YOU NEED MORE THAN TALENT TO SUCCEED

I think everyone is born with at least a talent. If everyone is born with a talent, you shouldn’t think you don’t have what it takes to be rich. All you need to do is discover your talent, have a passion for it and go for training. The secret of success is like a key. It’s only the possessor of the key that can open the lock. To get the key you must first understand your purpose.

Your talent is the skill you are born with. Your aptitude to naturally do something that is hard. Of cos you have talent. There are people that have talents but do not have passions. Therefore, it creates dissatisfaction because they do not love what they do. Although they are talented they do not like it, so they are always dissatisfied.  There are those who know they have their talent and passion, so they get satisfaction. On the other hand, they are those who do not know what to do but love doing it, they have no talent but they have a passion (it is like a person with no musical talent but have passion for music).

Meanwhile, intense fervour or enthusiasm toward your talent gives way for great opportunities and success. Most times, some talented people ignore their talents and pursue what is not meant for them. Sometimes, it could be that they are in an environment where everybody does a particular thing and they want or have to do the same thing too…, you will agree with me that most people live like this. It might just be to please someone or some people. Sometimes, they have a passion for what is not in them. These kinds of people are liable to getting disappointments and dissatisfaction because they left their world to another. Nevertheless, their passion for something could make that thing theirs if there is determination.

Also, experience gives you an edge to knowledge. It is what you’ve done in life and what life has done to you. Experience is when talent and passion meet with reality. It helps you to bring your talent and passion in real life situation and helps perfect yourself. Don’t miss quote me, nobody can be perfect but the convergence of talent, passion, experience and training can give to a step closer to perfection, so, you need training.

Your formal or informal training is what you have learnt to do. Sometimes your formal training may be in line with your passion but most times it may not directly relate to your talent. For instance, you want to be a musician but you have gone to learn to engineer. It doesn’t mean that you acquired knowledge of engineering is a waste. You may not see the benefit of your training to your talent immediately, but over time you find a way to engineer your engineering (training) into your music (talent).

You may not see the immediate connection but subsequently, there will be a convergence because something in you is going to rediscover that talent and when it discovers it, it will make it richer because you have experience and a different training mixing up with your talent and you would create something more profound and greater. It doesn’t necessarily mean that everything in the school has to go in line with your talent but everything you learn will find a way into your talent if you have passion. Be passionate about everything you do and don’t discard your training!

By Patricia Oke

DEFENSIBLE C’S ARE BETTER THAN UNEARNED A’S

The issue of ill-gotten grade is a serious cankerworm that has eaten deep into the fabrics of our school system. Our universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, post-primary and even primary schools have been turned into grade acquisition centres where people go to buy the best of grades or certificates with parallel “A” scores. This issue though a serious one has not been given the serious attention it deserves. This is because, those who should have fought against the menace of ill-gotten grades are busy increasing the fake grades acquired by students; as such their hands are tied. They cannot deliver one another from the disease that is bedevilling their school authority.

 

The reason why fake grades are spreading like wildfire is that; society seems to be paying too much attention to paper grades. It brands those who possess them as ‘highly intelligent’ without examining them to know how they acquired such grades. Surface it to say that Nigeria is deteriorating today because we’ve got the wrong people leading in some sectors. These people may be in position through the aid of connection and godfatherism, with certificates carrying parallel A’s or certificates tagged ‘First class’ without the ability to defend them. You may be wondering how this is done, even when students who graduate with first-class results from tertiary institutions usually defend their result before a panel.

Who makes up the panel? Are they not the same unscrupulous lecturers, heads of department and deans who in the first place sold the first-class grades to the students? If a lecturer can be so unethical as to sell grades to a student who offers a little amount of money, what can’t he do to certify the same student if he or she offers a tangible amount? So, not all good grades are genuinely gotten.

It is pertinent at this point to buttress on the effect of these disguised grades. Some students unconsciously mislead themselves by getting involved in unwholesome practices likes,  joining a cult to threaten lecturers, prostituting to afford the ‘grade fee’ and using their school fees to sort as it is generally called. Findings have revealed that some students owe more than two years of school fees not because their sponsors could not afford, but because they use their fees to buy As and Bs. They acquire these grades with empty skills thereby tarnishing the image of their various institutions and jeopardizing the chances for societal growth.

How can a country that hopes for a better future condone such level of irresponsibility? It is high time we arose and revive the Nigerian school system. Let’s call a spade a spade, the student of today are the future leaders of tomorrow and if they keep on relying on purchased grades, who then will rescue this great nation from crumbling? Is it the paper/ unearned As or those that can defend their Cs? To successful tackle this, some changes must occur both in general society and within educational institutions. General education of the citizens on the corrosive effect of acquiring fake grade must occur; consequently, administrators and society at large must fuse efforts to stamping out unqualified grades. It is very necessary and urgent for the committee of chancellors of Nigerian universities to adopt a common and unified approach to solving this problem.

