By Promise Eze
Even few lecturers (aside those from the faculty of Education) make subtle discriminatory remarks about education students when they teach. Those remarks may be subtle but experience has proven that they could be horrendously lethal. They could be words like: education students may find it difficult to secure employment; Education students are never serious with their books; Education students are the late comers; Education students are lucky to be admitted; Education students are just what they are: Education students.
Every education students in UDUS would agree with me that at one time or the other a lecturer has left his/her mind crippled by the words uttered concerning his/her course of study.
Not only lecturers are the "culprits" here. Students from other faculties have time without number drilled a wedge between them and their fellow Education students. I really don't know where this concept that says "Education students are hapless" was gotten from.
The discriminatory constructs about education students wafting in the air of the school community and in our minds are not true. They are opinions brewed and peddled by ignorant and debased minds. Education students are not hapless. They are not unfortunate. Put without sentiment Education students are indispensable on campus and in society.
Granted, some Education students may end up becoming teachers. Imagine if you walk up to school with your kids and you find out that teachers are absent. Would you give your kids to carpenters or engineers to be trained? Obviously, the answer to that quiz is no. So, why then should anyone with common sense make education students feel useless? I don't expect anyone who went from primary school to secondary and then to tertiary institution blurt out obscenities about Education students. To do so will be a brutish display of ingratitude. If you are grateful to be educated then you should be respectful to those who are the purveyors of knowledge.
Why do I bring this discuss to your perspective? It is because some inept individuals whose business is to monger lies have pummeled the confidence of a few education students. I was told by a student that reading education is a waste of time. I didn't allow my mind to be stuck in the gulag of confusion by his words. I wear my course with pride. I know that my profession is one that is valuable. Why then do I need to feel sorry for myself? I do not feel inferior to any student because I know the path I'm treading. On this I think the school management should make the taunting of education students a crime punishable by law on campus.
Like every other student, people who have been nurtured in the cocoons of the faculty of education can seek employment. People who opine that education students are not employable are not telling the truth. The outside world is laced with individuals who read education contributing their quotas to the development of the country and the economy at large. I don't need to mention that Nigeria is a country where one can work almost anywhere with any kind of certificate. If you don't believe me take a look at your president who has no certificate but is a leader of a country — this is a detour anyway.
Education students have the privilege of earning what I term "two majors" which are a BSC and a B.ED. In the labour market this will be to their advantage. The school itself has given them the opportunity not to heap their eggs in one basket. They could seek employment in the world of education and elsewhere. So, ultimately Education students are not unfortunate after all. I think they are more fortunate.
Like the COVID—19 conspiracy theories the lies peddled about Education should be jettisoned. They are based on emotions and not facts. The inferiority complex injected into the minds of education students is hazardous, unnecessary and unprofitable. Education students are not different from other students who are simply pursuing the meaning and purpose of their lives.
If you are an Education student please wear your course with pride.
ezep645@gmail.com
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