what’s your take?
Fisayo stared in disbelief at her phone. Disappointment shook through her core, and she felt her whole body go rigid. She could not breathe. She rubbed her eyes and looked at the page once more. Perhaps, she was mistaken. But no, she wasn’t. Once again, she had gotten below the cut-off for her desired course of study. She looked at the 202 on her screen with such disgust she could taste it on her tongue. She stared at her phone for minutes — which felt like an eternity to her — as though staring at it would change the score displayed on the screen, or rather, she hoped it would.
When she snapped out of her trance and saw the 202 on the screen once more, reality sank in, and her body gave in. Tears rolled down her cheeks, and at that exact moment, she knew she had no other choice than to change her preferred course of study to one which she had absolutely no interest in, but with which she could gain admission to study based on her UTME score. She could not afford to stay one more year at home. And so, she went to study a course she had zero idea about. And believe me, she tried — she really did — to excel and succeed at her course of study, but she just couldn’t, after all, there is only so much the brain can do when the heart isn’t willing.
***
James stared at his matric no. and result on the notice board. He made a mental calculation, and his CGPA was just enough to cross the 2’2 threshold. He sighed. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t feel a pang of pain and disappointment but he was in his third year, and after six semesters of putting in his best and not succeeding at it, he wasn’t as fazed anymore.
In his first and second years, he really tried his best and did all he could, but after years of not getting the result of the effort he put in, he gave up. Perhaps, school just wasn’t for him.
***
Fisayo and James were victims of not getting the results of the hard work they put into their studies. So when they stumbled upon the phrase “school na scam” while browsing Twitter one fateful afternoon, it became their motto — the only justification they could find for the unfair treatment education had meted out to them. Whenever a result was released and they did not do as well as expected, they used the phrase to console themselves. When they should be studying but spend their time on trivial things, they would use the phrase to cover their guilt. And thus, the phrase became a watchword among them, like many other students. However, from Fisayo and James’ story alone, it is obvious that the phrase is far from the truth.
Fisayo and James, just like many other students, were merely fed up with not getting the desired results of the hard work they put in, resulting in a familiar comfort of complacency. This begs the question, “what can be done to help salvage the situation?” How do we keep the hopes and dreams of students and stop them from turning to phrases like “school na scam” for solace?
We at Stranerd have one major goal — to let students study smarter and easier. If you pay close attention to Fisayo and James’ story, they had one thing in common, they both studied hard, but many factors come into play here — Were they studying the right way, with the right study materials? Stranerd was built with the 3Cs in mind — Creativity, Collaboration, and Competition. Perhaps, the one thing that was missing from Fisayo and James’ study strategy was getting the right resources from fellow students who have gone through their current stage; this would have made it not just easier for them but much better since they would have a well of experience to draw from.
At Stranerd, our app was built with all these possible scenarios in mind. Students can now collaborate, get study help and resources at their fingertips. With features like Flashcards, Study Notes, Ask a Question, Study Library, Study Videos, and our upcoming Classes feature, the future of education is about to be revolutionized and we couldn’t be more thrilled to be at the epicenter of this revolution.
Sign up today on Stranerd.com, so you do not miss out on the amazing features Stranerd has to offer!
