This current trend of "find a skill" "get a skill" "Certificate is useless" etc, just shows how deluded our educational system is.
There are two paths to Professionalism;
1. Educational Advancement
2. Skill building.

You're going to school because you've chosen the path of "Education Advancement" therefore I see no reason why you need to borrow a skill to survive in this failed state, your course of study should be sufficient for you to succeed in life, if you've been given a wrong course, simply drop it and resit jamb.
You mustn't "Borrow a skill" totally different or unrelated from your course of study, that's pure confusion and the height of Educational backwardness in this failed state.
If you have the need to search for, and borrow a course after graduating and getting a degree: it means you wasted your life in University

If you aren't interested in school, enroll in a skill acquisition center while your mates enroll in university, don't sheepishly follow them to university then when y'all graduate, you sheepishly go back to a skill acquisition center – that's the worst move a graduate can make!

In addition; You shouldn't be running around in circles, pick a course to study in University which alligns with your talents and ambition so you don't have to graduate, burn your certificate then go back to skill acquisition!

THe government should encourage skill acquisition guide courses in secondary education and make students know that university Education and skill acquisition are similar, therefore no need doing the two when you can pick one from the beginning.

FINALLY; If you graduate from University then go back to "borrow a skill", you are a confused entity!

Lalasticlala studied political science
Boss lala am I right?

Even Seun...

And even Mynd44

So what are you saying bro.
You want to chop ban for 600 years?


Nice points tho.
What is the use of going to university and still get extra skills not related to your course of study?

Tendencies of a failed educational system!

Well detailed write-up OP.
Truth is, when most of my friends(both graduates and undergraduates) so much emphasize on the need to become an entrepreneur and create employment, I only see this type of conversation as talks from an unenlightened/confused fellow.

We need to understand that Skills acquisition and Education are two different parts which leads to same ends(self accomplishment).

Am not saying Skills Acquisition is bad, but why waste so much money and years in the university only to turn back and start learning skills again. Better to choose one from the onset and master any of the choosen career.

No matter how bad the economy might be, those who have gained enough mastery in their field of study will live and not just survive the economy.

oscarsam:
Well detailed write-up OP.
Truth is, when most of my friends(both graduates and undergraduates) so much emphasize on the need to become an entrepreneur and create employment, I only see this type of conversation as talks from an unenlightened/confused fellow.

We need to understand that Skills acquisition and Education are two different parts which leads to same ends(self accomplishment).

Am not saying Skills Acquisition is bad, but why waste so much money and years in the university only to turn back and start learning skills again. Better to choose one from the onset and master any of the choosen career.

No matter how bad the economy might be, those who have gained enough mastery in their field of study will live and not just survive the economy.

What skill are you referring to?

Is it Vulcanizing, Catering, hairdressing, Sewing, Carpentry, Plumbing etc, as compared to mental and research oriented skills like quantum mechanics, data processing, medicine, law, education, architecture, etc?

superlightning:


What skill are you referring to?

Is it Vulcanizing, Catering, hairdressing, Sewing, Carpentry, Plumbing etc, as compared to mental and research oriented skills like quantum mechanics, data processing, medicine, law, education, architecture, etc?

They are different path guy.
We have professional plumbers even caterers.
We all cannot be Medical doctors or Engineers.
When most of these graduates still go back to something they swore never to do. That years in the University+ NYSC+ years looking for job would have been put into acquiring a skill and become a better person. Well, most graduates fantasize about White collar job and face a rude shock.
I have always said it that if you want a tertiary education, do it with a plan.do not study just " any course".
Something that cannot be applied almost immediately in our environment is not worth studying in the University.

superlightning:


What skill are you referring to?

Is it Vulcanizing, Catering, hairdressing, Sewing, Carpentry, Plumbing etc, as compared to mental and research oriented skills like quantum mechanics, data processing, medicine, law, education, architecture, etc?

The first set of skills you mentioned are quite learnable outside the four walls of High institutions and does not require degree certifications to commence production.

While the second set of skills are professional courses obtainable from High Institutions.

Was referring to the former set of skills.

Ahumanbeing:
This current trend of "find a skill" "get a skill" "Certificate is useless" etc, just shows how deluded our educational system is.
There are two paths to Professionalism;
1. Educational Advancement
2. Skill building.

