I love my country. It has taken a lot from me, but like a wicked but rich spouse, it has given me a proverbial Maybach to sit in while I wipe my eyes with a face towel self-delivered by the legendary Paul Smith himself. So, I weep in the other room wondering what it would take to change its fortunes. Why would a nation seem committed to self-destruction? Every day, we see Nigerians arguing that other nations are responsible for our underdevelopment. This makes me wonder how we have become so blind to our unforced contributions. Do walk with me as I lament my countrypeople.
Every year, over a million persons write the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) organised by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB). Last week, the news media were awash with reports that the authorities had set the minimum entry scores for tertiary institutions. Over the years, the minimum scores have progressively reduced in a downward thrust as if we were drilling in search of crude oil. Now, with 140 marks out of a possible 400 (35%), a person can seek admission into a Nigerian university, while a polytechnic aspirant gets a 40-mark discount to demonstrate the equality between polytechnics and universities. Not to be cheated out, potential teachers seeking to study in a College of Education are fine with 100 marks. If this article stopped right now, I would have somewhat alluded to Nigerians being portrayed as too dumb to pass national exams, but let us continue.
After seeing the news, I went on a rant on my WhatsApp status about Nigerians forcing everyone to seek a degree, which is one reason why the minimum scores keep going down to accommodate more persons. Due to economic misbalances, persons who could have become globally renowned artisans after a solid apprenticeship are pushed into perpetual struggles with passing exams, and some would later get employed in positions above their intellectual ability. Of course, smartness comes in various forms, but this discourse is about those without the ability to be “book smart”.
Imagine a nation that thinks teachers are not important enough, so it seeks its intellectually least-endowed persons to become trained as teachers. Thereafter, when these incapable teachers combine with poor educational facilities and systems to train children unable to pass exams, this nation drops the entry requirements rather than addressing the drivers of the rampant dumbness. But that is not the whole story.
Now, imagine Lionel Messi playing in an era without Cristiano Ronaldo, or maybe playing in the Nigerian league. Would he get anywhere near his full potential? The Nigerian state, maybe due to decades of national cake sharing cum federal character enforcement, seems not to understand how competition and averages work. By forcing underperforming students to learn with high performing students, the average performance drops because there is little catalyst for the best students to unlock their full capabilities, and classes get bogged down with many students struggling to understand even the simplest of concepts.
Unfortunately, the people who design the educational policies and set these shameful cut-off marks are likely to send their children to top-tier private universities in Nigeria or schools abroad. It would seem like the advantaged ones are legally dumbing down the rest of the population to give their own children a leg up with regards to intellectual abilities. Many parents would rejoice that their children can now become undergraduates with their 140/400 score, without realising the system is merely condemning them to a lifetime of mediocrity.
But here is the twist. While the national average keeps going down, we have been seeing more cases of some persons scoring above 300 (75%+). A friend drew my attention to this as a clear case of increasing inequality in academic performance. As a few students access quality education and secure high scores, the majority access shitty education and secure disappointing scores thereby requiring national help to join the tertiary education bandwagon. Now, there are other reasons why UTME candidates are underperforming, but the quality of education would surely be a major driver. As earlier stated, some of these candidates have no basis for seeking tertiary education if not that the economy is much less gracious to the “uneducated”, as we have failed to create a system where a random skilled craftsperson can earn enough to meet all of his or her needs, alongside a reasonable amount of wants.
At the end of the day, we are nurturing a system of progressive dumbness. Dumb students become dumb graduates, who become dumb economists, who dumb down the economy, making it more difficult to access quality education, thereby producing dumber students. With such a self-replicating system in place, Nigeria does not need any external forces to block our development because by continuing to destroy our educational system, the next generation is losing the international game before their round even starts.
PS. A few schools like my alma mater, Obafemi Awolowo University, have refused to go below 50% (200/400) as the minimum to even study Aztec Cuisine, and this is very good to enforce some basic expectations of excellence.
Image Credit: flickr.com
Jilomes 