortable in the class as some of the students were laughing.
“Okay, you guys made wonderful choices and unfortunately I didn’t hear any of you saying he or she aspires to be like me; do you want schools to lack teachers since none of you will like to teach? Anyway, I would want you to ask yourselves these questions: what am I very good at doing? What do I find ease doing amidst commotion, distraction, and tension? What do I do effortlessly? What do I find fulfillment in delivering and why do I want people to identify me with a particular kind of creativity? Why do I want the world to respect me as this particular person with this single talent which I would love to show the world? What do I want to do that would make me feel on top of the world? What kind of service do I want to render to humanity that is gainful to me and nourishing to my soul? What do I indulge myself in that time, energy and space are never limiting factors? You ought to ask yourselves all these questions before pursuing a career. Most times you would want to consider the financial independence, prestige, portfolio and concerns from your family members, peers and mentors before choosing a career at the expense of the inner force that really pushes you; you may at the same time find yourselves in these preferred choices at a point in the career even though you didn’t initially desire it. However, before you choose a career, you ought to listen attentively to your inner self, understand what really motivates and drives you; security doesn’t necessarily have a place at the initial discernment; what you consider is the little spark of fulfillment and the undying conviction even as odds and criticism seem to prevail. The world is a balance pedestrian and reserves a space for every kind of creativity; your duty is to find yourself and place in it or be lost.”
Funmi raised her hand to ask a question; Mr. Dele seeing her hand gave her an audience.
“What if you don’t really have a talent and you don’t really desire any particular field, can you follow anyone your guardian suggests for you?”
“Not having a particular drive for something means you can fit into all aspects; but is that possible? I don’t think so. It is just like knowing your ability and choosing whether to be in science, social science, art or commercial class; you can know the force that pushes you from your likes and dislikes, competence, efficiency and even determination since you can’t achieve anything worthwhile without giving all to it. Any endeavour you project a vision inside can be your career; with the vision which is yours to see, there would be persistence, consistent improvement, relentless effort, and self-motivation. Often times you don’t need to acquire extensive knowledge to exhibit your talent, you don’t need to endure the rigorous training in music, art, dancing, even in some professional fields to perform them efficiently; you'll discover that it's innate and you just need a little guidance.”
“Excuse me sir” Dolapo raised his hand.
“Yes,” Mr. Dele gave him an audience.
“What of those that have dreams to become footballers and superstar musicians and end up wasting their time training or going for auditioning and yet do not succeed, are they living unfulfilled lives?”
“Is the primary source of fulfillment in an endeavour being self-sufficient to provide you with financial security? Then you can as well choose any career and be fulfilled if there’s money to be made in it. People are professional footballers and musicians thus they earn a means of sustenance from it but you still see them investing in other businesses to ensure security. You can play football or sing for pleasure and fulfillment, and acquire a good degree and get a job for security; you're achieving the same thing with the professional footballer only in different ways. At times you ought to have a contingency plan since dreams can become futile too; education is all encompassing, and it cuts across every sphere of life; you ought to find your dreams or associate your dreams to one of the fields education provides; you can never lose when you have a dream and you’re sufficiently educated. However, there is always a way to go about your dreams if you pay close attention and dedicated yourself totally to it. And you don’t have to seek assurance from the world to determine your fulfillment else you won’t be fulfilled.”
“What if your parents don’t support the career you’ve chosen?” Chide asked.
“Then you give them a reason to, through your output; at times your parents want to be sure that you know what you want and you’re not being pushed by youthful exuberance. You may not discover yourself fully now since you’re vibrant and agile thus having many fantasies but I assure you that you'll discover yourself in time; don’t worry, your parents will support you when the time comes, when they see the glaring prospect.” He smiled as he looked at their faces. “Enough of this dream and vision stuff let me take your attendance; we're supposed to have a meeting in the staff room with the principal.”
He took the attendance of the students in the class and he arranged his register which was almost worn-out. “Please, you have to read and prepare yourselves for the challenging task ahead. You don’t have to wait for tomorrow to begin to read, begin now as I’m leaving the class.” He took a deep breath. “There’s nothing as good and fulfilling as being paid and appreciated for doing what you love doing. Have a nice day.”
Mr. Dele left the class and Dolapo stood up and walked to the front of the class. He took the chalk and wrote on the blackboard. “A word is enough for the wise; back out noise makers and allow me to focus!”
“Why do people hate themselves like this; people are often not privileged to know who their enemies are but you're fortunate to know yours.” Tunde gushed.
“Who could this Dolapo’s enemy be, prophet Tunde?” Tope asked.
“Dolapo should look in the mirror.” Tunde said amusingly.
Everybody in the class laughed and Dolapo was dumbfounded. “Tunde got you big time today.” Cecilia laughed as Dolapo came back to his seat.
Call 08036988784 for the full novel.