You're going to school because you've chosen the path of "Education Advancement" therefore I see no reason why you need to borrow a skill to survive in this failed state, your course of study should be sufficient for you to succeed in life, if you've been given a wrong course, simply drop it and resit jamb.
You mustn't "Borrow a skill" totally different or unrelated from your course of study, that's pure confusion and the height of Educational backwardness in this failed state.
If you have the need to search for, and borrow a course after graduating and getting a degree: it means you wasted your life in University

If you aren't interested in school, enroll in a skill acquisition center while your mates enroll in university, don't sheepishly follow them to university then when y'all graduate, you sheepishly go back to a skill acquisition center – that's the worst move a graduate can make!

In addition; You shouldn't be running around in circles, pick a course to study in University which alligns with your talents and ambition so you don't have to graduate, burn your certificate then go back to skill acquisition!

THe government should encourage skill acquisition guide courses in secondary education and make students know that university Education and skill acquisition are similar, therefore no need doing the two when you can pick one from the beginning.

FINALLY; If you graduate from University then go back to "borrow a skill", you are a confused entity!

Dear OP truely the level of educational backwardness in our country is alarming, reasons for this write up of yours. You should should also know that those skills are part of education, let me shock you, skills you call informal are very much taught in the universities.

Recently president Donald Trump signed a law that will require companies employ graduates with skills above degree certificate, google it.

Nigeria graduate are unemployed mostly not because there are no jobs, but because they do not have the required skills needed for the job. Do not think that the garbage lecturers give you in Nigeria universities is enough, they do that because even them do not have the required skills.

In what ever discipline you choose in school, there is a skill attached to it, learn it and do well to add others not related to you area of study, your company might decide to switch you to other dept, and i tell you, you really need those skills.

superlightning:


What skill are you referring to?

Is it Vulcanizing, Catering, hairdressing, Sewing, Carpentry, Plumbing etc, as compared to mental and research oriented skills like quantum mechanics, data processing, medicine, law, education, architecture, etc?

Don't mind them, by the time they are out of school, they will know why it is important to learn a skill.

samuelpeters:

They are different path guy.
We have professional plumbers even caterers.
We all cannot be Medical doctors or Engineers.
When most of these graduates still go back to something they swore never to do. That years in the University+ NYSC+ years looking for job would have been put into acquiring a skill and become a better person. Well, most graduates fantasize about White collar job and face a rude shock.
I have always said it that if you want a tertiary education, do it with a plan.do not study just " any course".
Something that cannot be applied almost immediately in our environment is not worth studying in the University.

It is not necessarily wrong for people to switch careers or skill (per se). This is because a lot of them were not able to find or discover their selves ON TIME. They later realize that they cannot cope with the present career or skill they have acquired, so they seek vocational guidance from the professionals who counsel them into discovering what they REALLY want and can thrive on.

It really isn't a waste of time if the new found career and old one goes with their personality traits. There are various theories to this - John holland theory, Social system theory, etc....

Saintinoo:

Don't mind them by the time they are out of school, they will know why it is important to learn a skill.

If you have this mentality, why do you need to go to school or why do you encourage people to go to school?
If you studied the right thing and were properly guided, you don't need to "borrow" a skill to earn a living.

superlightning:


It is not necessarily wrong for people to switch careers or skill (per se). This is because a lot of them were not able to find or discover their selves ON TIME. They later realize that they cannot cope with the present career or skill they have acquired, so they seek vocational guidance from the professionals who counsel them into discovering what they REALLY want and can thrive on.

It really isn't a waste of time if the new found career and old one goes with their personality traits. There are various theories to this - John holland theory, Social system theory, etc....

Exactly my point!
If we have proper job guiding and counselling staff from ss1 who maybe come every Friday to lecture secondary Students about the various paths for self accomplishment, they won't be confused.

Saintinoo:

Dear OP truely the level of educational backwardness in our country is alarming, reasons for this write up of yours. You should should also know that those skills are part of education, let me shock you, skills you call informal are very much taught in the universities.

Recently president Donald Trump signed a law that will require companies employ graduates with skills above degree certificate, google it.

Nigeria graduate are unemployed mostly not because there are no jobs, but because they do not have the required skills needed for the job. Do not think that the garbage lecturers give you in Nigeria universities is enough, they do that because even them do not have the required skills.

