This is the first of what will be a series I will be publishing on the theme of Best Practice Parenting. with a focus specifically on education as it relates to schooling – and why there is a massive difference between those 2 expressions.

In other words, I’m saying that there is a massive difference between what people refer to as SCHOOLING and what they call EDUCATION..

The primary target audience I have in mind for this message are people in government, who have any role to play in influencing the so called education that is happening in Nigeria, especially, and other places in general.

The main issue I want to address has to do with:

1. What is being taught in schools and…

2. Why, I believe, strongly too, that 80% of the time, most conventional schools in Nigeria and other societies are doing more damage to kids than whatever benefits they say they add to them!

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Tayo Solagbade’s
Performance Improvement IDEAS
(PI Squared) Newsletter

Monday 11th June 2018

NB: This PI Squared newsletter will be published weekly, on Mondays, in place of the Speaking/Web Marketing IDEAS newsletter, starting from today – 15th February 2016. I’m reinventing my Monday newsletter content and theme, to accommodate my vision of serving the growing audience of serious minded individuals and organizations reaching out to me, with information, education. news and research findings designed to help them do what they do better.

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PII 121: We Need Schooling Systems That Empower Learners to Maximize Their Potentials in Every Possible Way

This is the first of what will be a series I will be publishing on the theme of Best Practice Parenting. with a focus specifically on education as it relates to schooling – and why there is a massive difference between those 2 expressions.

In other words, I’m saying that there is a massive difference between what people refer to as SCHOOLING and what they call EDUCATION..

The primary target audience I have in mind for this message are people in government, who have any role to play in influencing the so called education that is happening in Nigeria, especially, and other places in general.

The main issue I want to address has to do with:

1. What is being taught in schools and…

2. Why, I believe, strongly too, that 80% of the time, most conventional schools in Nigeria and other societies are doing more damage to kids than whatever benefits they say they add to them!

You may not agree with me, especially if you are somebody that is benefiting from the system

The naked truth is that it IS a MONEY MAKING system primarily.

In most of the schools where it is used, they do NOT care about the kids enough to ensure they get the learning they need. Money determines most of what is done.

I say this with no apology – it is, like I said before, the TRUTH.

Most of the schooling systems are just designed to make money for the owners and those who are their partners.

This same situation exists in many tutoring centers. And that’s why this latter group is able to put up promotional banners, posters and boards like the one in the photo below, which make outrageous offers:

How do you explain the fact that a tutoring center (see photo above) is able to GUARANTEE that you WILL get passing grades in ALL subjects you take in the examinations, IF you enroll there?

It’s simple. They’ve got it all cooked up to work the way they want i.e. they have paid their way to ensure it happens.

No Nigerian capable of conscious thought can claim NOT to be aware of the fact that virtually everything has a price in Nigeria. And that in our educational sector, SPECIAL CENTRES abound which offer willing parents and their wards any flexibility they want, to cheat their way to success in exams.

The schools do their own “bragging” about guaranteed exams results success a bit less openly. But the same arrangement exists.

The policy makers and government agencies/operatives who are supposed to monitor and engage in the implementation of the so called educational policies for the most part are just people who are only there for the ride.

They are not actively involved in doing any quality control. My mother was an educator for about 30 years in Nigeria – and worked as a teacher in leading schools for many years till she retired. During this time she taught hundreds of kids, including us, her children. When we came back from school, you would have exercises to do e.g. Lacombe’s in Math etc.

She invested hundreds of hours into teaching ALL her pupils with passion, every day she had the opportunity to interact with them. She told us teaching was her passion  and it was obvious from the way she taught us. That was why it was no surprise that she went on to earn Montessori level certification to boost her work related competence. She wanted to be the best she could be FOR her pupils.

To say that we turned out right academically is stating the obvious – but what many may miss is the fact that THAT did not happen through Osmosis.

That was an example that I saw in my own life a child of what a parent who understands his/her own role as the first teacher in the life of her children was supposed to be.

But you DO NOT have to be a trained teacher to be the first and most important teacher in the life of your child.

You see, this is because your job is not to become an out-and-out teacher.

Instead your role is to guide the process of learning that your child in being exposed to, by interacting with whatever organization, individual or entity that is providing learning to your child.

Before you can regard SCHOOLING as delivering the right EDUCATION (or being the same) we need that activity to take place on regular and reliable basis, where the required QUALITY CONTROL intervention is happening, and is not in doubt in terms of its effectiveness.

My mother told us about INSPECTORS OF EDUCATION

They used to go from school to school and would quietly sit at the back of the class (or stand outside the window), monitoring a teacher in action.

They would then rate the teacher and communicate their findings to him/her in form of feedback designed to aid performance improvement.

That was the kind of arrangement that existed when my mother was learning as a student in the Teachers Training College back then!

Of course such things no longer exist today, in schools, for the most part.

I recall discussing this issue with a Head Teacher in one of Nigeria Public Primary Schools, She explained to me that education inspectors still go round, but they are not in enough numbers to cover all the schools.

