oluwadanie1:


okay boss, thanks very much. I'll search for it.

Please do. And do get as many of his books as possible.

kayusbrown:
The problem is not 'certificate' but what I term 'Education without a purpose'. Generally, the purpose of education is not to fill the mind of individuals with fact, but to teach them how to think! Solutions to problems are discovered through creative thinking and not memorization of fact. Knowledge for the sake of knowledge is pointless and that's what our educational system seems to encourage. What should be encouraged instead is acquisition of knowledge with its application in extreme focus. That is the only way education can be purposeful.

Let us examine Tertiary Education. In saner climes, every Tertiary Institution is established with a clear objective and such objective is usually geared towards solving a particular problem. That way, the institution will exist for a purpose and its continued existence will depend solely on fulfilling that purpose. But what do we have in Nigeria? Tertiary institutions existing for mudane reasons like Increasing Access, Federal Character etc. or how else do we explain the establishment of 12 more Federal Universities when existing ones are suffering from acute shortage of funds? What purpose will those 12 new ones serve? Perhaps adding to the number of teeming unemployable graduates churned out annually by old ones. We don't need more than 6 Universities (One in each geopolitical zone) if our attention is on quality and purpose as against quantity. As it is today, it is no secret that the combined useful research output of of MIT, Havard and Stanford (just 3 universities) in a year for instance, will be more than that of all our Federal Universities put together for same period. Isn't it therefore obvious that it is quality and sincerity of purpose that matters and not quantity?

We need a radical change and this is what I propose:
1. A state of emergency should be declared on Education.

2. At the tertiary level, Colleges of Education and Polytechnics should be scrapped and their structures merged with proximate Universities. We should only have one Conventional University in each geopolitical zone while the remaining Universities should be converted to Specialized Universities offering courses at two levels; associate degree (2years of undergraduate study) and bachelor's degree (4years of undergraduate study). Technical and Vocational programmes should be the focus at associate degree level.

3. The mandate of the six Conventional Universities should be purely Research and Development. The Specialized Universities should focus on training of highly skilled manpower while also carrying out research focused mainly on solving problems in their respective constituencies.

4. The Federal government should stop subsidizing tuition fees for bachelor's degree programmes. Such funds should be diverted to funding of Technical and Vocational Education at associate degree level in the new specialized Universities.

5. Vocational Centres, under the mentorship of the Specialized Universities, should be established in each Local Government area to absorb Secondary School Leavers who may not be interested in pursuing an associate or bachelor's degree.

6. Broad subjects such as Physics, Commerce, Government etc. should be de-emphasized in Secondary Schools and substituted with narrow subjects such as Basic Technology, Book Keeping, Civic Education etc.

7. Primary Education should be fully funded, made free and compulsory.

Six conventional universities?

That's rather hilarious, don't you think? Every single person will want to go to those six universities. Leaving the others begging for candidates. Also, there is nothing like de-emphasizing broad subjects, like physics. We are not the only ones that do physics in secondary school. Basic technology is NOT physics at all. I find the subject rather useless in fact.

All in all, I do not want the current system to change. It us perfectly normal. What is abnormal is the mindset behind. When you say research, it is something individuals have passion for. You can't just give people money and tell them to "research."
They first need purpose and proper mindset. With the right mindset, without the existence of universities, Socrates, eratosthenes, Plato, Aristotle, Fibonacci, imohtep and countless others excelled in academics and research. During newton's time, the university system wasn't as described by you. Yet him, de Fermat, pascal, toscallini, Colombus(uneducated), Descartes, and countless others, contributed immensely.
And in fact. In that time. The behaviour of the government towards them was hundred times worse than now. Imagine if you were actually persecuted for scientific achievement, instead of ignored?

All of this is why I maintain that the structure is good. It is the mindset with which we operate it that is lacking.

butanep:



Those courses are skills on their own. They are courses naturally built with practical skills.

But so unfortunate that in Nigeria, you are only taught the theoretical aspect except for medicine. The practical aspect is left for you to learn in whatever way you need to... So bad.

exactly.
They are taught the theoretical aspect. This is always a limiting factor.

Very reasonable,if we read to understand,we will pass the exams,not only that,we will remember what we read and can make use of the knowlegde we gained in real life situations

professore:
Very reasonable,if we read to understand,we will pass the exams,not only that,we will remember what we read and can make use of the knowlegde we gained in real life situations

And that's when we have truly studied.