In what ever discipline you choose in school, there is a skill attached to it, learn it and do well to add others not related to you area of study, your company might decide to switch you to other dept, and i tell you, you really need those skills.

Your last paragraph is a summary of my intention, I totally agree.

Ahumanbeing:


Exactly my point!
If we have proper job guiding and counselling staff from ss1 who maybe come every Friday to lecture secondary Students about the various paths for self accomplishment, they won't be confused.

Absolutely.

javaRookie:
Lalasticlala studied political science
Boss lala am I right?

Even Seun...

And even Mynd44

So what are you saying bro.
You want to chop ban for 600 years?


Nice points tho.
What is the use of going to university and still get extra skills not related to your course of study?

Tendencies of a failed educational system!

Lol those are cases of TALENT! seun might have had a talent in comp sci or mathematics but studied Literature in school, nevertheless he advanced his talent and is making a professional living from it.
Note(This is just a scenario> I'm not sure seun studied Literature)

There are very few courses in the University that are skills themselves. Eg, electrical engineering, computer engineering, architecture and maybe medicine.

Ahumanbeing:

If you have this mentality, why do you need to go to school or why do you encourage people to go to school?
If you studied the right thing and were properly guided, you don't need to "borrow" a skill to earn a living.

First of all understand what a skill is, the sorry state of Nigeria education system makes it look like skills shouldn't be taught in schools. No company, i repeat not company will ever employ you without a skill, you go to the university to get skills, the university is a home research, do not think skills are just the hair dressing and plumbing you hear of, the practicals you do in the university is meant to teach you skills but Nigeria universities lack the facilities to do that.

Students studing Economics, Mathmatics, and Computer science are suppose to have a good computer skills, very vast in programming languages and softwares (Eviews, SPSS, STATA, R, Python, PHP, Java) those are skills your universities should teach you, but because we are in a failed country with a failed educational system, most of our lecturers do not know them.

Apply for jobs in an international NGO, you will even be required to learn mechanic if needed, these are organisations that believe in skills.

My brother even for the fun of it, learn a skill.

I made a thread on nairaland a few months back. Unemployment is a very dire situation in Africa a very dire one. If you think that Nigeria is bad wait till you see the stats from other African nations. Only south Africa has a viable job market and yet she boasts of an unemployment rate of above 50 percent. Most of the courses we studied in school are extremely useless now. Mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, petroleum engineering and the likes have become useless. There's hardly any jobs for graduates from this kind of courses now.

What I would advise people and I will continue to say it again. If you are below 18 a science student and you are about to get into the university pick computer science or medicine or nursing. If you go for computer science, become the best programmer you can become. Study the trends and learn what is absolutely important. Find a way to japa from this shithole. There are a lot of countries with clear immigration paths if you remove your eyes from America UK and Canada. Get out of Africa while still young especially if you're from an average family.

Alas somebody is aligning with all what I have been saying on this subject matter!


For crying out loud, secondary school education is enough to help anybody excel in skills acquisition and trading, so why waste 4-5years going to the university only to graduate and still go back to skills acquisition centers

People should simply set their priorities right. My advice is that instead of accepting admission offers to study JUST ANY COURSE with the hope of going back after graduation to learn a skill or trade, people should start off on time after secondary school to learn those skills or trades and consolidate on them to avoid crying had I known.

As far as I am concerned, university education should be reserved for training professionals in relevant fields that help solve specific human problems such as healthcare, engineering, law etc

Very true!!!

tensazangetsu20:
I made a thread on nairaland a few months back. Unemployment is a very dire situation in Africa a very dire one. If you think that Nigeria is bad wait till you see the stats from other African nations. Only south Africa has a viable job market and yet she boasts of an unemployment rate of above 50 percent. Most of the courses we studied in school are extremely useless now. Mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, petroleum engineering and the likes have become useless. There's hardly any jobs for graduates from this kind of courses now.

What I would advise people and I will continue to say it again. If you are below 18 a science student and you are about to get into the university pick computer science or medicine or nursing. If you go for computer science, become the best programmer you can become. Study the trends and learn what is absolutely important. Find a way to japa from this shithole. There are a lot of countries with clear immigration paths if you remove your eyes from America UK and Canada. Get out of Africa while still young especially if you're from an average family.

