Education vs Schooling
In collaboration with Ifeoluwa Abolarin a final year counselling psychology of Babcock University, she enjoys the arts and is always on the lookout to learning something new, she is a foodie too (lol).
The link to her blog is above.
Enjoy!
School really isn't for everyone. If you talk to an average Youth about getting educated, his response is most likely something related to schooling. We have been injected with the belief that education can only take place in a classroom...and we couldn't be more wrong. If you do your research on Mark Anthony, Bill Gates, Issac Newton and several other successful individuals, you will discover that they all have one thing in common. THEY NEVER COMPLETED THEIR SCHOOLING! So how were they able to educate themselves to the extent that even the "most educated" now study their achievements? Well that's a question you will have to ask them. Please do not misinterpret this writing as a means of discouraging schooling, but rather a means of enlightenment to the young minds in understanding what true education is. Check out this scenario.
Benjamin had graduated from one of the most prestigious universities in the country with a First-Class Degree in Economics, one could say he passed through a school or in this case series of phases at different levels, he was searching for a job that befitted his certificate but that was hard to come by considering the fact that he hadn’t acquired any first-class skill or had any work experience. He was one of the First Class certificated dummies who has been trained on what to think and not how to think therefore getting by through real-life school had become a very big challenge. He finally settled for a driving job he had been offered with his ‘First-Class’ Degree. Mark on the other hand had graduated from the same school as Benjamin in the same course but with a 2.1, passed through the university and had the university pass through him. He also had several work experience from volunteering during the holidays at different companies and organizations. As an ICAN certified individual, had handled different projects and had publications here and there to his name, he also had some investments to his name and knew the relevance of financial literacy. Mark had a good team spirit, even in the face of failure and never stopped taking on several leadership positions while making out time to have some fun; his aspiration was to make the world a better place. Point is, although short of a first-class degree by 5 points, he had been offered jobs in several companies as a result of his outstanding resume and high-level recommendations. Mark believed so much in school but also took it upon himself to be educated not just become a school goer. It's evident these scenarios are made up, but don't be surprised if you see something similar to that happening in real life. You need to understand the implications made in order not to suffer the same predicament as Benjamin (who was undeniably a very smart student). Schooling and education are two terms often used interchangeably, personally I see schooling as a branch of education and not the whole of it. School offers you so little compared to what life throws at you but then school is limited and you my darling are not. Education involves so much such as your level of exposure, inter-personal skills, your ability to learn, unlearn & relearn, emotional intelligence, self-awareness & management, leadership & responsibility, the list goes on and on.
Most students find it hard to get through all this, but at the end of the day, it makes a whole lot of sense, because some times what the ‘A’ students do is cram and get all them ‘As’. Don’t get it twisted, however, because there are A students who do more than just cramming...my point is we should see the need to actually love what we are studying, and be able to apply the theories to real life situations. We should be more than willing to go an extra mile to research and educate ourselves on things that we may not be taught in school. Get over the silly excuse that school is a scam; it isn’t! A certificate actually goes a long way and the formal training could be very helpful in the future. But point is Education goes beyond the classroom. Education is far beyond schooling, education is what differs a road side mechanic from auto shop mechanic and it's what differentiated Mark from Benjamin. It makes you do better and be better than the ordinary. Ps: there are three types of Education. We have formal(classroom environment), Informal(non-classroom environment) and Semi-formal(skills training) Education. Educate yourselves!