it seems like not for the money but for the holders ego sake.
that a university degree is useful.
it cost say 5 or 6 years but at the end , the bsc /ba graduate
has more self esteem that the secondary school student.
and with M.A ,phD the self esteem goes higher - though the pocket
depth may not correspond.
and people correspondingly , in their mind, consider non university
graduates to be half human. as if theyr retards,that's why
they seem suprised when the "dimwits" do sth. exceptionally well
they say "he isnt even a unversity graduate"
meaning - he's a slowpoke yet he's so smart - this is
the exception - only university graduates aught to be as smart,rich,
successful as he/she is - the sheep - whose brain is one quarter alive.
infact is seems like an injustice - they won't say it loud - that
non university trained people should be successful !!!
like success is the exclusive domain of the paper holders.

^^
Can we keep it all on one thread, where you can just state all your issues, and we can thrash them out there?

Anyway,you're wrong. University degrees are not for gaining self confidence. Try learning particle physics at home, and see how far you get.

@ajanlekoko

na only you dey career thread?

any way. pa-r-t-i-c-le physics??
why would you want to study that?
if not to increase your self confidence? your interest comes last.
what did you study , animal husbandry, english, yoruba. guy 4 says "particle physics"
wow!!! - rare course.
professor in particle physics- wow!!!
bullshit.
lets face it, exclusivity is the main reason people want t get degrees.
so its really for self confidence.
how much does a man really need to "know" to appear intelligent and "make" it in life?
secondary school education is enough.
but - dare say u don't have a university education - an auxilliary qualification and
people look at you like you a talking goat? cmon, nobody really wants to admit it.
but that's the fact.
that's the fact that makes arsed men - demi gods - cuz they can with a stroke of the pen , sway destinies.
cmon u think some lecturers would be enticed to leave their jobs - no , with the power
they possess they can do and abuse . why? because , men think and the thinking is
entrenched that - "without a university degree" you're nothing.

I don't have issues - but i like to speak the truth - which often appears bizzare.
okay lets leave the rotten nigerian educational system.

why is education abroad so expensive - you really think its cuz its so
hard to deliver?
spare me- the price is built high because of human psychology -
its no more education but acquiring prestige - aint that self confidence boosting.

why do people have phD's?
oh they'll tell you they love knowledge to death.
spare me - they want a cheap legacy beside their puny existence.
they may never make a dent in the world on ignorance but its not for contribution
to knowledge - its an ego thing.

point is - education ,especially in nigeria - is a name and ego thing.
how much of acquired knowledge in nigeria is moving nigeria forward?
you talked of particle physics. i believe we have professor of all sorts here -
why haven't they made an impact on the local power malady?
we have departments of computer science here right?
tell me , what impact on the global world of software and computation
has Africa not even nigeria made.
all the softwares you download - come from where?
all the softwares running banking systems come from where?
so what's the army of professors in computing doing ? toting their names.

usetime:

@ajanlekoko

na only you dey career thread?

Sort of. I'm the moderator.

Anyways, you make good points. However, let me take you on one journey back, say, 600 years, when the white people first showed up in Africa.
What did they find? A bunch of natives running around in the bush. And what did they do? Take as many as they could as slaves, and beasts of burden. And also lock down the territory for the next 550 years odd, keeping the ones left behind in perpetual subjugation.

The white people came with guns and machines - products of knowledge, knowledge of physics, chemistry, astronomy, medicine, all those things you are now scorning. With the knowledge they had, they built things that they used to subdue the rest of the world.

Have you ever wondered how it is that Britain, a small island of less than 20 million people (at that time) managed to conquer and subdue virtually all continents? That's what knowledge can do for you. Have you also wondered how come Africa has not been able to use any of its national resources by themselves, while the Oyinbos are the ones packing everything away in its raw form, only to come back and sell us the finished products?  Knowledge at work again.

My summary to all your arguments is - yes, you are right, maybe a lot of people do these things in Nigeria for ego purposes. I don't pretend to know. But the reason why we have so many problems in Africa and Nigeria particularly, is that we don't have enough knowledge. The little we have, we don't even know how to use it to make life better. It's not the knowledge that is bad, after all the rest of the world is using it to maximum effect. It is us Africans that need to figure out what it's supposed to be for, asides getting a job to fill your bellies. Period.