The wise one has spoken!!

I know someone who lives in Germany. He said after secondary school, young people have the option of learning a skill or going to university. If you want to become a doctor, lawyer, teacher, accountant, a civil engineer etc you choose university. But if you prefer plumbing, hair dressing, carpentry, catering, interior design you choose technical school.

They don't do what we do here in Nigeria, that a young person will study computer science in the university, graduate, then go and learn phone and laptops repair.

If you want to be a phone and laptop technician while then would u spend 4 years in the university.

Ahumanbeing:

Your last paragraph is a summary of my intention, I totally agree.

you've said it all. Kudos

Business management graduate are meant to have what skills pls?

blessedchild234:
Business management graduate are meant to have what skills pls?

Computer skill, leadership skill....just google am abeg

Just like what most of you have said, if you want to go to the University, make sure you learn all there is to learn about the course(including the skill, even if it means going for IT/internship when on break). Do not limit yourself only to the knowledge acquired in the class room(it is never enough) but we are too lazy.
That is why i Love the way Medicals are structured. From Clinical postings to Internship in teaching hospitals etal. By the time you finish NYSC, you must have been very skillful.

Or

Go straight and Learn a skill immediately after secondary school(which is even better) instead of coming back after graduating from the University(waste of years) there is no time to waste time in Nigeria!. There was one guy in my village, the moment he finished secondary school, he went straight to learn a trade.
While my bro was still trying JAMB which took 3 years.
Right now, the guy is made. While my bro is still trying to get on his feet. God saved my bro he studied medicals.If not na to go learn one skill if for de now.

tensazangetsu20:
I made a thread on nairaland a few months back. Unemployment is a very dire situation in Africa a very dire one. If you think that Nigeria is bad wait till you see the stats from other African nations. Only south Africa has a viable job market and yet she boasts of an unemployment rate of above 50 percent. Most of the courses we studied in school are extremely useless now. Mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, petroleum engineering and the likes have become useless. There's hardly any jobs for graduates from this kind of courses now.

What I would advise people and I will continue to say it again. If you are below 18 a science student and you are about to get into the university pick computer science or medicine or nursing. If you go for computer science, become the best programmer you can become. Study the trends and learn what is absolutely important. Find a way to japa from this shithole. There are a lot of countries with clear immigration paths if you remove your eyes from America UK and Canada. Get out of Africa while still young especially if you're from an average family.

I agree with most of what you said but, mechanical engineering is not supposed to be there. You can't put mechanical engineering in the same group of unemployable courses it's just absurd.

Ejusni:


I agree with most of what you said but, mechanical engineering is not supposed to be there. You can't put mechanical engineering in the same group of unemployable courses it's just absurd.

Could you elucidate on the "mechanical engineering is not supposed to be there"

samuelpeters:

Could you elucidate on the "mechanical engineering is not supposed to be there"

Very well. firstly Mechanical engineering is a very broad discipline that encompasses a whole lot. mechanical engineers can work literally anywhere machines or metal based construction is in place, from numerous factories to the oilfields of the Niger Delta to anywhere machines are. Mechanical engineering is part of the future not like petroleum engineering or chemical engineering( partly).

I think it's really absurd that Mechanical engineering which is the mother of all engineering is placed as unemployable in a list( that I question it's integrity) when we have coursed like food technology, plant nutrition, adult education, and many more trademarks anyhow Nigerian courses.

Ejusni:


I agree with most of what you said but, mechanical engineering is not supposed to be there. You can't put mechanical engineering in the same group of unemployable courses it's just absurd.

Bros it's how it is presently. There's hardly any mechanical engineering jobs now. If you doubt me go on LinkedIn go on indeed go on any job sites and compare. For every one mechanical engineering job there are hundreds of computer science jobs.

tensazangetsu20:

Bros it's how it is presently. There's hardly any mechanical engineering jobs now. If you doubt me go on LinkedIn go on indeed go on any job sites and compare. For every one mechanical engineering job there are hundreds of computer science jobs.

Not all jobs are on LinkedIn. I know a lot of people who're Mechanical engineers and practicing they sure didn't get employed through LinkedIn.
Stop categorizing things you don't know about. Besides how can you compare mechanical engineering and computer science? The real world isn't nairaland, you think the world revolves around programmers or Java or some geek stuff?