I see, I see, I see.;

Entrepreneurs ruling the world come 2019...

Too much emphasis is being laid on paper-certificate and it doesn't seems to stop anytime soon. Sometimes i always wonder what's next after the four walls of the university and i have come to realise that through my previous two sessions in school, the most common statement from the lecturers will be "it may come out in your exams", such statements will only set the students' mind on passing the exam and leaving the course behind. I feel if every student can be compelled to take a course in a vocational centre as one of the criteria of gaining university admission, it would further open the mind and inner eyes of the student because a certificate doesn't prepare us for the outside world.

I remember when i was in school,with the excitement of gaining admission,i got a big dissappointment.
Every lecture was just too boring and i felt absolutely nothing for the schooling system.During lecture periods i will always ask myself;"what am i doing here","was i really meant for these lecture-assignment-test-exam madness procedure just for a certificate?,is this it?"
I felt total emptiness and i knew there was something missing in me.
My advice to anybody would be;seek fulfillment then go for the necessary education to achieve it.

Dcmg2:
I remember when i was in school,with the excitement of gaining admission,i got a big dissappointment.
Every lecture was just too boring and i felt absolutely nothing for the schooling system.During lecture periods i will always ask myself;"what am i doing here","was i really meant for these lecture-assignment-test-exam madness procedure just for a certificate?,is this it?"
I felt total emptiness and i knew there was something missing in me.
My advice to anybody would be;seek fulfillment then go for the necessary education to achieve it.

The mostly boring and arrogant lectures are still products of the weak and ineffective system! What did you expect?

Life's all about pursuing one's passion and dream.

Summarily, don't go academically only also invest in self or personal development.

Kazrem:
Summarily, don't go academically only also invest in self or personal development.

Don't limit your education to mere academics. Learn everything. Don't study for the sole purpose of acquiring a degree......be educated....

ceecee0703:


how many footballers,musicians, actors etc are university graduates.
The core thing is for every child to attain basic education which is primary school to Js 3.
Our society teaches us to neglect skills and passion and embrace full education till university. thats why we hav alot of dependents, job seekers with paper qualification bt no passion or skill cos d society made it so and d unready university didnt help

I agree with you, I don't see our school system as befitting for even basic education. I can do a better job educating my kids. My goal is to get them doing what they want as early as possible.

Well said and your points resonates home. I think the entire Nigerian students need to read this and change their orientation for the better. Our parents and society sold this ideas to us. Though, it worked for them during their time but unfortunately the world has changed and we need to flow with the tide. Thanks for this piece, let him that has ears hear...
#I_♥_Education

o FUTO I hail thee

If we read to understand,we will pass our exam,remember what we read even after the exams,and we will be ale to make use of the knowledge gained in real life situations

MattChidi:
Well said and your points resonates home. I think the entire Nigerian students need to read this and change their orientation for the better. Our parents and society sold this ideas to us. Though, it worked for them during their time but unfortunately the world has changed and we need to flow with the tide. Thanks for this piece, let him that has ears hear...
#I_♥_Education

This shows that change is inevitable if we are to progress as a nation. Too much emphasis on paper qualification has been our major problem. Many people are just getting certificates, bsc ,MSC,PhD etc without any positive contribution to the society. This even reminded me of one of my lecturers ,whose teaching methodology never change after obtaining PhD. This craving for certificates need to change as there are so many loopholes in our educational system. people are using shortcuts to beat the system- many are not really educated.

dearpreye:


Thanks bro. I'm also done with them. Had to suspend my personal development books for a short while, though I still occasionally peep into them. They've formed a part of my life.

Bro, I would appreciate if you can share some of your personal development books with me, so that I can get a copy on my own. Though having been reading some develop books, but I will like to read some of those books you have read so as to broaden my knowledge and develop myself personally. Thanks

francizy:
I still maintain that skills does it all. Education to me is just a plus. Academic learning without skills to back it up, does little to elevate one especially in a difficult country like ours.

If I had known how much skills are worth, how much people make for doing what they love doing rather than what the society wants from them, I'd have studied either Fine Arts, Architecture or Industrial Design. Because these are courses laced with real time practice whether in an advanced country or a country like ours. I used to be very good at reproducing pictures with pencil. Now I would have probable made millions doing my own thing order than banking on the dy/dx and strength of materials the university taught me.