Oh, one other thing.
University degrees abroad are expensive for one reason only - they have properly ascertained the cost of acquiring education, while we are still deceiving ourselves here. You want to learn how to design and build supercomputers? You should have a supercomputer in the university you go to, ideally. How much would a typical supercomputer cost? You do the math. Oyinbo people are not like us, who convert health centers into medical colleges without ensuring that the right resources are continually deployed to fund a quality medical education. End result is we turn out butchers instead of skilled medical personnel. Same old vicious cycle. Oyinbos practise capitalism, meaning, you have to pay for it yourself. I have no problem with that.
For Nigerian education to be of comparable quality, someone's got to pay for it. Government can choose to pay, or ask you and me to pay. But the bottom line is, someone has to pay. That's the simple difference between Real Madrid and Asec Mimosas. Are they paying the same wages to their football players, and are they achieving the same things?

usetime:

it seems like not for the money but for the holders ego sake.
that a university degree is useful.
it cost say 5 or 6 years but at the end , the bsc /ba graduate
has more self esteem that the secondary school student.
and with M.A ,phD the self esteem goes higher - though the pocket
depth may not correspond.
and people correspondingly , in their mind, consider non university
graduates to be half human. as if theyr retards,that's why
they seem suprised when the "dimwits" do sth. exceptionally well
they say "he isnt even a unversity graduate"
meaning - he's a not-so-smart person yet he's so smart - this is
the exception - only university graduates aught to be as smart,rich,
successful as he/she is - the sheep - whose brain is one quarter alive.
infact is seems like an injustice - they won't say it loud - that
non university trained people should be successful !!!
like success is the exclusive domain of the paper holders.

Education generally makes you intelligent,forget the degrees.

usetime:

it seems like not for the money but for the holders ego sake.
that a university degree is useful.
  it cost say 5 or 6 years but at the end , the bsc /ba graduate
has more self esteem that the secondary school student.
and with M.A ,phD the self esteem goes higher - though the pocket
depth may not correspond.
  and people correspondingly , in their mind, consider non university
  graduates to be half human. as if theyr retards,that's why
they seem suprised when the "dimwits" do sth. exceptionally well
they say "he isnt even a unversity graduate"
  meaning - he's a not-so-smart person yet he's so smart - this is
the exception - only university graduates aught to be as smart,rich,
successful as he/she is  - the sheep - whose brain is one quarter alive.
infact is seems like an injustice - they won't say it loud - that
non university trained people should be successful !!!
like success is the exclusive domain of the paper holders.

I'll disagree with  you completely on this. Having a degree goes beyond just gaining more self esteem, it comes with some specialized skills especially in science based courses. Mind you there are some skills that are believed to only be taught in the university example is structural engineering, no matter the number of years an uneducated builder spends in the business he can't put up an high-rise building without some complex calculations which can only be learnt in the four walls of a classroom. Tell me if such skills can be classified as self esteem? That doesn't mean an uneducated person can't  be richer, been rich is a different thing entirely.

University education gives one specialized skills to excel in society, but ultimately(& u can't escape this) goes to boost & buttress your ego\self-esteem. man is a social animal, & any animal for that matter, we all seek out means to attain prominence in society. we want more respect, & excelling academically is simply one of the means of getting that.

Imagine the social titles pervading the nigerian society: alhaji ABC, Architect XYZ, engineer OPQ, High-chief DDC(what happened to just "Chief"? ), most-reverend ABC, Barrister OPP, need i say more?

It all boils down to social status(after the degree\skill).

Everyone seems to be right, but personally, i believe a degree is a piece of paper.  for example:

What would be the faith of the  intelligent guy who was expelled a week to his final exams because of some social mis-doings (maybe s.exual harrasment)

What about the one that couldn't complete his fees and was logged out of the school system, refused a subsequent visa renewal and returned to naija without the degree papers

what happens to them, what are they without the papers

What about the sharp-man that bribed his way through university, graduated with a 2.1, works as a drilling supridendent in Shell Nigeria and is a member of several professional organizations both locally and internationally because he has the papers

i agree with what the poster said about university education
in Nigeria, let look it this way
lot of engineering students are working in the bank as cashiers
lot of computer science student are out seeking to work in an industries where they do not belong to and vise versa
so by this i believe going into the university is just to be more confidence and to have self esteem
ok in Nigeria what will a person that studied linguistics, or banking and finance, and lot more that does not relate to old field company be doing in company like chevron, shell, or any other oil producing coy, most company believe that no matter what u studied in school u will still av the idea of what they are doing as far as u will still be trained in the field.


my boss studied masscom while in school he end up being a GM in his own established logistics coy
but that does not mean those that does not go to school does not av what it take to be successful

I seriously agree with the poster to some extent base in Nigeria!

