The Soft Issue
August 2017
Story from Within
In the
thick of
things
By: Ibrahim Owodina
L
ike every journey in life on the path to graduation
comes a low-point. The doubts creep in. The chips
are down too and limiting efforts seems to be the
best bet.
Thick forces seem to be stacked against you from
achieving your set goals. This may happen during your
first, second or final year. But once you are able to take a
breather and think really deep, you then realise the journey
to the Promise Land is nothing compared to the storm you
had weathered.
One of these reflective moments you are likely to
experience is in the race to graduate with fulfillment in
your final year. This means different things to different folks.
For me it means graduating with the set target of second
class upper, making an indelible impact in the school
(department) and acquiring to a great degree the skills
required to succeed in the corporate world and personal
life. To pass through school and let school pass through
me.
It is the build up to the first semester examinations. As
usual, our faces are grotesque and disheveled; hair now
bushy; head appearing bigger than the other body parts
and our once fitted clothes now looking oversized. This
seemingly precarious situation has never been on our
cards but this is five months into the semester and our
contingency plan sees looking good as frivolities—which
we can no longer afford. Money and time!
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The school during this period usually has more
tenants than students. Let me not confuse you, this
means that students in a bid to save cost and avoid
the ‘embarrassing’ Tanke sir choose to stay in school
and save that N50 transportation fare. So when you
see the lecture rooms and theatres full at night, do
not assume students suddenly developed interest in
reading; it’s all for saving that extra N50.
Monday, examination kicks off, we write data
analysis. All efforts to avoid the much dreaded
mathematics proves futile as we are to suddenly
expected to become grandmasters of calculations
(logic as our lecturer will want you believe) if we are
to graduate in one take.
Sequel to the commencement of the examination
all bars have been raised by the class in the race to
pass all our examinations. We must do all it takes
to graduate, this is final year and we are taking no
chances.
Tutorials here and there, most have become regular
night classers and the remaining few are a division
of those scholars who had diligently prepared
for examinations from the first day of resumption
(my bad, I wish I could) the rest consists of those
Bill Gates prodigy who continue to preach how
having good grades is not a determinant of being
successful in life “You know, the real world is
different, you have to be creative, ingenious to make
the
LENS