“𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙙𝙚𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙨 𝙛𝙖𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙪𝙨; “Young Sierra Leonean Graduate Shares Experience She Had With A Friend Who Graduated As The Second-Best Student From Their Department
Social Media Reactions As Young Female Graduate Shares Experie
Abass SesayI “couldn’t agree more. All the struggles we have to endure as students and nothing to prove for at the end is so sad and sickening
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Mohammed Alie Kalokoh “I read this article twice and I see exactly what you have highlighted in our daily struggles as a nation!Emmanuel Macpherson a read.”
Kemoh Saidu Sesay “I can’t agree less. Our school system only train our cognitive minds and leaving out other essentials. Our degrees will keep fail us until the status quo is reviewed. Sad!”
Hundreds of young people has taken on their social media platforms to reply on post after a Sierra Leonean graduate share a sad experience of how university has failed them, replying to her comments, social media users agree with her and said it is frustrating.
A young Sierra Leonean graduate from the University of Sierra Leone, Massah Esther Nyally Bockarie has taken on her social media platform to share experience she had with her friend who graduated as the as the second-best student from our department, she noted that, her fried by the name of Saheed, during college days was diligent and one of the best students. He excelled in all subjects, and never recall him ever being absent from class. “He was the ideal student. “ she said.
“As I conversed with a classmate of five years, recent conversations with my leader and mentor emerged. A hasty generalization you might say, but our degrees have failed us.
My friend in question, Saheed, graduated as the second-best student from our department. During college, he was diligent and one of the best students. He excelled in all subjects, and I can’t recall him ever being absent from class. He was the ideal student.
We argued a lot about theories and I admired him a lot back in college. Today, I think I no longer admire Saheed. He has stopped being the smart Saheed I used to know and is among the thousands of graduates waiting on a job or scholarship to utilize their potential.
He is no longer as quick on his feet as he was when we discussed development topics. I believe him to be stuck and he is doing little to help himself.
I am angry at him, but I don’t blame him. Saheed, like most other young graduates, isn’t to be blamed for their current state. It takes high luck, network, and a level of focus and determination to get a job or create a job in our country. Unfortunately, our degrees never told us this.
Our entire school system is based on getting good grades. We are taught to remember things and not understand them.
We had textbooks forced on us, history repeated to us, maths calculations and logics that we had to pass, never understanding why we had to.
We had lecturers that didn’t let us debate, teachers that flogged us because we corrected them, and bad grades when we brought arguments that weren’t in line with those of the lecturer’s.
It was a one-way street for most lecturers. Their way or risk failing. Saheed had an A in Sampling Survey, I had a C+. We had the same lecturer, but I know I can use that knowledge to create a small marketing research firm for the surging small businesses in Sierra Leone.
Saheed doesn’t know this, because our lecturer back then expected us to cram. We had to write what he gave us and not write or think in “our way.”
Imagine if students graduating with Adult Education were trained to think their way. To create programs that would help solve our adult illiteracy rate or general education problem.
Or our engineers were taught to think their way. To offer solutions to our electricity, water and infrastructural problems.
Or economics and development students were trained to deliver. Oh, the practical solutions they could offer right now. The system they could put forward.
It hasn’t happened so. We select courses based on the jobs available. Be a lawyer, “you must get sideway you go catch a make small money.” “Engineering as you have done so you the get work.” “Dem need social workers na every office.”Our lecturers do little to change these misconceptions or to make us fall in love with our courses.
The pursuit of our degrees strayed us from learning. We saw subjects and modules as obligatory lessons to pass, not life lessons to learn. We ran towards easy A when it came to electives because no one advised us to consider what we wanted to do after college.
I don’t blame our lecturers, like us, their degrees failed several of them. It’s truly luck to break the circle. To stop waiting on one’s degree to help and use the knowledge acquired during the degree to guide us.
Because we had little knowledge passed to us during our degrees, we are all struggling. We struggle to do better at work. We struggle to compete on an international level, and change systems at home.
This is what worries me about getting another degree in Sierra Leone.
Massah Esther Nyally Bockarie” she posted on her Facebook.
Massah Esther Nyally Bockarie is a feminist writer, activist and social prenuer, researcher, Development analysts and Founder, Tutor, PR&Marketing Coordinator at Easy Learning Services
