WHAT TRULY IS SCHOOL?

Chinese Proverb

I'm at the point of leaving the first phase of higher learning, and with less than a month to my final exams, I try to reflect every day on how my journey through the four walls of higher learning has been. Looking back at a journey that started in 2016, it brings me so much joy to say I've learned, and have grown. But there raises a big question; is my current level of success tied to my level of education?

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Before I answer this question I will first like to share an experience that happened in my school early this year; My school is a private school so we use the word Director instead of the conventional vice or pro-chancellor. So my director called for a meeting of students, and we were all gathered at the school's largest hall. Talking to that number of students will require a microphone and a good number of speakers which were provided except that the director felt there are engineers in the school so connecting the amplifiers to speakers and mixers shouldn't be a problem.

Coming into the hall with my fellow Engineering students (The entire faculty works together for such meetings being proud engineers) We saw our lecturers, HODs, and even the Dean of Engineering struggling to connect amplifiers to speakers and mixers. The whole connection was so wrong that there was only one word on our lips...

So after all these, the lectures will set an exam for use asking us what is the amplification of an amplifier? Or they will ask us to calculate amplifier gain in the transmission of signals but can not connect an amplifier to a mixer.

We had to save our faculty the shame our lecturers were about to bring on us when we saw the director sitting and wondering what our lecturers have been doing for over 1 hour 30mins. We fixed everything within 15 minutes and some of the lecturers were trying to take the credit for our work while others respectfully went to their sits with their heads down in shame.

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MY POINT IS THIS...

If our lecturers do not know how to be practically successful in their specialized field of study, then everything we learned in school is a joke. Now don't get me wrong, I'm just stating the facts. However, I don't think the institution of formal educational learning is school enough to school us into success, this is because the majority of the things I know that have earned me money and little recognition were not learned there. Although I think this institution is only important for teaching one how to learn. One might say that the likes of bill gates and Mark Zuckerberg didn't finish school, which is quite correct, but remember they were school dropouts which means that at a point they went to school and learned to learn to become successful. I think that's why Alvin Toffler said

The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.

Meaning the act of learning is imbedded by the school, At those times we were learning all the rigorous mathematical formulas, expressions, and equations, we were not learning to use them in real life, but to train our minds to think through difficult life situations. But then again, this isn't enough, what is the point of training my mind if I'm not physically proficient in my field of study? If you are going to prepare my mind, also prepare my skills. I will say at this point that a person has not gone to school until they have gone in search of practical knowledge in their respective field of endeavor.

This is my entry into hive Ghana weekly prompt, you can read more about it here

Thanks for stopping by my blog today, until next time.