Reading as a mandate has been explicitly discussed in previous articles. This beautiful day, we'll be considering the shortcomings encountered in achieving the reading mandate of students. Yes, today is beautiful because you are reading this presently and you'll make use of this forever as we all read and learn new things almost every day of our lives.
To the above question, yes, a reading mandate can encounter shortcoming! Truly, students in academic institutions which are the main targets of our campaign, Eradicating The Cramming System in Nigeria's Educational Sector have been mandated to read, however, as a result of one (either major or minor) shortcoming or the other, students fail to carry out this mandate bestowed on them.
What then are the factors or under which circumstance will a student fail to fulfill his/her primary obligation as expected in an academic institution where he/she finds himself/herself? The major term under which all of these shortcomings can be classified is "distraction." And we have so many factors at play responsible for this distraction under which we have internal distractions and also external distractions.
I'll be starting with the internal distractions within a student. These are internal struggles within a student, battling with oneself to choose between right and wrong. A student might recognize reading as a mandate, however, he may continue struggling within himself to either read early or engage in other activities at the he beginning of the academic session and then wait till examination period to cram. This can be attributed to laziness or misplaced priority, most times, the student is aware of the negativity involved in this. Infact, he is constantly reminded by his parents and school authority that his mandate and primary purpose in school is reading, however, there may be continual inner struggle within him to do the right thing, reading or the wrong, ignoring this mandate of his. Unfortunately, most students as a result of their makeup, beliefs and ideals ignore this mandate and choose other activities over reading even after their inner struggle sessions.
External distractions which are great influences to the reading mandate of students are also prominent shortcomings.
We have the family, which as I love stressing always, is the first point of contact for every student. The background or makeup of a family especially one's parents play a huge role in the achievement of a student's reading mandate. Parents, who are mostly unavailable to monitor their wards or to ask after their academic progress in school can serve as a shortcoming to a student's reading mandate.
Friends as proven over the years can make or mar one's academic journey. If wrongly chosen, they can derail or deter fellow students from paths of fulfilling their reading mandate supposed to result in their academic success.
The system of an institution can also frustrate this reading mandate of a student. In a situation where the syllabus is over loaded and students are being given voluminous materials and lecture notes to be read and tested on in examinations. This alone can frustrate a student's reading mandate, make him/her scared of reading for such a course as he/she is even confused on where to start from! Thus, such a student procrastinates reading and eventually resorts to cramming when examinations are at his/her doorstep already.
Lastly, the society at large can serve as a shortcoming or hindrance to the achievement of a student's mandate. A society which has no regard for reading, where reading is no longer celebrated and even graduates who toiled hard and read thoroughly while in school are still walking the streets with their first class degree certificates while a graduate who crammed, unable to defend his results or even came out with poor grades is smiling every month to the bank to receive his monthly salary with many zeros behind the first set of figures courtesy of his "connection" to top office holders in the particular organization he is working in or even outside with influences. A student aware of all of these, may be frustrated and decide to shun reading as he is not sure it will be of benefit in his society. Sadly, this is the situation in Nigeria today! Students are searching for reasons to fulfill their reading mandate, yet none is surfacing! They are only confronted with their elder ones and seniors who read and graduated with high grades sitting at home or working at a very low paying job not even befitting a cleaner!
#IChooseTheReadingMandate
#StopFrustratingTheReadingMandateOfNigerianStudents
#EncourageReading
#GiveUsReasonsToRead
#RespectAndPromoteReading
Writer: Aduragbemi Akintepede (Duwa_Diva)
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