Education comes in different forms Some people learn on the job and are given the necessary lessons (depending on who the tutor is)

Hamid O:

I'll disagree with  you completely on this. Having a degree goes beyond just gaining more self esteem, it comes with some specialized skills especially in science based courses. Mind you there are some skills that are believed to only be taught in the university example is structural engineering, no matter the number of years an uneducated builder spends in the business he can't put up an high-rise building without some complex calculations which can only be learnt in the four walls of a classroom. Tell me if such skills can be classified as self esteem? That doesn't mean an uneducated person can't  be richer, been rich is a different thing entirely.

I agree with you, but it really depends on who you learn from. theory and practical goes hand-in-hand.

And by the way, how much can you be thought in school. Remember employers value experience than degree

Knowledge is measured by how much (money, patent, invention, etc) you can make out of it at the end of the day

An average self employed uneducated trader in onitsha market is better than an unemployed degree holder

* * * *There are 5000 janitors in the United states with a Phd http://gizmodo.com/5671062/there-are-5000-janitors-in-the-us-with-phds 

djojo:

i agree with what the poster said about university education
in Nigeria, let look it this way
lot of engineering students are working in the bank as cashiers
lot of computer science student are out seeking to work in an industries where they do not belong to and vise versa
so by this i believe going into the university is just to be more confidence and to have self esteem
ok in Nigeria what will a person that studied linguistics, or banking and finance, and lot more that does not relate to old field company be doing in company like chevron, shell, or any other oil producing coy, most company believe that no matter what u studied in school u will still av the idea of what they are doing as far as u will still be trained in the field.


my boss studied masscom while in school he end up being a GM in his own established logistics coy
but that does not mean those that does not go to school does not av what it take to be successful

Same happen in the west too

I think everybody is right to an extent, was just mulling over this fact a few days ago, that why do we go to the university, take the case of a computer engineer in some of these our university, who was so poor, could not afford a laptop and was so unfortunate not  to find one in the laboratory of his university, spent 5 or 6 years acquiring the book knowledge and on graduating could not do anything on a computer, hands-on despite the fact that he came out with a 2.1, and the case of a school cert holder who went to the computer village straight after graduating from the secondary school, 4-years after is considered a guru in his field of knowledge, so why go to school in the first place. I know of graduate who studied not what they are really interested in but rather what they were offered and when they graduate they are worse than when they got admitted into the university in the first place, I am not in agreement with the poster, but there are times i ask my self, why do so many Nigerian youth waste time in the university? is it just for the sake of been refered to as a graduate?

Actually, I need to ask everybody something: Are you all regretting that you went to university?
In my opinion, tertiary education is important, everything studied in school is relevant. We need as many people to go to school as possible, even in Nigeria. It doesn't matter if you studied computer science and ended up a bank teller. The truth is, you're more valuable to the bank than a guy who didn't go to any school.

greenpea:

I think everybody is right to an extent, was just mulling over this fact a few days ago, that why do we go to the university, take the case of a computer engineer in some of these our university, who was so poor, could not afford a laptop and was so unfortunate not  to find one in the laboratory of his university, spent 5 or 6 years acquiring the book knowledge and on graduating could not do anything on a computer, hands-on despite the fact that he came out with a 2.1, and the case of a school cert holder who went to the computer village straight after graduating from the secondary school, 4-years after is considered a guru in his field of knowledge, so why go to school in the first place. I know of graduate who studied not what they are really interested in but rather what they were offered and when they graduate they are worse than when they got admitted into the university in the first place, I am not in agreement with the poster, but there are times i ask my self, why do so many Nigerian youth waste time in the university? is it just for the sake of been refered to as a graduate?

the answer is simply because every job in Naija require a degree as the first requirement. I know of a supermarket in Ikeja that posted a vacancy for a "sales boy" with B.sc or HND in computer science simply because they acquired some sort of computerized screen point of sale system.

Another reason is that most naija girls have sworn never to marry any guy that is not a graduate, same applies to most guys. * * * *Note this caliber of people are the ones whose measure of literacy is by the amount of English you speak

@ Ajanlekoko, I dont regret going to the university, but at times you ask yourself, why waste all those year studying engineering if i knew i was going to end up in management, yes the university granted me some exposure but truth be told, i think we need career counselor to guide our youths aright so they they dont just waste beautiful time in the 'university', when most of them could have performed better in technical schools or acquiring skill in some artisan trade,mind you we all know alot of drop outs who made beautiful things of themselves, i can remember reading sometime back that going to the university kind of restrict your intellect, i mean most graduate cannot think outside of the box now!

