Atoke’s Monday Morning Banter: Will the Real Math Whiz Please Stand Up?

Have you ever wondered if you are currently on the path you were destined to be on? Do you wonder if your natural inclinations were honed and groomed into the person you are today? This past weekend, I watched a 14 year old dive at the Commonwealth games in Glasgow and I was truly blown away. I said to my friend that I’m sure he’s been practicing since he was 5 years old.

Last year, I wrote a piece about aspirations and career paths {Click here if you missed it} While we were talking about the young diver, I wondered if he was home schooled or if he went to actual school. I wondered what his chances would have been if he was a Nigerian, born and raised in Nigeria. I wondered how many opportunities are available to a young person growing up in Nigeria.

The Nigerian child is not typically blessed with a myriad of options. There’s a set syllabus of subjects taught in secondary school and in order to proceed from one class to the other, you have to excel in those subjects. Very little attention is paid to the natural inclination of the student; so, it is immaterial that you preferred to tinker about with tools, or you had very little aptitude for figures, there were things you had to pass! In my secondary school, if you passed your JSCE with 10As and more, you were automatically sent to A or B class. The others were sent to C & D. Somehow or the other, it was the bottom of the pack that was sent to E class. A & B classes were for sciences, C & D for arts & commercials. E was for… well everybody else. One of my friends, had 12As, but always wanted to be a lawyer so she asked to be moved to the arts class. Due to logistical reasons, she was placed in E class. She stood out like a sore thumb in that class.
In A class, we had a set time table for Physics, Chemistry & Biology; then, you had to choose some electives (or whatever they’re called in secondary school). I wanted to study law so badly, but the fear of disappointing my Father and his “Your first degree must be in the sciences” decree, I was stuck. I couldn’t afford to flunk either. So I trudged on. Physics classes were great and I loved attending the practical sessions. Chemistry, on the other hand, was such a drag. It didn’t help that the teacher was not anything to write home about. He was very dirty and made ZERO effort to make the class remotely enjoyable. Rumour had it that he was always making Eba with the beaker and the bunsen burner.

Yoruba was such a drag; since my brother had told me it wasn’t as ‘compulsory’ as teachers made it seem I ditched it to create space for subjects like Commerce & Literature in English. I enjoyed the Economics classes because the teacher looked like one of the characters in the Super Mario game. The bants about him were epic.

As Nigerian children, our choices were either directed by our parents’ desire for us, or by our limited understanding of what the future entailed. It’s hardly ever about a child’s natural inclination. For instance, if you have a natural talent for musical instruments, one wonders if your skills would be better served if honed and tailored in that field. Things like Food & Nutrition are not available to students of core science classes, so if I was aspiring to be like Dooney & Chef Fregz, I didn’t have the chance.

Since we live in a world much smaller than before, I wonder if diversity and creativity should be more mainstream in the Nigerian academic field. If your child has a more natural propensity for playing football, would you encourage him in that direction? Especially since it comes under the tag of ‘playing’.

In my case, I always had a natural propensity for novels (and computer games). Reading was my thing – not reading facility agreements and wet lease agreements like I did for 4 years. No! Fun, imaginative and exciting books kept me on a permanent buzz. Literature-in English was my favourite subject in secondary school; and I was super comfortable with Maths. In fact, I liked Maths so much that I got into SS1 cranked up to do Further Maths. By 2nd term of SS2 I had to respect myself and remember that there was Maths and there was MATHS!

Have a fantastic week ahead. Please share some of your favourite subjects with us. Don’t forget to share your worst secondary school CLASS horrors!

Peace, love & Carrots (because Celery just tastes yucky!)

Toodles!

Photo Credit: Dreamstime | Robhainer