My children will all be enrolled in one training school or the other from their JSS1 (based on the orientation given to them and based on what they choose to learn) and whenever they are on long break. As their dad, I will make sure they balance these skills perfectly well with academics.

Don't get me wrong tho, education is great but the best thing to do for a child is teaching that kid how to make it in life. Apparently, our educational system teaches one how to be dependent and that is why we have hundreds of thousands of job seekers out there.

Now we emphasize on how important education is and then push all our kids to school. Some of them excel in their academics and we love, cherish and shower them with gifts while we despise those ones who don't perform well in school. We've never asked ourseleves questions like, what if the ones taking first position lacks the practical prowess and ability to get things done while the supposed "dull" one might be a practical guru and his brains tend to pick up moving objects better than stories on text books?

This is good

acorntree:

This shows that change is inevitable if we are to progress as a nation. Too much emphasis on paper qualification has been our major problem. Many people are just getting certificates, bsc ,MSC,PhD etc without any positive contribution to the society. This even reminded me of one of my lecturers ,whose teaching methodology never change after obtaining PhD. This craving for certificates need to change as there are so many loopholes in our educational system. people are using shortcuts to beat the system- many are not really educated.

Hmmm....If my degree cannot impact my environment or society, it's a waste of time and effort. This lack of positive impact from graduates is the biggest issue I have with certificate conscous system. What's the use of certificates if we can't use them to better our society? Life's more than money; life's all about impacting our generations.

dpacesetter:

Bro, I would appreciate if you can share some of your personal development books with me, so that I can get a copy on my own. Though having been reading some develop books, but I will like to read some of those books you have read so as to broaden my knowledge and develop myself personally. Thanks

I'll be more than glad to share them.

Try and get all of Jim Rohn books.

Also get some of Wayne Dyer books.

Darren Hardy books will do.

Just read biographies of great men.....

Everything you mentioned here are good points. But they are still in the context of an all round education

francizy:
I still maintain that skills does it all. Education to me is just a plus. Academic learning without skills to back it up, does little to elevate one especially in a difficult country like ours.

If I had known how much skills are worth, how much people make for doing what they love doing rather than what the society wants from them, I'd have studied either Fine Arts, Architecture or Industrial Design. Because these are courses laced with real time practice whether in an advanced country or a country like ours. I used to be very good at reproducing pictures with pencil. Now I would have probable made millions doing my own thing order than banking on the dy/dx and strength of materials the university taught me.

My children will all be enrolled in one training school or the other from their JSS1 (based on the orientation given to them and based on what they choose to learn) and whenever they are on long break. As their dad, I will make sure they balance these skills perfectly well with academics.

Don't get me wrong tho, education is great but the best thing to do for a child is teaching that kid how to make it in life. Apparently, our educational system teaches one how to be dependent and that is why we have hundreds of thousands of job seekers out there.

Now we emphasize on how important education is and then push all our kids to school. Some of them excel in their academics and we love, cherish and shower them with gifts while we despise those ones who don't perform well in school. We've never asked ourseleves questions like, what if the ones taking first position lacks the practical prowess and ability to get things done while the supposed "dull" one might be a practical guru and his brains tend to pick up moving objects better than stories on text books?

mapet:
Everything you mentioned here are good points. But they are still in the context of an all round education

True that. I think I should rather have differentiated between a read-only based education (theory) and a practical based education.

I discuss this with a friend. We spent over 20 years of our life going to school. To do what? Learn. The system need knowledgable, experience and creative people. We are to acquire formal knowledge in school.

In Nigeria context: its all about the Certificate. I told my friend, certificate is easy to acquire, only if student focus on acquiring the knowledge.

Nigeria would be better off, if we have more knowledgable men than Paper carriers

dearpreye........thanks man

Teempakguy:


Six conventional universities?

That's rather hilarious, don't you think? Every single person will want to go to those six universities. Leaving the others begging for candidates. Also, there is nothing like de-emphasizing broad subjects, like physics. We are not the only ones that do physics in secondary school. Basic technology is NOT physics at all. I find the subject rather useless in fact.

