Why We All Need To Get Some Cool Shades

We all have an opinion about the different tribes in Nigeria based on the people we have encountered from those ethnic groups and the stories we have been told. When we travel to different states, WE RAISE OUR INVISIBLE ANTENNAE, READY TO RECEIVE THE NEGATIVE SIGNALS WE WERE EARLIER TOLD. As we interact with the people we meet there starting from the taxi man at the airport to hotel staff to the people we do business transactions with, we expect that we will see all the stereotypes that we heard about the people of the state. For most of us, our perceptions of an ethnic group is based on the jokes comedians have told so that when we meet anyone from Warri, we immediately imagine

THE HOLIDAY BUG

Don’t you just love holidays? O the joy of having weeks away from school, not getting up early and not having to do home work. The best part is the freedom from wicked seniors and an opportunity to restore lost vitality through your mother’s kitchen. Wait! Did I mention the part where you can play all day, watch TV any time you want and never remember where you left your school books? Yes, I just did.

Holidays are my best part of every year. I’m such a holiday freak that I almost want to ask my boss to allow me travel for summer holiday. Don’t look at me like that; you know it’s hard to grow up sometimes. 

What School Should Look Like

 “Imagine a school system that recognizes learning is natural, that a love of learning is normal and that real learning is passionate learning. A school curriculum that values questions above answers…creativity above fact regurgitation…individuality above conformity…and excellence above standardized performance…and we must reject all notions of ‘reform’ that serve up more of the same.” - Tom Peters, Author Re-imagine

i have been in the kitchen cooking up some unique recipes that will redefine learning and turn school on its head. The Food is almost ready and will soon be served hot and sweet. My book, "THE CHRONIC SCHOOL HATER" is on it's way and i can't wait to see you relish it.

It promises to be a fun read. To finish the work, i need a cartoonist, a very creative thinker that can get people laughing. If you know anyone please send me an email at giziseven@gmail.com.  

JAMBING JAMB: My long walk to the University of Benin

By 

Chinenye Unique Ilondu

Graduating from secondary school in 2007, all I could dream of was getting admitted into the University to study my dream course, Pharmacy. I registered for JAMB, scored 248 and I gallantly proceeded to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka for my Post-UME thinking, “if I could score 248 in JAMB, why can’t I score same or even higher in Post-UME?” To my utter disappointment, I scored 212. From that point, I just knew that my hopes of studying pharmacy that year had been shattered. I was offered Microbiology which I half-heartedly accepted; at least I was in a University. I registered for JAMB again while in 100 level. My roommates told me, “You have an edge. You are in 100-level in the university. JAMB will be like a piece of cake”, and I believed them.  

The JAMB examination day came and I gallantly proceeded to the examination hall. I just thought to myself that this time, I was going to ‘jamb jamb’. I scored ‘242’ which was lower than I had scored when I was not in the university.  Once again, I was not offered Pharmacy.

I got to my 2nd year in the university wanted to try JAMB again but missed out on the registration date so

The Curious Case Of Sleeping In Class.

So you wake up in the morning, take a bath, brush your teeth or postpone the brushing (well...you know), dress up, eat breakfast or not and drag yourself to school in anticipation of what those long hours of school will bring. For some people, it’s an exciting time to show off all they studied through the night and remind every teacher that walks in to mark their homework while for others like me, it’s time to continue gisting from where we left off the previous day, play pranks on fellow students and meditate deeply while a class is going on. Now in the club of school haters, the word “Meditate” means “To sleep off while reading or listening in class.” Notice that when we woke up to go to school, we never planned to sleep during class; sleep just came on us through the instrumentality of boring teachers. Part of the reasons I hated school was not because of school itself but because we had more boring teachers than we had exciting ones. 

WHAT IF THERE WERE NO EXAMS?

I took active participation in debates in secondary school. Don't look at me like an effico. All I did was to sit at the back seat and analyse the topic while watching the debaters perform. Hehehe...What? Oh, you thought I meant I actually went up stage to argue? Nah, I didn't have strength to memorize three pages full of arguments. In all my years of active participation *winks* there was one topic that stood out on my list of favourite topics and it was "Is examination the true test of Knowledge" I spent more time arguing on this topic with members of my observatory group in the back seat, my point being that one cannot really use exams to measure intelligence when most teachers insisted we memorize a textbook's definition of terms and vomit it on our answer sheets to make marking easy for them. In most exams, your understanding of a concept didn't matter. Well that's a story for another day. But my gist today is based on a thought I have been processing; a world I have been dreaming of; an idea that has grown deep roots in my mind for a long time.

Still I Rise

You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?

Why are you beset with gloom?

'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells

Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops,

Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?

Don't you take it awful hard

'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines

Diggin' in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I'll rise.

by Maya Angelou
get the full poem here http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/still-i-rise/