When we are growing up, our parents will always tell us that you have to study very hard in order to make it in life. Coming home with a bad result was a big nightmare. Anything less than 5th position was unacceptable in my house; the worst was if it was Christmas period. You automatically become the black sheep, mistakenly break a plate, you will be reminded of your bad result. You lose the right to shout at your younger ones when they offend you.
Finally, the next term you put in your all and come out top of the class and you suddenly become the golden child. This continues until you enter secondary school. If you are lucky you continue to do well. Then one
day in jss3 you will be called into their room to discuss about your future. “so Ada what do you want be in future?” most of us either wanted to be a doctor or lawyer “ the few that wanted to become actors or actress where warned never to repeat that statement again, so you accept to become a doctor. Without any idea of what it entails to be a doctor, all you know is what you see in movies and that you are going make your parents proud if you become one.No one lets know you about the years you are going to spend in the university studying or that you have to specialize in a particular field of medicine. No one informs you of the days and nights you are going to spend in the hospital because you are doing housemanship or even the amount of deaths you are going you encounter. Let’s say you chose to become a lawyer, you spend five years studying law and another year in law school. You have no idea of how it will feel to have your client look at you knowing that their fate is in how much you are good at convincing the judge and jury that he/she is innocent or that he/she deserves whatever that made them seek your services. Lets us not forget some of that joined the science class in secondary school because all our friends were there or because the arts students were seen as the unintelligent ones. Some schools most times send you to science class if you are getting high grades.
When you get to ss3, you realize that there are other courses you could actually study, you realize that you love messing around with computers or that you have this passion for acting or that you have suddenly become the electrician at home, you repair every spoilt electronics at home. Sometimes you even spoil them so you can repair them. It dawns on you that you don’t want to become a doctor or a lawyer but since you are scared to speak to your dad you buy the jamb form and fill in law or medicine.
After writing jamb for three years and admission is not forth coming, your parents grudgingly starts looking at other options, they start considering microbiology, biochemistry, political science or psychology with the promise that you will do well in your first year so you can get direct entry to study law or medicine.
This is the story of most Nigerians today, now my question is;
By studying hard, do they mean studying hard in the courses they have chosen for us or studying hard to make it in whatever course we decide to study?
Will it be so wrong for them to accept that not all parents will be called “mama/papa Doctor”?
Is it a crime for them to put in plain words what every course entails?
Won’t it be better if they study us and help us realize the fields we will do best in or things they know we have passion for and help us grow to be better in them?
The truth is that things are hard in Nigeria and no matter what you study you will still have to work extra hard to make it life. The truth is that a doctor is not better than a botanist and that a lawyer is not better than a psychologist because one way or the other we all need each other.
The truth is that not every kid must take the first position in class, and that we shouldn’t treat kids like they are less of a human being because they are not the brightest in school.
The truth is that each person is born with a different talent and every talent deserves to be harnessed to reach its full potential.
The truth is that the future of a better Nigeria depends on the youths whether our grandfathers are still struggling for political positions.
Soon we will realize that the future of Nigeria doesn’t necessary mean getting political position. They can have the positions while we still make the changes we want.
Let’s not make the same mistakes with our own kids!!!
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