Ever
since his essay “When Education Becomes
Indoctrination”, has gone viral, enjoying publication on different
websites, blogs and newspapers across the country including The Guardian Newspaper. Soul’e Rhymez has been resilient in his
bid to redefine education. In a bid to
do that, the writer, who is known for his controversial style of writing
haven’t stopped getting attention from people, both positive and negative.
The
eccentric public speaker and poet raised another set eyebrows again on the 12th
of November, 2016 at a seminar organized by Dream Achievers World (DAW), tagged “Sabificate beyond Certificate” where he was invited as one of the
guest speakers.
The
seminar which has the likes of Mr.
Christian Nonso, Mr. James Ifeanyi, Miss. Juliet Obi and Mr. Emmanuel C.S Eze in attendance left
a lot of questions in the minds of the audience, who battled to understand the
difference between schooling and education.
Soul’e Rhymez started by
affirming that education in the country is a brainwash, thus leaving the
audience confused as to whether they should give up on schooling. He traced the
current state of the country’s economic meltdown to wrong definition of
education. According to him, if education was not wrongly defined, Nigeria
wouldn’t be going through economic crises.
He
said that the educational system seems to have been defined to produce only
employees, who go out searching for unavailable jobs.
He
backed up his assertion up by asking the students if anyone of them will want
to go to the polytechnic after graduating from secondary school, but only one
of them raised his hand. He asked how many of them will like to attend the
university and all hands were raised. “That’s the problem” he said. The students
believe the university is the ultimate of education, but Soul’e disappointed them by proving otherwise.
According
to him, over concentration one institution of learning, the university, among
hundreds that are available is the source of economic crises in the country. He
said that not all the students should be in the university, judging by talents
and passions which vary. He made his point clear by making reference to Abraham Lincoln, the formal president
of USA, Charles Dickens, the writer
of the famous Oliver Twist, Ronaldo,
Messi and the likes, who became huge success without the university
education.
This
caused uproar as the teachers in the school, where the seminar took place got
so uncomfortable with his teachings. They believed the students are been taught
to forgo schooling and tried their best to stop him from poisoning their minds.
But Soul’e Rhymez, who went ahead to also confirm that schooling is now a
manipulation could not be stopped.
He
left questions yet unanswered and other speakers surprisingly went in his
direction.
Miss. Juliet Obi stressed on the
importance of talents, urging the students to be bold enough to do what they
feel is right for them; to follow their talents and make something out of them.
Mr. James Ifeanyi Oladipupo, the founder of
IDRAW and formal principal of the
school urged the students not just to go to school, but to create a career out
of their talents. Both speakers hereby agreed with Soul’e Rhymez’s definition of true education, which is “learning to
develop talents and liberate passions to make for relevance to oneself and the
society”.
Mr. Christian Nonso steered up
another controversy when he came up and made it known to clear to the students
that schooling and even the uniform they are wearing is a conspiracy. According
to him, schooling is an evolution and education is a revolution. He urged them
to settle for the revolution instead of evolution, hereby agreeing with Mr. Emmanuel C.S Eze, the president and
the convener of Dream Achievers World (DAW) in his speech where he asserted that
schooling is deliverance, while education is freedom.
Soul’e who after his speech was called
aside by one of the teachers in the school and scolded for seemingly trying to
poison the minds of the students and stop them from coming to school made it
clear that he is not against university education, but against
overconcentration on it and seeing it as the only form of education without
which they can’t be considered educated. According to him, university is one
institution of learning which is good only for those whose talents and passions
could be developed and liberated there respectively.
He
urged the students to take their own destiny in their own hands by revealing
how he got several opportunities to study abroad but declined them because the courses
he was given did not align with his talents and passion.
Soul’e revealed that if everyone is
given the type of education that helps develop their talents and liberates their
passions, crime, which is most times due to joblessness, will reduce in the
country as there will be many employers of labour.
Finally,
he urged the students to settle for the type of education that helps nurture
their talents and liberate their passions alone.
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