But that did not impress me much since it is likely that corrupt advances are likely to be made to those inspectors to influence whatever ratings they award to the teachers – and their schools.

If that was not the case, the terrible fall in standards of teachers as well as pupils/students produced from our schools would NOT have happened

As a result what we have are schools all over the country that simply do NOT meet the basic standards of what should be a school.

So they are just there – physical buildings people wear uniforms to, in order to meet human beings who call themselves teachers but often do not think/act like they are.

Little wonder then that the EDUCATION that should happen is not happening in most of these schools.

However, because learners are wearing school uniforms and carrying textbooks in backpacks, we assume they are getting an education.

Sadly, the reality is that our children are being taken through a process that is actually more damaging, because what they are going through are a lot of activities that don’t add much value to them. Activities that expose them to mind-numbing experiences.

Those children consequently finish from such schooling systems but do not even come out with functional education of any sort.

This is the reality that faces us today.

It is why we have all these products coming out from our institutions, which are being repeatedly described as unemployable by potential employers.

It’s not that the employers hate them.

It’s because they are coming out into society, after finishing their schooling, without ANY relevant abilities, that will solve the potential employer’s problems or meet his/her pressing needs.

No employer is going to “dash” you money for finishing from school.

They want to see that you are going to be useful to them.

No sane business owner, for instance, is going to be paying you money for doing nothing while on his/her payroll!

So the question is:

Do the schools that society is providing, and which the state is telling citizens to send their kids to -(in line with so called law that :”Every child must go to school”) get checked to be sure that those schools will deliver to society, products that will meet the needs of society, and solve its problems?

The truth of the matter is that the answer is NO.

Our people in government are NOT doing that.

Let me make something clear: I’m NOT telling anyone in responsible positions in government that they do not know their jobs.

Instead what I’m doing is to draw your attention to the fact that there is something that you’re missing.

You’re free to decide whether or not to take the points I make seriously, – or discard them.

I will however say this:

The fact that you work in government today does not mean that you will be immune from the negative impact of your actions and/or inactions in the education sector, such as those I’ve continually highlighted in my write-ups.

You see, when you’re giving people inadequate education, they will go and function in society in an inadequate manner.

Now, when you retire or even when your own kids go into society – WITH SUPERIOR COMPETENCE – they’re going to meet those other kids, who will be ready to break any rules and cut any corners to get ahead of your child, who is more competent, – because they will see him/her as a threat immediately, because he has one thing they don’t have.

So what’s the solution?

You simply need to do the right thing: Give children the ability/skills when they are in school, so that when they step out of school, they will instantly be seen by society as useful.

I’ll give you an example:

If your school develops a reputation for producing young people that have the ability to excel at international levels in competitive sports, and therefore becomes a destination for scouts looking for, say, good footballer. Assume your school has a wonderful sports programme.

So the kids are learning all the academics, but the school also has a system that allows them to also get really good at soccer.

My school (C and S College, Ilorin, in Kwara state) had that. We produced many people who were very good at competitive sports – and some of them (like Olapade Adeniken) even went on to represent Nigeria at the Olympics.

That kind of schooling system makes career options quite variable – giving children the opportunity to look at some many possibilities they can explore.

I was there when Olapade Adeniken ran his first race in the 100 meters leaving everybody behind in the dust. The state coaches wasted no time in recruiting him – and his career took off from there.

That kind of thing – a system that allows people to maximize their potentials – is what gets the best results for learners to enter the real world.

You don’t limit them!

That’s the problem we have today. Most of the conventional schools are not interested in the full dimensions of the abilities of the kids.

They just focus on one thing: book learning…

AND the FAULT rests directly with the people in government.

This is because nobody is checking what the schools are doing – so the schools have turned it into a business.

All they do now is to increase the number of subjects, so as to justify raising tutoring fees.

How can kids be studying 14 to 21 subjects at primary/secondary school levels?

When I was schooling at that level, we only had to take about 7 to 9 subjects. In fact, I took 5 subjects I really wanted to gain credits in. But I added 2 extra to make it up to 7.

It goes without saying that studying for those subjects was not easy. So one can only imagine how challenging it must be for today’s kids who have to study double the number of subjects!

The only reason that unhealthy learning situation exists in our schooling system is that the QUALITY CONTROL checks that should be done are NOT happening.

I argue that smart parents will take action to protect their kids from the damaging impact of exposure to this kind of schooling, by getting involved in giving their kids the right kind of coaching – especially in a way that enables the child discover, develop and maximize his/her full potentials in every area of life – especially in use of their income earning vocational skills and talents.

Read: TRUE STORY: An Invitation from the Ministry of Youth and Social Development to Discuss My Paper Titled “Schooling Is a Means to an End and NOT an End In Itself”

TRUE STORY: An Invitation from The Ministry of Youth and Social Development to Discuss My Paper Titled “Schooling Is a Means to an End and NOT an End In Itself”

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Source: ExcelVB