111 ways of unleashing your potentials in academics
This book has gone a long way to providing the parameters as a guide to students who want to achieve academic excellent in schools. Anywhere people gather to learn or study. This book also will provide comprehensive framework and capacity building for the understanding and also appreciate the problems that confront our students in schools today.
INTRODUCTION
Today in Nigeria, all of us cannot afford to see situations and close our eyes as if we are not seeing what is happening in our education sector in the country. There is no need burying our entire God given talents in the ground, on the belief that we must be a professor or at the peak of any career before we can counsel others.
As a researcher, I have been able to identify some problems that bedevil our educational system. I was made to understand that we are in the jet age, which implies that everything had to be done in a hurry nearly everybody in the country behaves like the people that are found at the railway terminal or at the Oshodi Bus Stop at Lagos.
If we can have time to look at the account of creation of the world in the bible, you will agree with me that God did one thing at a time; and how comes now that man want to do everything, he/she wants in a second. Ever since man felt that he was fast, that he can do things anyhow; it doesn’t matter – there our problems begun, because the Bible says that the heart of man is desperately wicked.
The questions we will ask ourselves are: is there any elder at the gate of our educational system in the country? If yes, have they been performing their duties? The United States of America has it in their currency inscribed “in God we trust”, which implies that before they carry out any decision, they must have to consult God first. As a Nigerian citizen, I can say that in the 1970s when we were practicing the old-time religion, Nigerians were made to benefit from udorgi (a certain oil money that was paid to every Civil Servant in the country). There was operation feed the nation, there was festac, there was merit in the country, there was no much emphasis on paper qualification as such, the issue was on merit; our educational system, which was one of the best in Africa and even the world. Again, if you gain admission into the University then, your parents will organize a thanksgiving for you and share testimony in the church, what about today? The reverse is the case, from the research carried out so far, it is evident that we have to go back to the old-time religion on the issue of our educational system. We must tell the elders at the gate of our educational sector to know their function and duties so that they can bring the revival that we needed now before things will get out of hand. Also, individual organizations and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) should give a helping hand on this issue.
Finally, I am using this medium to remind us that if Nigeria has to be among one of the best twenty economist in the world by 2020 as postulated by the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, I think that we have to look inward into this research work and create good awareness or sensitization to our students in order that it doesn’t matter and doing it anyhow will not allow us to achieve our desired objective for this country and Africa at large; because Nigeria is the focal point of African policies. We have to come together to replenish Rivers State, Niger Delta, Nigeria, Africa and the world at large. God has given us the power. It is recorded in Genesis 1:28 “Be ye fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” Again, in Proverbs 11:4 “where no counsel is, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there is safety” NIV. We are going to come out of this dilemma in no distant time from now.
TABLE OF CONTENT
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1. Do not dress like you are on top of the world while going for lecture 2. How do you manage your time? 3. Do not seat in a class and allow yourself to have body contact with your opposite sex 4. You need to know your level of assimilation, because God did not create anybody to be a daft 5. Outside your normal lecture hours, you need to read for seven hours extra everyday 6. Are you aware that today students read to pass exams rather than reading to be intelligent 7. You need to set your goals as a student. 8. Do not depend on anybody to pass exams 9. Do not walk with friends that will not add value to your life 10. Do not travel unnecessarily 11. Ask for your course outline in every course from your course lecturer or your teacher 12. Do not carry load that you cannot bear as a student 13. Stop having sex as a student because it makes you loose focus 14. Do not go to circular school to train yourself as a pastor 15. Do not go to school to think that, that is the right time for marriage 16. Go and read only when you have made up your mind 17. Do not cheat in your assignment, test and examination 18. Do not allow what you see to change your mind 19. Do not get to school and loose sight of the reason why you are in school 20. One stupid statement you make against Lecturer can give you an extra year 21. Do not sleep for more than three hours in every twenty-four hours as a student 22. Learn to commit your ways to God so that He can direct your path 23. Always learn to tell God that nothing will keep me more than my required time in school 24. Learn to appreciate people you meet on your way 25. Learn to enter into covenant with God concerning that which you think to you is impossible 26. Do not eat food that will make you sleep at night 27. Every day you need to revise your (home) work after school 28. Do not contest for Student Union Government (SUG) election if you do not have the grace 29. Do not join cultism in school 30. You need to go an extra mile to be at the climax 31. The student’s affairs department should control the rate at which students embark on war camp 32. As a student, you