₦airaland Forum

Gamine:
Seen.

The system you talk about, is what is wrong (along with all the so-called benchmarks) If things have only gotten worse on the back of these, I don't know why it's so difficult to see that there should be something different in place.
I honestly can't say it was schooling in this system that taught me English.

There have to be benchmarks in everything in life. And as long as there are Universities, there MUST be a lowest common denominator in terms of communication. Bending over backwards to take care of the ones that have fallen by the wayside is wrong.

Recall your days in Uni, and try to imagine how awkward it'd have been if half of your class only spoke Hausa language.
Apart from exams like this, what other ways would YOU have Universities test prospective admission candidates for English language communication skills?

Gamine:
I honestly can't say it was schooling in this system that taught me English.

Of course not! You had a fall back option. You picked up a big chunk of your English skills from your parents and your siblings at an early age and then refined that by reading books and watching movies when you grew older In between that, you also had the benefit of formal education to bolster those learning opportunities. And that's how it often is for people who grow up in urban environments.

However, even for those who didn't have that opportunity to learn much outside the classroom, the curriculum is designed to still teach them English. Right from the Queen Primer and 'Peter and Jane' days to 'Ali and Simbi'. If this isn't happening now, then we need to find out why.
Don't blame it on the curriculum. It's the same one people like you and me used way back. it should be adequate if delivered properly. but it isn't.

naijaking1:
Can we all just agree that a thorough investigation is needed, either way

An investigation is needed, i agree.
Also, EFCC needs to speed up the trial for this fellow. His desperate bid to avoid prosecution is no longer amusing. We don't want a situation where a new Government comes in and grants all these crooks amnesty.

Gamine:
People should be taught as genuinely as possible in the ways they understand.
If English has to be one of the subjects, all well and good. People should be nurtured to succeed at whatever they do

Exactly. 'In the ways they understand'.
People do not need to go to University to succeed in Life. However for those who want to go to University, there is a benchmark in place to ensure that those who want to go that route should have the necessary basic communication skills.
Universities should cater to the lowest common denominator. Emphasis on COMMON. and one thing we have in common is our national language: English.

So those who cannot speak English can be nurtured in other career paths where their deficiency in that regard will not serve as a hindrance to others.

Gamine:
Oh because a HANDFUL of us can communicate in English here, what happens to those that are stuck at Pidgin?
they should be seen as 'Uneducated' 'Useless' perhaps because they can't.

Before you get to the University stage, you must first have completed your Primary and Secondary education. If after that you still are 'stuck in Pidgin', then it's not the fault of NECO, WAEC or NUC if you can't scale that benchmark.
for Intelligent people shortchanged by a poor educational system, determination usually sees most of them through. That's why you hear stories of people putting themselves through Night school just to learn to read and write properly.

[quote author=~Bluetooth link=topic=517107.msg6801434#msg6801434 date=1285169440]She went to a private school because the standard there is assumed to be higher than a public school,so it's expected that her grades in English should be higher than that of students from public school.The lady was nothing to write home about because she had to manouevered her way till she graduated despite the fact that she speaks English fluently.My point here is that there is no connection between being intelligent and the ability to speak or write good english.[/quote]Fair point. No dispute. Just as there is no connection between being intelligent and having a University education.
To get entry into a Nigerian University, you need English. And as I've said before, you don't need to be be that intelligent to pass O' Level English.

If you go through Primary and Secondary education and you can't speak or write good English, then it's either you aren't intelligent or there's something wrong with your school. Lots of smart kids fall by the wayside just because their schools are really horrible. Those are the ones we should be trying to save, not those who go to all the private schools and still are clueless.

Gamine:
Colomentality. SMH
Tell me how English and Grammar has helped this country, oops, Chris Okotie, Patrick Obahiaghon. . I forgot.

'English and Grammar' goes far beyond demagoguery.
We're all able to communicate properly with people from all regions of this country since we have a common language. And we can communicate effectively since we can speak decent English!
Since you're yet to pay any taxes in this country, in your case i'd have to agree with you that your command of English hasn't been of much use to Nigeria .

[quote author=~Bluetooth link=topic=517107.msg6800971#msg6800971 date=1285165764]I agreed that English and mathematics are the bench mark to gaining university admission but how many people really know the language as their indigenious language ?[/quote]Let me re-iterate.
English and Maths are taught in our curriculum from Primary school (1-6) to Secondary School (Jss1 - SS3). That's around 12 years of education.
If you cannot speak or write English adequately after all that, then you have no business in the University. That is the benchmark, and that MUST be honored.