All in all, I do not want the current system to change. It us perfectly normal. What is abnormal is the mindset behind. When you say research, it is something individuals have passion for. You can't just give people money and tell them to "research."
They first need purpose and proper mindset. With the right mindset, without the existence of universities, Socrates, eratosthenes, Plato, Aristotle, Fibonacci, imohtep and countless others excelled in academics and research. During newton's time, the university system wasn't as described by you. Yet him, de Fermat, pascal, toscallini, Colombus(uneducated), Descartes, and countless others, contributed immensely.
And in fact. In that time. The behaviour of the government towards them was hundred times worse than now. Imagine if you were actually persecuted for scientific achievement, instead of ignored?

All of this is why I maintain that the structure is good. It is the mindset with which we operate it that is lacking.

I agree there is a mindset problem but the system/structure as it is and its philosophy encourage the lazy mindset. The best way to change people's mindset is to create a system that leaves them with no choice if they must fit in. My proposition aims at shifting our educational philosophy from 'Knowing' to 'Doing'.

You raised a very important issue about the proposed 6 conventional universities. The idea is to make them mainly postgraduate universities with few undergraduate courses just to allow the tutelage of young aspiring professors. Yes there will be a mad rush for these universities but measures will be put in place to admit only the best. Almost every American High School graduate aspire to study at MIT, Havard and Stanford but only a fraction gets there. There are hurdles to be crossed; finance, academic grades, skills etc. There will be limited merit-based scholarship award for the best students. Tuition fee and other charges will be reintroduced. Quality Education is not cheap. While the conventional universities offer courses like Mechanical Engineering, the specialised universities will offer its area of specialisation like Automobile Engineering, Aeronautical Engineering etc. There are so many details of the plan I can't possibly explain here.

On the issue of physics, chemistry etc., they'll still be offered in our secondary schools but instead of having just Science, Commercial and Arts departments at the senior secondary level, there will be modifications/additions to produce departments like Technology, Creative Arts etc. that will teach vocational subjects so that secondary school leavers will have a sense of direction or career path after graduation.

well said...

francizy:
Skills does it all!!!

what a good write up!

olaexcel2008:
what a good write up!

Thanks, man. Let's keep doing our little bits.

kayusbrown:



I agree there is a mindset problem but the system/structure as it is and its philosophy encourage the lazy mindset. The best way to change people's mindset is to create a system that leaves them with no choice if they must fit in. My proposition aims at shifting our educational philosophy from 'Knowing' to 'Doing'.

You raised a very important issue about the proposed 6 conventional universities. The idea is to make them mainly postgraduate universities with few undergraduate courses just to allow the tutelage of young aspiring professors. Yes there will be a mad rush for these universities but measures will be put in place to admit only the best. Almost every American High School graduate aspire to study at MIT, Havard and Stanford but only a fraction gets there. There are hurdles to be crossed; finance, academic grades, skills etc. There will be limited merit-based scholarship award for the best students. Tuition fee and other charges will be reintroduced. Quality Education is not cheap. While the conventional universities offer courses like Mechanical Engineering, the specialised universities will offer its area of specialisation like Automobile Engineering, Aeronautical Engineering etc. There are so many details of the plan I can't possibly explain here.

On the issue of physics, chemistry etc., they'll still be offered in our secondary schools but instead of having just Science, Commercial and Arts departments at the senior secondary level, there will be modifications/additions to produce departments like Technology, Creative Arts etc. that will teach vocational subjects so that secondary school leavers will have a sense of direction or career path after graduation.

I understand you.
However, I wish to state that this has to be a two way thing. If the system is to be revamped, then there should be a change in the way of thinking. Harvard and most other ivy league schools are actually private institutions.

So, while I am totally in agreement with this, I want it to be be added, a country wide change in mindset. Or people might just keep on buying their way into these universities.

That is by the way. I think you and I both know that your plans for the government as stated above may not be realized in this decade. So, why don't we use what we have NOW?

Teempakguy:
I understand you.
However, I wish to state that this has to be a two way thing. If the system is to be revamped, then there should be a change in the way of thinking. Harvard and most other ivy league schools are actually private institutions.

So, while I am totally in agreement with this, I want it to be be added, a country wide change in mindset. Or people might just keep on buying their way into these universities.

That is by the way. I think you and I both know that your plans for the government as stated above may not be realized in this decade. So, why don't we use what we have NOW?

What do we have now?