need to fix your mind on the exact grade you want to make 33. You need to write out statement or things that will not bring failure to you, and read it every morning and night before you go to bed 34. Parent need to know, how their wards are fairing in school 35. Qualified teachers should be posted to our secondary schools 35. Non-Government Organizations (NGO) should team in partnership with the Government to sensitize or eradicate failures in our educational system 37. Government should setup machinery or committee to discipline students who are found on the road during school hours and erring teachers 38. Inability of students to answer examination questions keeping to time 39. The school management should setup a better machinery for the computation of students’ results 40. Student should keep their body holy to God (practical holiness) 41. Students poor handwriting 42. Making wrong friends 43. As a new student do not offer yourself for destruction 44. Copying from your fellow student in an examination is wrong 45. Not attending lectures, not doing assignment and absenting from test 46. Copying from text book is bad 47. Wrong spelling 48. Parents help to contribute to students’ failure 49. In order to pass exams, students use their course mates to buy favour 50. Double coincidence of failure 51. Lack of tolerance on the part of student 52. Students wrong approach of asking from God 53. Invigilators help to fail students by not conducting themselves in the proper manner during exams 54. Examination bodies also contribute to students’ failure 55. Lack of conducive learning environment 56. Students who fail to submit their papers before time in exams 57. Wrong mind set is first point of failure 58. As a student, you need to switch off your mobile phone while reading 59. Fear causes memory failure in examination hall 60. When you fail, do not quit 61 As a student, you should know that you will give account of yourself 62 Failure comes, when a student can’t defend his/her result/certificate 63 Peer pressure influence 64 Loading a student with domestic work at home 65 Over feeding contributes to an increase in the high rate of failure among students 66 Spending so much time in cyber cafe 67 Cultural week that is organized in our higher institution of learning is bad 68 Looking beautiful at the expense of your academics 69 Poor result kills initiative 70 Some teachers are very conservative in awarding marks to students 71 School fees drive should not be done during examination period 72 The problem of power outage 73 Poor implementation of educational policies e.g. (I.T. in the Polytechnic and University today) 74 Young working-class ladies, refuse to breast feed their babies up to the required period of one year 75 Some students, do not know how to implement their plans 76 Most students fail as a result of wrong information 77 Teachers are poorly remunerated 78 Hunger and talking too much are two keys that fail students like wild fire 79 Inability of students to plan their time 80 Lecturers should take enough time to mark students’ script 81 Students of this dispensation lack boldness. 82 What is your assertion; that if you put anything in form of reading, it’s hidden from a Blackman 83 Any student who makes a grade that cannot take him or her to the next level of studies has failed 84 You need to change your Attitude and Skill 85 Lack of modern facility in our school e.g. megaphone, instructional materials etc, 86 Most times teachers do not want to write on the black board in this dispensation 87 Lack of seriousness among teachers e.g. living their work for their private business 88 Inability of students to practice their homework and ask question on what they do not know 89 Lack of self-discipline or self-control 90 How will you know a student that is failing in school? 91 Most students do not know how to take their problem to God in prayer 92 Student Union Week activities should be checked and controlled by the school management because they mislead students 93 Lack of good quality teachers 94 Lack of guidance and counseling unit in our post primary school 95 Lack of science equipment in Secondary Schools in the country 96 Lack of teaching aid 97 The greatest problem a student will have is not being able to ascertain whether he will pass or fail 98 Changing your ward from one school to another when his or her result is poor 99 What are you going to do to be a proactive person or you will join those who says “Nigeria has failed” 100 Let us again look at examination malpractice in relationship with wrong mindset and the word of God 101 Inability of students to work hard brings fear 102 The encouragement students get from teachers during teaching is very poor 103 What comes to your mind, when you pay somebody to write examination for you? 104 Motivation, incentive and encouragement should be given to teachers nationwide 105 Inability of students to revise their past question papers 106 The school management should check the duplication of project topics in our educational system 107 The school management should setup high powered committee and strong machinery in motion that will enable lecturers submit their result at a given date and period 108 The school management should introduce conference marking for student examination 109 Parents ask their ward to study discipline they are not good at 110 As a result of acquiring material wealth, parents give less attention to their children education 111 Most students fail because they think they cannot read and pass exams and also inability of government to select good or seasoned administrators to head institutions |
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Today in Nigeria, all of us cannot afford to see situations and close our eyes as if we are not seeing what is happening in our education sector in the country. There is no need burying our entire God given talents in the ground, on the belief that we must be a professor or at the peak of any career before we can counsel others.