NOT JUST ANOTHER GRADUATE

"Inasmuch as i believe in getting the best grades possible(and why not!) while in school, i am of an even stronger belief that life is not just about grades. This calls for a paradigm shift because SCHOOLING and EDUCATION are not the same."   Yaw Perbi (MD, Capt..)

Th debate about tertiary education has been going on for decades. Prominent personalities in academia have shared their views. In actual fact, the discussions are unending. With the advent of technological advancements, teaching and learning has no doubt been improved. Others are of the belief however, that it has rather relegated seriousness and hard work to the background. Students today prefer googling answers to questions in a test with their smartphones hidden than to prepare in advance and answer these questions extemporaneously.

That is just a part of it. In this piece, we are looking at the question.......What is the actual purpose of tertiary education? 

Ellen G. White, a pioneer in Seventh-Day Adventism wrote;

Our ideas of education take too narrow and too low a range. There is need of a 

broader scope, a higher aim. True education means more than the pursual of a certain 

course of study. It means more than a preparation for the life that now is. It has to do with 

the whole being, and with the whole period of existence possible to man. It is the 

harmonious development of the physical, the mental, and the spiritual powers. It prepares 

the student for the joy of service in this world and for the higher joy of wider service in the 

world to come.  

She summarised it all up in these few words. The aim is not just to produce another graduate. Society, i believe invented education to impart into the younger generation (learning is unending though) the knowledge of himself, his Creator,  his environment, his neighbours and how he best he can take care of what has been entrusted into his hand, seizing every opportunity to improve it. Education was therefore intended to 

1. Teach the student about himself

2. Enlighten him about the course or subject of study.

3. Explain to him, or better still provoke thoughts on how he can use the knowledge of himself and the subject of study to improve the lot of society. 

Anything short of these three does not satisfy the true aim of higher education. Education in general, and tertiary education in particular, is supposed to train all the faculties of the individual, preparing him for service. It is supposed to make him a generator of thought-provoking ideas, not a mere dweller on other people's thoughts. 

Yaw Perbi wrote,......."SCHOOLING and EDUCATION are not the same" 

The school system offers you training in a specific area of study. It prepares you for a profession, job or a trade. It takes true education to prepare you for life. The school doesnt teach you values necessary for life. Schooling teaches you that grades are all, but true education teaches you that good grades, clear understanding of the subject of study, and a right attitude towards life are what it takes to stand out.

 I couldn't agree better with Samuel Koranteng Pipim (PhD) when he said,...................Excellence is not competitiveness. The school system teaches the direct opposite. School makes you believe that you are at your best when you score higher marks than others. Education teaches that you are getting close to your best when you strive to improve on your performance each and every time. That is the aim of education. Continual improvement of oneself, and a heartfelt desire to improve on the lot of society. 

Tertiary education is supposed to 

1. Add more value to your life

2. Broaden your knowledge and deepens your thinking ability - and that is why it becomes frightening when people pass out and rather become narrow-minded or cannot solve problems!

3.Increase your chances of finding a well-paid job with great benefits. ( It however does not guarantee this, else there would be no graduate unemployment)

4. Automatically place you on a higher social pedestal, even among a generally literate population.

5.Provide an awesome opportunity to network - have friends, contacts and "connections" in virtually every field of life.

6.Trim you up to take leadership at the family, church, community and national level.

This foreknowledge is supposed to give you a glimpse of the broader perspectives of tertiary education. Never again should you cling to those myopic views on education. In fact, tertiary education offers you the greatest platform to  Live ,Learn, Love, Link-up and Leave a good legacy. It behoves on the student therefore to strike while the metal is hot and malleable, seizing every opportunity to make himself better equipped for every good work.

In the subsequent writings on this subject, we will be discussing 

Time Management

Financial Management 

Campus Relationships as well as

The God - factor

Before i draw the curtains on this introductory piece on the subject, it is worth echoing these sentiments,.....For the mind and the soul, as well as for the body, it is God's law that strength is 

acquired by effort. It is exercise that develops.

Yes. Strength in any field is acquired by effort. Hard work still pays. Whatever it is that you are studying, it is worth investing your time and energy in. Laziness doesn't produce only a poor student, it also produces a  useless graduate. While it is emotionally satisfying and rewarding to have A+ in all subjects, it is even more prudent to have the extra + to make it an A++ education. After all, of what use is your education if it doesn't improve your life and the lives of others?

Lets all strive for an A++ education.

Did we get it wrong?

It was in the year 2009, at the Eastern Regional  Capital of Ghana, Koforidua where i chanced on this e-book that was to leave me with a lot of unanswered questions. A Venusian Arts handbook, authored by one who prefers to be known only as Mystery. He captioned the book, ........ THE MYSTERY METHOD, How to Put Beautiful Women Under Your Spell.
The author outlines a step-by-step approach to luring women into one's fold and playing on their susceptibility to eventually have them screaming in his arms while warming his bed. I do not agree with him on his ultimate aim, getting as many women into bed as possible without necessarily having a lifelong relationship with them. I do however agree with him on the seemingly evident yet ignored features and inborn instincts that drive our social interactions which his masterpiece, at least in the opinion of Venusian artists, seeks to espouse. You may want to read if for yourself. Just send me an e-mail requesting the book and i will mail it to you.
Although i agree with his proposals, which i admit have worked for me in one situation, i rather think winning a woman over and starting a courtship process with her is only a means to an end, but not an end in itself.
It is a means to an end, far more dignifying than the means itself. It is the beginning of a process that seeks to honour the command given by God Almighty in Genesis 1:28..............And God blessed them and said unto them, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it............................

The main purpose of life?
Survival and Replication. As simple as that. We need to survive, and even so, replicate for the purposes of continuity. In medieval times, physical strength was the much needed requisite for survival. Women then admired men of great stature and physique. This was needed not only to protect them from harm by predators, but it was also needed for hunting. Did you notice the two words here? Protection and Hunting.
Today, these same features are the ones women look out for in men but in a modified way, since the women we see today are a result of years of evolution. Of course today, physical protection isn't much needed as is hunting. But the question here is has the motive changed? The approach has obviously changed because of time  but not the rationale. Every woman needs a man who can offer him security. Financial security here is the first they look out for. Second is your ability to inseminate and set the procreation process in motion. Never underestimate that. Your physical strength here, is needed for sex.
Hunting is no longer common, except for fun or perhaps in villages near forest areas, but today your ability to put food on the table is desired by the women much. So the men, we have to be more hardworking.

These are just needed to get the woman. And my disagreement with Venusian artists arise when their argument seems to suggest that the whole process ends here.
It behoves on all of us, lovers of nature, to care more about what happens after the courtship process rather than concentrate on the events that lead to it, no matter how exciting and intriguing it is.

Now i have her. What next?
As said earlier, the courtship process is fascinating, exciting and intriguing. It is one of the few situations that are able to play on almost all our human emotions...........love, jealousy, fear, hatred, anger, happiness.
But as has been proven time and again, excitement is but for a moment.
Getting the dream woman or man is not enough. Keeping him, is also not enough. To me, making a couple whose relationship will not only lead to the continuity of life, but also raise children who will become responsible members of society, children whose actions and inactions will not seek to destroy but preserve nature is the ultimate

Let us not think too much of the means. The end is much more important.
Lifelong relationships are much more rewarding and fulfilling than mere sexual encounters.