@ turbo, i think the average Nigerians career is not designed by the the owner but rather by what the university offered you or what the labour market allowed to eke a living from, is that not so?

Dont get me wrong, i value education but am begining to kick against the four walls called 'the university'

There's nothing like it, it gives one self confidence, exposure, field experience and the ability to excel in life. Its everything an individual needs in life inorder tobe self fulfilled. I am talking of a University Degree. Its life in Nigeria because you can invent anything in this part of the world but the first question that will come out of the lips of many is whether the inventor is a Degree holder, if not you will hear them say, he try sha. so its everything in naija

Just imagine a friend sending you a text inviting you to his induction then adding a Title (Pham)
What is the meaning of this rubbish?
Fine we agree you have gone to school to study Pharmacy but why add the title/Prfix to your name?
I don't mind the suffix but not before the name,

What refined a "successful person" is not the knowledge acquired through formal learning in the high institution(s) ,rather wisdom and self-education compounded with advantage gained on past failures and unfavorable risks ( failure is not a sign of ignorant but an act of perfection ) . My point is this ; academic qualification/formal education is good , but then , in most cases it makes the holder feel arrived ( living on hope and faith without practical efforts , always having the thoughts like " with my credentials my tomorrow is bright ), therefore depriving one the practical leverage to aspire/fight for true comfort of life ( economic freedom which brings developmental and infrastructural enabling system for healthy and happy living ), and the end result to this abnormality is abject poverty you see in the arsenal of most of the supposed formally educated people . I rest my case .

turboman:

Everyone seems to be right, but personally, i believe a degree is a piece of paper.  for example:

What would be the faith of the  intelligent guy who was expelled a week to his final exams because of some social mis-doings (maybe s.exual harrasment)

What about the one that couldn't complete his fees and was logged out of the school system, refused a subsequent visa renewal and returned to naija without the degree papers

what happens to them, what are they without the papers

What about the sharp-man that bribed his way through university, graduated with a 2.1, works as a drilling supridendent in Shell Nigeria and is a member of several professional organizations both locally and internationally because he has the papers

I strongly believe there is no such person in shell Nigeria, Take a look again he developed himself after school and can handle his job description. A multinational will not employ someone who can't do his job. Whether he paid his way through school is not important. You think Shell is  NNPC?     Mind you these job roles are not handled by just being smart, You think the design considerations put in place before an oil well is developed is child's play? No come here dey talk dust ooo. Profit is the watchword of multi-nationals , when they have no JV to handle they lay off workers. Mind you a member and a fellow are two different things,

from an outside point of view

on average every nigerian you meets claims to a degree of some sort

and comparing with with USA (just looking at population) they dont claim like nigerians

my question is, is nigeria teaching more or having more universities than american or these people lie

Somehow, somewhere, sometimes  the university graduate are more impotant than others that posses something similar to what they have  e.g HND and the likes but all the some illitrate are stinkly rich coz most of alaba  boys where i hapen to come from are illitrate but they boost of 200MILLION and above.

ZIM DRILL:

from an outside point of view

on average every nigerian you meets claims to a degree of some sort

and comparing with with USA (just looking at population) they dont claim like nigerians

my question is, is nigeria teaching more or having more universities than american or these people lie

Well, I think the US will probably have more university graduates than Nigerians in terms of sheer population size, and also number of schools. When you look at their literacy rate also, it is in the high 90s, while Nigeria is 69%. I don't think we can match them either way.

Nigeria, well, would have maybe 10-15% of its population as university graduates, which is probably an exaggeration. Though we have more than a hundred universities and about 50 polytechnics, they don't admit more than 150,000 a year (about 1% of the population. But the 10-15% is probably more than the total number of university graduates from the rest of Africa. So, for a non-Nigerian African, it will definitely look like there are a whole lot of degree-educated Nigerians.

Another way to look at it could be this: Depending on whereabouts in the world you live, you may be meeting more degree-educated Nigerians than non-degree educated Nigerians, since these are likely to be the ones that legally migrate to other countries looking for work and a better life. In contrast, you might not be meeting that many degree-educated Americans. It's neither here nor there.

AjanleKoko:

Well, I think the US will probably have more university graduates than Nigerians in terms of sheer population size, and also number of schools. When you look at their literacy rate also, it is in the high 90s, while Nigeria is 69%. I don't think we can match them either way.