What we should be discussing is what scenario, what factors could lead to our youths not being able to make these benchmarks. I mean, a C in English shouldn't be that hard to obtain. So what are the reasons? Is it the teaching? The teachers? The textbooks? The poor learning environment? The Parents? Lack of motivation on the part of the child? Distractions?

PeeDaVinci:
Ribadu made his mark within his 6 months in office and that is why I go for him. RIBADU all the way

'Made his mark'? This fellow failed to convict and imprison the most die-hard looters in the country. Lucky Igbinedion, Ibori, Odili, IBB, Anenih, Adedibu and many others. All he did was wage a high profile war against the 'small boys' and fail to come through on his allegations of massive financial impropriety he levied against the State Governors. How many did he bring to justice after their tenures ended and their immunity period elapsed?
Even those that were brought to trial, the cases EFCC brought against them were extremely weak. Imagine Lucky Igbinedion only being found guilty of failure to declare assets, even when the man had brazenly looted Edo State dry!

Next thing the fellow did was to run off to the UK to be feted as a hero on the back of a faked assassination attempt. Despite lurid tales of him narrowly escaping a hail of gunfire, this fellow could not produce any evidence (for example a photo of his car riddled with bullets). He could not even explain why he could not report this to the Nigerian Police, preferring to sell this white lie to his adoring masses.

I understand his case perfectly. Yes, he 'did something'. And for most Nigerians, 'doing something' is enough. but he could and should have done much more. He could have refrained from colluding with Obasanjo to shield criminals from justice, refrained from flagrantly abusing the rule of law. He should have done his job properly.

While Ribadu at heart is most likely a decent man, I know the stuff heroes are made from and I know the stuff messiahs are made of. He is neither.


*dons flame retardant suit*

Gamine:
I don't understand why people are screaming about English and Grammar.
What does that mean? How does that contribute to anything?  

Please direct your complaint to the NUC and WAEC board that specified that Credits in English and Maths are the minimum requirement to obtain University admission. For now, that IS the standard students should aspire to. And frankly speaking, it's a perfectly rational benchmark.
Poor performance in English language exams can be tied to the decline in quality of spoken and written English in many young people these days.

[quote author=~Bluetooth link=topic=517107.msg6800848#msg6800848 date=1285164683]So you expect every nigerians to speak correct english even when the language is a ''FOREIGN'' one ? You should know that cannot be 100% possible and if i may ask do all chinese or French speak good English ?[/quote]Like it or not, English is our national language. It's a language that's supposed to be taught in all our schools, and hence is a language that students should rightly be tested in. Mastery of this language SHOULD be used as the benchmark for entry into institutions of higher learning in this country.
English is not the National language in either France or China. I'm really surprised you're bringing up such a watery argument. Is this deliberate?

PDP has had years of building structures at the grassroots, you think a quick flurry of Facebook, twitter or Nairaland campaigning will change that?
Ribadu stands little chance of winning the election in 2011. It'll be difficult for him to beat IBB sef if PDP fields that fellow.

Horayce:
^ won't solve anything.

It will solve EVERYTHING.
I hope they re-introduce public firing squads for kidnappers, ritual killers and armed robbers.

Gentlemen, i'm confused. Since when did it become the law that if someone is not SOLELY responsible for something, that personn automagically become innocent?

For Example

"David, you are a Thief"
"No, i'm not a thief! We were three that went to steal that night!"

Since when was Erastus going to be placed in Saraki's custody? No be EFCC dey pursue and prosecute him and his fellow band of corporate crooks?

xterra2:
^^^ Let me continue and ohh there is no gbagaun in the part of my post which you bolded please go and sleep it seems you need it not looking for trouble here
Google "white noises" download and play the sounds it would make you sleep

If you can't see the 'gbagaun' in 'I knew i would passed WAEC', then i'm afraid we can't help you.

Amarui:
Uhmm i laf u ppl ar rare lik d elderz of dis country u se nigeria as a country lose future.witout future anybody or nation is useless dat why nigeria is useles if d elders build d future wel no matter wat .d younth must copy 4ro it so nigeria leaders as made dis country rubish wat do u espect. gudtins is inpossible.if ps2.dstv.internet n more can make country go bad then country lik d usa .sfrican. n d rest country 4 dn useles lik nigeria .so let speak d true nigeria lose future.go to each state u wil se children,s of 5yrs takin care of themself .wat wil ned is gud government altin 9ja recognize d younth then b4 9ja go gud gbam

Txt speak, eh? You should be ashamed of yourself.

Why hasn't anyone banned this fellow yet?

