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.
Upvote, resteem and comment.
Thanks
Saying "certificate is worthless could be ambigous depending on one view-point. Certificate and education are two different things entirely, one can be educated and yet uncertified in different field ranging from schools, labour, trainings etc.
Looking at Bill Gate success standpoint, Billy is an educated fellow but (if records are anything to go by) uncertified as we learnt he dropped out of the university. There are a host of other successful people in our world who don't have a certificate in their field but are successful in such field, and also a bunch of others who dumped their certificates after getting it.
So if a fellow tells me certificate is worthless to him/her i wouldn't argue with him, there are different ways to get the figure 10, 1+9 =10, 2+8=10 3+7=10 4+6=10 5+5 is still 10.
@smyle - A wonderful discussion of value of the certificate. Certificate per say is a piece of paper but it signifies education. Education is what makes us civil and helps us broaden our horizons. I definitely support your view that certificate definitely is valuable - not by itself but by virtue of the eduction that it signifies. Thanks for sharing your views. Upvoted
Thanks for reading it. You truly understood my point!
Again, @smyle, you have argued intelligently. This post of yours deserves my 100% upvote and resteem. Bravo!!!
Thanks @maryfavour ! The importance of education cannot be over emphasized! Without it, i wouldn't be here 'Steeming' or probably know anything called cryptocurrency. Just because it is not providing the desired income for now does not in anyway make it useless!
Absolutely correct, dear! Hopefully, our friend, @temmityeu, will understand your view.
Fire it... Chai
Chai...where is @temmityeu?😂😁 this a blow!
lols! He will check this later!
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@smyle , the postulation that certificate is worthless in my post was based on my personal experience and also based on the experience of underemployed and unemployed graduate around me , I based my study on my immediate enviroment which is nigeria , a country where most graduate are not employed based on their certificate .
I wouldnt want to go deep , because by doing so i will be runing down the same system that made me enlightened , nevertheless my point is that in nigeria your certificate will not get you a job, there are a lot of factors that involve in you getting your dream job, certificate is one of the least, and if yu are lucky to be employed, you will end up working in a field that is not yours.
So do I mean people shouldn’t study hard in school?
Oh, no, you should. But don’t sacrifice every other
thing on the altar of First Class.
Don’t limit yourself to the classroom.
Do something practical. Take a leadership position.
Start a business and fail. That’s a better
Entrepreneurship 101.
Join or start an association. Contest an election and
lose. It will teach something Political Science 101 will not
teach you.
Attend a seminar. ...Read books outside the scope of
your course.
Like i said, your social condition was responsible for your position. Also, your submission about your observation of some graduates was based on assumption. You assumed that such is true for the whole. We call it fallacy of hasty generalization. What is true for part (some) is not always true for whole (majority).
Great i'm impressed. But this is more reason why our youths are jobless this days many are chasing degree and not
their dreams even after the certificate many will still not work
with it.
The more we have these mindset the lesser our
innovations.
Being educated is not about classrooms and all that, it starts from the ability to think outside the box. Not everyone who went to school is educated, you are educated
Thanks boss @ehiboss for reading my blog post. 🙌
School isn't worthless neither is certificate. But in some region, i guess it is.
I support you view 100% @smyle
You actually made a nice caption @smyle "Education: Is certificate truly worthless?". Now lets face fact considering our current situation in Nigeria. Often times, on completion of some years of academic training in Nigeria's institutions of higher learning, graduates tend to presume their academic qualifications will fetch them their dream jobs especially in their chosen fields with juicy offers.
Recently, especially in modern Nigeria this views from Graduates is now an almost unachievable dream or aspirations as the competitions for the few jobs are so much. Imagine this....the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) needs about 1,500 new recruits in 2017 yet the number of applicants was said to be about 1.2 million people which is just too appalling .
In Summary, Education isn't useless or valueless but paying more attention on certificates is actually useless and valueless
I get your point @mickyscofield
I still believe attention should be placed on the certificate. By certificate, i mean GRADE. This is because, there is this competition between grades in Nigeria. Before you can even be allowed to attend an interview (in most cases), you must have minimum 2.1. In some places, there is even power tussle between 2.1 holders as some would tell you from 3.8 CGPA and above.
I think as students, more attention should be on BEING EDUCATED (most cases, the consequence of this is good result), after that the entrepreneur spirit can be borne.
Thanks for reading my article.
Have you seen my Bunghole? My people; we are without Bungholes...
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.
made a president or governor in the present day democratic settings.
Are you ... quite certain of this? lol
More seriously, of course certificates aren't useless. That's like saying guns are useless because someone put you in a warzone with a gun and no bullets. The problem isn't the gun, it's the armourer and the environment thereafter.
Certificates are useful in countries and places and times where (a) the certificate actually represents a rigid standard of competence and knowledge and (b) said competence and knowledge is rewarded by a job worth doing.
Or will anyone claim that having a certificate as a young graduate in 1963 Nigeria was worthless (reason (a) above)? For that matter, we don't have a lot of unemployed doctors, do we (see reason (b) above)
I'm sure about that boss 😀
Thanks for reading it 👏👍
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