WRONG DEFINITION OF EDUCATION: THE CULPRIT OF ECONOMIC RECESSION IN NIGERIA

A creative writer as well as well known public speaker in Lagos, Nigeria, Soul’e Rhymez, has claimed that the cause of economic recession and lack of progress in Nigeria could be traced to the poor education system in the country. He said that education was designed to produce employees rather than focusing in the production of employers.

Ever since his essay “When Education Becomes Indoctrination”, has gone viral, enjoying publication on different websites, blogs and newspapers across the country including The Guardian Newspaper. Soul’e Rhymez has been resilient in his bid to redefine education.  In a bid to do that, the writer, who is known for his controversial style of writing haven’t stopped getting attention from people, both positive and negative.

The eccentric public speaker and poet raised another set eyebrows again on the 12^th of November, 2016 at a seminar organized by Dream Achievers World (DAW), tagged “Sabificate beyond Certificate” where he was invited as one of the guest speakers.

The seminar which has the likes of Mr. Christian Nonso, Mr. James Ifeanyi, Miss. Juliet Obi and Mr. Emmanuel C.S Eze in attendance left a lot of questions in the minds of the audience, who battled to understand the difference between schooling and education.

He started by affirming that education in the country is a brainwash, thus leaving the audience confused as to whether they should give up on schooling. He traced the current state of the country’s economic meltdown to wrong definition of education. According to him, if education was not wrongly defined, Nigeria wouldn’t be going through economic crises.

He said that the educational system seems to have been defined to produce only employees, who go out searching for unavailable jobs.

The creative writer backed up his assertion up by asking the students if anyone of them will want to go to the polytechnic after graduating from secondary school, but only one of them raised his hand. He asked how many of them will like to attend the university and all hands were raised. “That’s the problem” he said. The students believe the university is the ultimate of education, but Soul’e disappointed them by proving otherwise.

According to him, over concentration one institution of learning, the university, among hundreds that are available is the source of economic crises in the country. He said that not all the students should be in the university, judging by talents and passions which vary. He made his point clear by making reference to Abraham Lincoln, the formal president of USA, Charles Dickens, the writer of the famous Oliver Twist, Ronaldo, Messi and the likes, who became huge success without the university education.

This caused uproar as the teachers in the school, where the seminar took place got so uncomfortable with his teachings. They believed the students are been taught to forgo schooling and tried their best to stop him from poisoning their minds. But Soul’e Rhymez, who went ahead to also confirm that schooling is now a manipulation could not be stopped.

He left questions yet unanswered and other speakers surprisingly went in their direction.

Miss. Juliet Obi stressed on the importance of talents, urging the students to be bold enough to do what they feel is right for them; to follow their talents and make something out of them.

Mr. James Ifeanyi Oladipupo, the founder of IDRAW and formal principal of the school urged the students not just to go to school, but to create a career out of their talents. Both speakers hereby agreed with Soul’e Rhymez’sdefinition of true education, which is “learning to develop talents and liberate passions to make for relevance to oneself and the society”.

Mr. Christian Nonso steered up another controversy when he came up and made it known to clear to the students that schooling and even the uniform they are wearing is a conspiracy. According to him, schooling is an evolution and education is a revolution. He urged them to settle for the revolution instead of evolution, hereby agreeing with Mr. Emmanuel C.S Eze, the president and the convener of Dream Achievers World (DAW) in his speech where he asserted that schooling is deliverance, while education is freedom.

Soul’e who after his speech was called aside by one of the teachers in the school and scolded for seemingly trying to poison the minds of the students and stop them from coming to school made it clear that he is not against university education, but against over-concentration on it and seeing it as the only form of education without which they can’t be considered educated. According to him, university is one institution of learning which is good only for those whose talents and passions could be developed and liberated there respectively.

He urged the students to take their own destiny in their own hands by revealing how he got several opportunities to study abroad but declined them because the courses he was given did not align with his talents and passion.

Soul’e revealed that if everyone is given the type of education that helps develop their talents and liberates their passions, crime, which is most times due to joblessness, will reduce in the country as there will be many employers of labour.

Finally, he urged the students to settle for the type of education that helps nurture their talents and liberate their passions alone.