[quote author=~Bluetooth link=topic=517107.msg6796357#msg6796357 date=1285101734]Don't underestimate the present day children,they are worst than those in your time.Poor parenting may be part of the problem but the children have done nothing themselves to improve.If we talked about standard of education,it has always been the same shiot.so if the standard of education and the poor parentng level are still the same between your time and now,why are we having more failure now compare to then ?[/quote]No. The standard of education has worsened. At least in the 90s, we never had a situation where NYSC corps members were made into one of the pillars of secondary education. We didn't have this widespread teacher apathy (oftentimes caused by the failure of the Govt to pay their salaries).
We didn't have Pidgin English being the main spoken Language in schools. In fact, up until SS3, i totally sucked at speaking Pidgin.

Also, Parents are supposed to ensure their kids get enough study time. They are supposed to review report cards and step in to correct non-performance.
I even encourage Parents to employ more radical means to get their kids to learn how to speak English properly.

I wish i could take a screenshot of my Facebook profile for you, see the terrible grammar some of my acquaintances are using. And more often than not, it's the younger ones that are this poor.

[quote author=~Bluetooth link=topic=517107.msg6793354#msg6793354 date=1285075245]Your write-up really showed that you know nothing about nigeria.A quick visit to a barbing saloon in lagos would have educated you more where you find kids playing PS games with just #20 while premiership games cost you just #50.No luxury attached at all.[/quote][quote author=MR Money £ link=topic=517107.msg6793287#msg6793287 date=1285074756]Have you forgotten that there are alot of one man biz out there, that  have shops where these kids pay 100 naira or so  to play Ps3 and also pay money to watch live premiership watches in these same shops, so forget it they have assess to ps3 and co ?[/quote]The mental image you folk have of these kids are people living in middle class homes in an urban setting.
There are hundreds of thousands of these candidates living in rural environments. There are hundreds of thousands of these kids that go straight home from school with little avenue for diversion. And even for those who play games in public saloons, how many of them can have the time or money to spend more than 30 minutes daily playing games?

This whole PS3 and DSTV stuff is just an excuse. The blame should be put squarely on poor parenting and an extremely poor educational system. Distractions are always present, it's how you manage them that matters. See people blaming the premiership, on average how many people spend more than 4 hours in a week watching Premier League matches?

In my secondary school days, i didn't have DSTV or the Internet. I read Novels copiously. I spent at least 30 mins daily reading fiction. My Dad made darn sure i made out enough time for reading. That is what parents are supposed to do!

@Bluetooth I taught for one year during my NYSC in a village secondary school. None of those folks were playing PS2 or watching premiership. They simply went home after school to cook, clean, sell in the market and then sleep. No time for reading, no interest from their parents. The school itself was beyond pathetic. In that year, only ONE SS3 student made credits in both Maths and English. Shebi na PS3 or DSTV cause am?

You people need to realize that there is life outside Lagos.

Are you guys kidding me?
All you people blabbing about PS3, DSTV and home videos have got to be out of your minds. A huge number of those who failed cannot afford such luxuries. And even those who can, efficient parenting can easily eliminate too much distraction.
There's a critical flaw in our educational system, there are critical gaps in parenting these days and there are motivation related issues with many of these kids.

Just sent you an SMS to a guy who's pretty good.

Mobinga:
First of all I'm appauled. . . that there could be a major error as this on one of the xbox's biggest title.
Secondly, how and why would they say "its only a small number affected"? Not cool

Perhaps because it may be only a small number affected?
Have you come up with any numbers for those affected? Have you calculated the percentage of those with Disc read errors?

At least it's all but certain that those with that issue will get replacements.

spikyn:
Try Kotaku: http://kotaku.com/5640456/check-out-the-line-at-this-playstation-move-midnight-launch



Check Out The Line At This PlayStation Move Midnight Launch



Check Out The Line At This PlayStation Move Midnight Launch Just before midnight at my local GameStop, one eager Move purchaser stood in line, stepping away to snap this photograph before continuing his devoted vigil.

Damn, you beat me to it. I was just gonna post this one

kosovo:
EA's Fifa Franchise has this Gen locked-down! PRO is utter garbage . .

Then you don't know what you're talking about.
FIFA 11 may be better than PES 2011, since when did that mean the slightly inferior game was 'utter garbage'?

RICHIE BOI:
Hey peter why asking the price, you got an iphone 4 already. by the way did you succeed in unlocking the fone.

yeah. i did. I got someone to activate the phone with a phonebook sim and then did the unlock myself.

meef:
Unlocking the phone should not be the problem. Just give me two weeks i will do that.

But you won't be able to jailbreak. That's another issue.

Please post the price here. if its newly arrived from the UK, it's definitely on the newer firmwares which means it cannot currently be jailbroken. I hope you're factoring that into the final price.

