REALITY CHECK #26 - A CRAZY YEAR'S LESSON

WRITTEN BY - @zedtells

2013 has 13 more days to wrap! If I am asked to describe the year in one word I would say crazy! It was a crazy one for a lot of reasons; I stretched myself beyond my limits, I dared to dream and I did see the dream come alive, this makes me smile all the time as I have surprised myself.

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My crazy year started with a crazy idea that wouldn’t let me sleep for many nights. I had been posted to serve during my NYSC at a school with a fundamental challenge which unknown to the school management was affecting the student’s performance adversely.

The Challenge:

When interacting with student’s I was assigned to teach, I never failed to ask the question “What do you want to be in future?” my rational behind asking was to deduce if they really had an interest in the class they were placed or the subjects they were being taught. For every 10 students I asked I got 8 students who stated professions that were not related to the subjects they were studying currently. The most shocking one was a student in art class who wanted to be an Electrical Engineer but wasn’t given the chance to enter science class because his mathematics was relatively weak. This situation wasn’t new in the Nigerian educational system but it made teaching very difficult. Standing in front of a class with a chunk of uninterested students, is like trying to break concrete with a hammer which is a frustrating task.

My Solution:

I decided to come up with an e-career alignment program offering career advisory service to students using the tool of technology to discover the interest of students and suitable careers for them. Also bringing experienced career counselors to interact with participating students.

Some Feedback:

The career edge day was great I learnt a lot from the professionals who came to speak especially the counseling session gave me a better understanding of a career path in accounting. – Oludele Esther

The program was well packaged and I’m excited as I learnt a lot from the aviation counselor. I’m looking forward to a great career in aviation – Olanrewaju Ope

Following up on the participating students I observed a significant rise in their academic motivation and 70% of them had it easy getting promoted to the next class.

It wasn’t an easy feat considering this was an unfamiliar terrain but something kept pushing me to continue. Perhaps it was a drive to see proof that my unorthodox method could yield tangible result. All the logistic challenges didn’t deter my effort, and I learnt some very clear lessons:

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    You can only fix a problem when you take time to understand the root cause. Most times the solutions we adopt are a temporary fix to the problem which is for a while it doesn’t nip it in the bud.

·         Nothing is achievable with unachievable mentality. I ran into diverse challenges trying to execute the project; my major challenge was getting my stakeholders especially the school management to understand how important this would help resolve the poor academic performance they were currently experiencing as a school.

·         The education sector needs a lot of revamp and we have a responsibility to realign the odds for the younger generation.

·         You don’t know how capable you are of a thing till you try.

·         Satisfaction comes from helping people discover their personality, potential and igniting their passion. Olanrewaju will be entering aviation school next year this makes me very glad as there would one child less in the wrong profession in the next 5 or more years.

·         In helping others discover themselves I discovered myself. No impact is too small!

I may be one of the few who dared to dream and saw it come true this year. But I am genuinely disturbed when I listen to people talk that about splendid ideas that would make great impact even to an industrial level but have done nothing about it. Nursing ideas for years and doing nothing is a dangerous game to play more like gambling with potential seeds.

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Although the year is gone it is important to begin to prepare the sheets for 2014. Start with writing down that one thing you always wanted to do but have procrastinated for years. Is it a book? Publish it, a business? Start it, a certification? Get it. Whatever it is it’s never late to make the most of life and no one is responsible for your dreams but you!

This is my learning point this crazy year.