Nigeria, well, would have maybe 10-15% of its population as university graduates, which is probably an exaggeration. Though we have more than a hundred universities and about 50 polytechnics, they don't admit more than 150,000 a year (about 1% of the population. But the 10-15% is probably more than the total number of university graduates from the rest of Africa. So, for a non-Nigerian African, it will definitely look like there are a whole lot of degree-educated Nigerians.

Another way to look at it could be this: Depending on whereabouts in the world you live, you may be meeting more degree-educated Nigerians than non-degree educated Nigerians, since these are likely to be the ones that legally migrate to other countries looking for work and a better life. In contrast, you might not be meeting that many degree-educated Americans. It's neither here nor there.

cool with so many university one would roughly say you got more secondary schools and roughly more high literate level in africa but it is not why ? the highest is zimbabwe in africa

you might not believe it before 1991 we had only one university in zimbabwe, the university of zimbabwe

now we have 9

my question is with hundred universities why the low literacy since it means more unis means more secondary schools and more students to fill those hundreds unis

ezme:

I strongly believe there is no such person in shell Nigeria, Take a look again he developed himself after school and can handle his job description. A multinational will not employ someone who can't do his job. Whether he paid his way through school is not important. You think Shell is  NNPC?     Mind you these job roles are not handled by just being smart, You think the design considerations put in place before an oil well is developed is child's play? No come here dey talk dust ooo. Profit is the watchword of multi-nationals , when they have no JV to handle they lay off workers. Mind you a member and a fellow are two different things,

I'm happy we are speaking the same language. He simply went to school for the papers and "he developed himself after school and can handle his job description". Learning on the job is the secret. I know many more who bribed their way through school school, learnt on the job and a doing really well in the industry today. It boils down to opportunity. if you be Ijaw with B.Sc, the sky is your limit in the Niger delta.
How does a multinational identify someone who can do the job apart for the certificate (papers) presented or the general  questions asked in most aptitude test?
SPDC selects through general aptitude test and subsequently SITP training (which is a do or die affair). When the SITP scheme was initiated, the benchmark was a 2.1 but was later reduced to a 2.2 when SPDC corporate HR found out that some gatecrasher with 2.2 performed better than their 2.1 counterparts.

^^
Can we keep it all on one thread, where you can just state all your issues, and we can thrash them out there?

Anyway,you're wrong. University degrees are not for gaining self confidence. Try learning particle physics at home, and see how far you get.

LOL!! I love @AjanleKoko.

I couldn't read the whole thing, but I get the feeling @poster doesn't have a degree, even though he's around or past the conventional age for one, and he's trying to compensate, no offense meant(!@#$%), and maybe I'm wrong,

we love to amass degrees. but before i get lambasted on this forum, let me say that acquiring degrees really is not a bad thing. the more degrees, the more confidence, but let's stop there for a minute. peoples of the western world, long after their success in acquiring a phd, continue to put their doctorate degree into further research to look for ways add value to the world by way of inventing new technology, discovering new medical solutions to the myriads of health problems that plague humanity - in other words, the work never ends. it seems academia is were our nigerian phd holders usually end up. for many of us, it is a status symbol, but how has that helped to further inventions and innovations for our beloved nigeria, or the world.
ofcourse, you don't need any degree to be successful. i don't know that bill gates has any degrees. the last i remember, i think he dropped out of the university. the point is that we are intelligent enough to add our names to the world's who's who of inventors and innovators, however, our nigerian society or attitudes does not foster or encourage this.

Interesting.
I do not see anything wrong with studying and achieving degrees.

I think what bothers the poster and a lot of others is how it is paraded in Nigeria. A Prof will always want you to know he's a Prof , etc
In some other parts of the world, your first encounter with such a person, you might barely know his/her academic status.

Also, in some countries, there are categories of employed jobs for different stratifications of academic certs; high school, apprenticeship, bachelors, masters etc. I believe we once had this kind of scenario in Nigeria long ago. So, whatever you have seems relevant to you, and you can place a value to it and be respected and appreciated as anyone with any other level. The highest levels are not meant for everyone.

However, and ultimately, this does not stop you from being richer than the 'work place' value of your education, if you can think outside the box.

NNPC is Recruiting now.
Pls spread the news.
www.nnpcgroup.com/

greenpea:

Dont get me wrong, i value education but am begining to kick against the four walls called 'the university'

maybe you didnt know what you went to the university for in the first instance