Education: Is Certificate Truly Worthless?

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A fellow Nigerian,  @temmityeu is of the view that certificate is worthless. I intend to clear some misconceptions surrounding such views not forgetting his social condition (being a Nigerian). To put the record straight, i shall begin with a conceptual clarification on the meaning of education and the types of education.

Etymologically, the word education is derived from the Latin word educatio which means a breeding, a bringing up, a rearing.  source 

Education can be defined as the process of bringing desirable change into the behavior of human beings. It can also be defined as the “Process of imparting or acquiring knowledge or habits through instruction or study”. source

From the above, it is clear that education is tool designed to better human and at the same time to understand his environment.

It would be wrong to assume or conclude that education is purely a classroom activity. Education goes beyond sitting in a classroom and listening to a teacher or lecturer teach you that which they were thought or read.

There are two types of education, namely formal and informal education.

Formal education is the popular way of going to school from primary to tertiary. It is a well organized and classroom lectures that follows a particular pattern designed by some people. It is like a 'one way traffic' such that the pattern listed must be followed so as to pass exams. 

Informal education is a non-classroom way of learning. It is wider and more flexible compared to the formal education. It involves things we learn at home, on the street, in the community. It is not an organized way of learning.

Socrates, an ancient Greek philosopher believes that proper education is nothing but a reminder of that which we already know. Socrates used dialectical method to teach his students different subjects. Dialectical method used by Socrates is the method that involves question and answer (See my previous article on Innate Ideas). He believes that we cannot be taught new things in this world but can only be reminded of that which we already know.

Plato, a disciple or Socrates and an idealist believes  that there are two words, the world of forms and the physical world. The physical world for him is the world of appearance, a world where things are constantly changing, a world that solely depend on perception. According to Plato, we cannot know anything is the physical world. 

The world of forms on the other hand, is the real world, world where true knowledge can be attained. Proper education, knowledge is the one devoid of senses because senses are full of illusion.

In Nigeria, education is very important for anybody who wishes to be recognized or respected in the society. Being a country with many languages and over 600 dialects, it becomes imperative that we have a common language that connects us coupled with the fact that we were colonized and needed to communicate with the colonial masters with a language which they understand. Thus, English becomes a language that Nigerians must know how to write and speak fluently.

Recently, education in this part of the world (Nigeria) and other countries is facing the challenge of forcing itself to be relevant. Do not judge this position easily without reading the concluding part of this work.

In my great country, best students in primary, secondary and even tertiary schools hardly get any recognition. They are given notebooks, stipend, school bags, packs of indomie noodles etc,. Hardly will you hear that these brilliant individuals receive scholarships from either the government or an NGO. 

Unemployment is another blow on education. Day by day, those who do not have the formal education do 'well' in life. A musician earn per show the annual income of an educated person. There are even lot of projects like Project fame, Nigerian Idols, One Voice, etc., that rewards winners with millions in cash and new cars with multiple contracts.

When similar projects are organised, say debates, the rewards are the things i mentioned above which are notebooks, pen, pencils, maths sets, etc,. You wonder if these people are really being encouraged or discouraged! The same way teachers are being told that their rewards are in heaven!

Do not get me wrong, education is truly aimed at creating rational, sound and brilliant individuals who will ensure the continuity of every hitherto society. Its aim is to create improved individuals mentally. However, what is its use when after the years you dedicated for it, you cannot feed yourself? Do not forget that we live in a capitalist society where profit is the order of the day and to survive you have to work and receive the reward of your labour which is wages and salary. 

In my country, the level of unemployed graduates is alarming. Whenever we see that another batch of graduates have left NYSC (National Youth Service Corps), we wonder what they will do to survive? Sometimes, we have this view that the number of unemployed graduates are higher than those still in schools! This could be an exaggeration but it gives you an idea of how unemployment has eaten deep into the Nigeria economy. 

These problems could be the reason a fellow Steemain @temmityeu argued for entrepreneurship as against having formal education (certificate). He believes that formal education is being over hyped and that we should shift focus to creating people that will solve some of these problems.

We should not forget easily that we all cannot be entrepreneurs. No matter how much emphasis we place on the importance of being self dependent, we all cannot be producers and manufacturers. 

This reminds me of Aristotle's view about man. Aristotle maintains that man is a social being. A social being because no man can live in isolation. No man, he argues, can provide for his self needs. That is, nobody is self sufficient. While some are farmers, some are hunters and other engage in different things. This is why we pay for things we cannot produce and sell that which we produce but are surplus.

NB: A good certificate is better than a 5 million naira in the account of an illiterate or non-educated. 

Do not forget that when the question of societal relevance is raised, only those with adequate and prerequisite requirement would be called upon. In the present day, if you are not educated, you have little or no importance especially when you cannot even speak or write good 'world languages' (Whether English, French, Portuguese, etc,.). 

I'm yet to see where an uneducated individual that cannot speak good English (do not forget that this discourse has been about Nigeria and i already mentioned the fact that English language is very important in my country) is made a president or governor in the present day democratic settings.

It is not also misnormal to say there are pool of opportunities available for the learned and formally educated individuals. The importance of formal education cannot be over emphasized. And as i have earlier mentioned in @temmityeu post, without formal education (being a Nigerian) he would not have been able to communicate his idea that certificate his worthless. So it is like a double standard position because that which he benefited from is what he is condemning. 

An egoist (the view that we act because we know we will get something in return) would say @temmityeu is only trying to discourage people from having tertiary certificates because he wanted a society where he is only recognized as learned and rule according to is self-interest.

Thanks for reading another work by @smyle

This work is written by @smyle and the two excerpts used above are properly credited.

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