It hurts anytime I see First Class graduates reach out to me, in search of a job, and I can’t help them. Here are the questions I ask myself:
- ”What else does a graduate need to succeed?”
- ”Are certificates not enough?”
My former colleague in school, Ajewole Samson, told me, ”Forget First Class. In fact, some of them are just bookish. They actually cram to pass in school. Only a few could actually defend their certificates.”
He continued, ”The First Class on paper is different from First Class in the brain. Interview some of these so-called First Class graduates, they have nothing meaningful to offer. This is the 21st century, the future belongs to those who can use their brains.”
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I paused and reflected on this. Indeed, the future belongs to those who can solve problems. Those who can replicate their academic success in real life. But here is the question – as a First Class graduate, what can you do?
You have excelled academically, but how can you navigate your way through?
You can sit at home and brag about your academic achievement, it still boils down to what you can do with your head.
Finding a job takes the grace of God in a country like Nigeria. While you sit and lament about life not being fair, be intentional about your life. Take actions. Learn something new. You never know what lies in store for you. If you can excel in school, you should be able to replicate that in real life.
The similarity between life and school is – both require hard work and dedication to be successful. Your success in school shows that you are hardworking and dedicated.
Now, get up and show the world you can do it. Don’t give up! Fight for what is yours. The world is ready for you, but are you ready for the world?
Think about it.
Chinedu, you are correct to say that life and school require hard work and dedication. That is about where it ends. The days of glorious First Class is gone forever.
The purpose of Life and school are different. School is built around industrial age requirements an systems and now is information age. School system is obsolete and cannot serve this age. School produces tools for industrial age. Again the industrial age required labor to be classified to serve the industry and producers. Unfortunately in this age, Life requires innovation, inventiveness, the use of wisdom, understanding, knowledge and common sense. In Life everyone belongs to his own class and there is no pathway comparison.We are now in the age that require us to think and deduce information from myriad of data to solve problems. Consequently, first class certificate not accompanied with the factors that make life useful to humanity in this information age is useless. Life needs us to apply all disciplines of knowledge. First class certificates are often in an aspect of philosophy that has limited logic and common sense. My advise to youths is go to university and acquire knowledge and the logic of life for strategic living and philosophy for change management. One will then be able to think and proffer solutions in the things of life in this age.Life requires the application of knowledge, wisdom with understanding through strategic thinking, based on philosophy.
A good read!
To be intentional about making a difference
Lovely write up
Good write up, thanks for sharing your experience.