Kosovo
Move is not a system seller. Kinect will not be a system seller too. Where do you get these ideas from?

Mobinga:
I don't want to buy a GC. I want a laptop with the best. . . lyk 9800GT or the 200s,300s series

Pick up the Asus G73. Not too expensive and comes with a cutting edge Direct X 11 graphics card from AMD/ATI (Radeon 5870). Also has a powerful core i7 processor and it'll churn through all the top games with ease.
And yes, it will play Crysis

bigbrovar:
I usually try to do my research before making a claim. The fact that a device is flagship does not mean its upper tier device. Even looking at the specs its using a 256MB of ram on an Obsolete Arm 11. yes it is clocked at about 600mhz. In Term of raw processing power the N8 is inferior to the N900 a device released 13 month ago. yes it has hardware acceleration, (same as C7) yes it Aluminum casing. And yes for now It is Nokia's Flagship. Still Nokia are positioning it as a upper mid range device Hence the relative cheap price about (350 Pounds unlocked). The High end device is expected to be announced later this year and the specs is expected to be very high end and compete directly with the best of iOS Android and Windows 7 series Devices and it is expected to ship Meego. The N8 is by no means a mid range device like the C7 its about a step higher in class. If phones where people. The N8 would be in the upper middle class and definitely more of a stop gap than Nokia's answer to the beasts being released by htc|apple|motorola. If you doubt me. Maybe you would believe when you hear it from Nokian Himself. http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/06/nokias-vp-talks-n8-meego-milestone-product-tablets-android/

Read it. You're right. What's interesting is that Nokia themselves are making the decision to place this in that category. AT least they've finally seen the light. It isn't much more than a year ago that they were positioning the crappy N97 as an upper tier smartphone (advertising it as a 'mobile computer' sef).

Let's see what Nokia comes up with MeeGo later this year.

kosovo:
wii wasnt in the drawing board 15 years ago, let alone being the true innovator as you claim!

Kosovo
Are you sure you really know how to read?
The 15 years refers to how long the Playstation brand has been in existence. Your comment on the wii makes no sense whatsoever.

flyuche:
take it or leave, i maintain that android phones are damn expensive. htc tatoo na beta phone
check out prcies of phones at clove.co.uk , that where i get my phones.

As i said, if you want the best, be prepared to shell out for it.
The prices there are even lower than the prices for any new top drawer Nokia smartphone. Those normally come in at over 400 pounds contract free.

bigbrovar:
Actually the N8 is not being touted as a Top tier device, it is more in the (as I said earlier) Upper Mid range line. Nokia has reserved the Top Tier line exclusively for Meego. The new Nokia flagship would be Megoo going forward for Nokia. Symbian would be used to compete in the Mid range and lower tier segment. This is where Qt comes to place as it helps to converge all the products so that developers can write apps and easily port them to symbian and meego.

Wrong.
MeeGo WILL be the future of Nokia. But as for now, Nokia's flagship device will be the N8. What, you think they'd throw in a big screen, sleek aluminium body, the most powerful mobile phone camera till date and a very powerful GPU in a mid tier device?
Nokia has always been about hardware first, and the N8's hardware is premium

The Move is hardly a 'Benchmark'. Neither is Microsoft's Kinect.
The Wii remote is the true innovator in this motion gaming category. You fellows like to exaggerate too much

kosovo:
I have no idea where you got those fabulous stories, install base has nothing to with sales of a company system seller.

System sellers will sell irrespective of the install bases they find them selves,

Mario will sell millions and move any nintendo hardwares,
Halo will sell millions and move any xbox hardwares
GT will sell millions and move PlayStatoin hardwares

Did you know that GT1 did not need the entire 115 million PS1 install base to sell OVER 12 million copies, rather it did that when the install base of the PS1 was a meager 14 million sales point . . .

i ll get a chart of GT sales track and at the various install base it happened. . .

GT series has never capitialized on PlayStation install base to sell it millons, rather it creates the needed install base for Sony, No other game can do that, Not uncharted, not killzone, not God of war, not even final fantasy can do that, that crown is left GT alone.

I have the feeling that you think GT1 AND 2 where released when the PS1 had an install base of 115 million, while GT3 AND 4 where released on the PS2 when the install base was 140 million, huh? how ridiculous, C'mon

GT5 DOES NOT NEED INSTALL BASE, IT CREATES INSTALL BASE. EXPECT WORLD TOTAL DOMINATION BY NOVEMBER 2010.

We're discussing life-cycle sales, silly.
And while GT5 will sell a lot of PS3 consoles, we're hardly looking at 'world domination' here.