By Ekana Ego Edim

A CHALLENGE TO A CHILD’S DIGNITY

I was not born with a silver spoon or with a gold spoon. My parents were not rich before I came into this world and even after my existence, but we didn’t beg for food to eat. Despite the fact that we were not rich, my parent made sure they gave us (their children) the best care in their capacity equivalent to that given to the rich (children) out there. My father and mother never made us do things that deprived us of education or jeopardize our safety. I never hawked anything on the street. I am not saying these things because I am full of myself nor to criticize anyone but to give my opinion on this menace of child hawking.

There is this pain I feel in my heart when I see a child (minor) hawking, especially when he or she should be in school studying. The problem isn’t hawking, rather why should a little child be hawking when others are studying? I understand that Nigeria has given most homes, situations that they didn’t bargain for, but I think a parent should safeguard his or her child or children from danger. The dangers that come with child hawking is much and can have far-reaching effects on the child as an adult.

First, 90% of children that hawk lacks proper formal intelligence because they have limited time to study (that is if they attend school). Second, a child that hawks could be easily kidnapped, raped, killed or can join a bad gang because he or she will go to places even worse places to make sure he or she sells well. So, image what kind of future awaits such a child. Prostitution, addiction, stealing, lying and so on are probably the answers.

Children are gifts given to families from God. If your friend gives you a gift on your birthday, I’m sure you will cherish and protect that gift with your strength. So, why can’t you protect that gift (child) given to you by God with your strength?

I am aware of the fact that times are hard. However, is the little money your child brings from hawking enough to make times easy? My dear, I think it will make things worse because it could change the beautiful future of your child. You child might join a bad gang, bringing ridicule, disgrace or disappointment to you and your family. If you really need that money from hawking, please do the hawking yourself. At least you are old enough to know danger when you see one, but a child might not. Please do not only care for your child, but also protect him or her.

EDUCATION - A POWERFUL TOOL

Education is the act of learning things around us. It helps us to easily understand and deal with any problem and in every aspect. Education is a basic right of every human being. Without education, we are incomplete and our lives are almost useless. Education helps us to set a goal and go ahead by working on achieving such goal.

Home is the first place of education and parents especially mothers, are first teachers in everyone’s life. We become well-educated persons through the efforts of our parents and teachers. A good education is much needed for everyone to go ahead in life and get success. It develops confidence and helps in building a person’s personality. Education has three divisions such as primary education, secondary education, and higher secondary education. Primary education prepares the base, secondary education prepares the path for further study and higher secondary education prepares the ultimate path of the future. Our good or bad education decides the person we could be in the future.

Education adds a variety of advantages to life, individually and collectively. Here are some reasons why it is pertinent to be educated:

·         Stable, balanced and self-dependent life

Once you are self-dependent and have a reputable standing in society, it is possible to have a stable mind and a balanced life. By simply being educated you’d have little job insecurity, no inferiority complex and well-organized understanding of the world.

            Education may not be the key to happiness but it definitely is the key to a lot of other changes which come together to make you happy.

·         Earn your own living

You ought to work for self-sufficiency and dependency and education helps you gain job opportunities for financial independence. Also, education helps you to build a network with people whose resources might work the best to your benefit, if you choose to be self-employed.

·         Avoiding societal embarrassment

It is extremely important that you be on par with the “knowledge database” to be able to mingle in a certain societal setting without feeling embarrassed or like an outcast. Education helps you broaden the spectrum of knowledge and builds your mind and reason.

·         Keeping up with growths

Unless you are aware of growth, trends and directions you cannot keep up with them. Awareness comes from education. Imagine a world without Facebook! Life wasn’t hard before the existence of Facebook, but surely Facebook made life easier. Education simplifies life!

·         Not being easily fooled

An educated person would listen to all and do what suits him best. It is difficult to fool an educated person for it could take reasoning and logic to get him in the trap.

·         A Healthier Lifestyle and Living

An educated person would know his health, live longer and healthier by resorting to healthier alternatives.

·         Economic Development of a Nation

An economically independent society is the stepping stone for productivity that leads to more economic growths of a nation.

            When the people of a nation are educated, they definitely carve ways to be self-sufficient.

·         The will to strive for success continuously

It is only through education that you’d have multiple level goals and a number of ways to reach them. You will get your dream to come true and you’d try in every way possible till you succeed. The uneducated may have intellectual and labor capacity, but the lack of understanding of multiple ways to achieve their goals is often an obstacle.

·         Ethical values that help make the world more peaceful

It is in the habit of most uneducated persons to spring up on arguments and cause harm to others and to self. Education would rather channel your temper towards a more productive and peaceful goal. The world would be more peaceful without wars and battles.

·         Exposure to the world

Through reading and adventure, you’d be able to understand the culture and history of nations. You’d be able to build your understanding of languages and cultures without simply forming as “foreign”

            Just like food and water is necessary for a healthy body, proper education is necessary to achieve success and happiness. It is the key to success in personal and professional life.

“Education is the most powerful tool one can use to change the world” -Nelson Mandela