Growing up in Ijaye, Lagos state, I
believed everything I was told, I was a young observer and I remember when
occasionally the teacher would ask 'if you want to be a lawyer, banker, doctor
e. t. c raise your hand' Pupils would raise their hands quickly, and when he
asks 'if you want to be a teacher, raise your hand ' pupils wouldn't raise
their hands as they believed that being a teacher is not like
future they envisaged .
Then, I wouldn't raise my hand not
just because I didn't want to be a teacher, but I believed that what you would
be in future is not a function of if you did or did not raise your hand. I tend
to ask how these children got this kind of thinking that being a teacher is not
what is worth to be called a future? Who told them this single story of the bad
side of being a teacher? The answers cannot be far fetched, as it is obvious in
our very own society. The way teachers are being treated, the way policy makers
under-fund the education sector and all, but the truth is, it isn't only
the teachers and other educationists that suffer from the ineptitude of the
government, in fact everyone in the civil service is a victim of the 'rotten'
system .
About two years ago, I was admitted
to this great institution to study management and accounting but somehow I
found myself in Arts and social science education (economics). At first I
felt really bad (which is expected), I thought 'what if I had the right
combination? ''what if I knew someone who could put me through? ' but then I
realized I had to face reality and exit the world of what if's and face what is
. Some people told me if I had passion for accounting, I should have
written jamb once again with the right combination, but I believe passion is
something that is developed, I developed passion for accounting because i
did that in secondary school and I was really good at it.
I faced reality and started
developing my passion for education, as I begin to love my brand. I know of
course-mates who despite the fact that they choose education (out of
frustration and desperation) , they don't like being here, they always
lament and they always feel inferior and unworthy. I don't blame them as it has
been said that once the purpose of something is unknown, it's abuse is
inevitable, shall we blame them for lack of insight and foresight?.
When I talk at times, I do criticize
myself internally and as I am writing this, something asks me " is
it not that I am only justifying the quote that says 'when the desirable is
unavailable, the available becomes desirable ' "? No, I am not being
pathetic here, I have the option of taking another utme exam, I choose not
to, I have the option of crossing to a new department (even though the chance
is slim) I choose not to, as I believe I can make impacts here, a friend
and course mate once told me to face the reality that by studying education and
economics, I am entitled only to teach economics in secondary schools!
And I laughed. As much as I believe this isn't true I still have a
different definition of success, I believe being successful is not about what
you do, it's about how you impact people with what you do.
I read a book sometimes in July 'law
of attraction in the thought world and thought vibrations ' and I learnt how
what you think and feel of yourself at any point in time affects what happens
to you in reality. On this note, I would like to advice my colleagues in
the education line, do not see yourselves as inferior at anytime because
you are not, it starts from here first, if you see yourself as inferior,
can you blame others for treating you as inferior?, Repair your self
esteem, be the best you can be here and stop lamenting as a brighter
future awaits you, disbelief the single and one sided story of education
and see the good side, be the best you can be so that your story can create the
other side and balance the equation.
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