I loved #school...oh I really did!...I loved literature and English and Art (especially drawing and painting..I was really good at it!)...but guess what!I hated Math!!!...back then I hated it cos that was how the schooling system went...they had a list of subjects every student was 'judged' by and if you didn't pass the accepted grades, fogerrittt!!!..it was like you didn't know shit!...when I got older and experienced more enlightenment, I knew I didn't hate Math,I just didn't understand it..also it wasn't my forte and the more I didn't get it the more I got frustrated, and the more i got frustrated the more 'getting it' got farther and farther away from me ...it's akin to society and it's views on marriage..if you're not married at a certain age then there must be something wrong with u!..so you feel ostracized if you're not married..you feel like an outcast...you're sorta declared persona non Grata...so you find yourself doing all kinda things to be married to belong..or you're always on the defensive about why you're not married..and you risk coming off like you hate marriage or that you're a feminist..and you know what 'feminism' means in Africa. ..that you dont need a man..you're not 'submissive'..which actually means you're a disrespectful woman...I could go on and on and on...I wonder what they say about unmarried #men though....do they go through what we women go through?..hmmmmmm
Every body has what their brain is equipped to process and understand and execute well..what I simply mean is we all have our individual #talents...be it talking,cooking,writing,selling, shoe-making,driving a cab,etc ....that's why someone said 'if you judge a fish by its inability to climb a tree then you're committing the most injustice ever!'...those are not the exact words the person used but you catch my drift,right?. ...somethings come easy to certain people...so if you don't get somethings you shouldn't be discouraged. .just know it's not for u!..find what you're good at and hone it!...one plus one is not always two...one plus one can equal three!..I feel our education system should be revamped already...a lot of people were conditioned to feel trapped in school cos they felt if they didn't go through that process they wouldn't be able to fit in society's idea of a successful person...they won't get good jobs which in essence means no source of livelihood ...'education is the key' I hear someone say...'key to what' I ask?... don't get me wrong, getting some sort of guidelines to equip you with knowledge is important...the question though is am I getting the right knowledge which is essential for what my IQ is capable of handling?..a lot of us,including myself ,wasted many years and resources we didn't have on a path we didn't have any business being on....I'm saying that cos today I'm doing things I knew I liked already at a very tender #age..I knew that I was good at those things ..my Art,my writing,etc...but I had to go through someone else's 'path' of knowledge search to get back on my path!...what a waste!!
It's about time we #focus more on home schooling for younger children...they know early on in life what they love doing..the Government should recognize homeschooling as an accepted form of 'education' alongside the other schools for specific sectors..example fashion,media,acting etc...the parents and guardians get to spend time with their kids and also help them discover their talents...it's like killing two birds with one stone....due to the internet age most parents don't spend time with their kids no more...they just get them a tablet of sorts to keep them company...kids as young as a year old already know how to use a mobile fon when their brain is not even developed enough to grasp what the #device is and what it entails to use one...as young as three year-olds already are playing internet games. ..we are losing our kids..we are losing the generations to come....and we should sit up!...we should expand on our scope of knowledge search and gathering..let us leave the stone age where it belongs..in the past!
Look at someone like Kwame Despite (from Ghana )for example..everyone knows his story...he's not 'educated' in the #traditional sense but He's very successful and kind and generous to boot...He's given lots of people a chance to earn a living...on the other hand I know graduates who are still job searching after five or even ten years of graduating from UNIVERSITY..some even had to pay for those certificates cos their brain wasn't equipped to deal with the mandated syllabus. ..some had to sleep with affluent people to pay their way through. ...some had to exchange sexual favors for grades....some had to exchange sexual favors for jobs because that paper meant nutin to some people....there was this story of a graduate who ended up selling bread on the streets...and later built a successful bread business out of it..if he'd not been forced to go through the 'education' system he would've started his bread business way back and wouldn't have bothered getting 'educated'..for me,education means learning to read and write basic things..and also knowing general stuff about the weather,food,etc..a little bit of math,science etc..general things about life...which any parent or guardian should be able to do for their ward....we #learn a lot as we grow older ...experience is the best teacher...when the child shows interest in certain subjects then you can take them to designated institutions for those specific areas.....a lot of dropouts (I always hated that word!..so derogatory!) 'dropped out' cos that's not where they wanted to be..they shouldn't BE made to feel bad about that....look at Ebony(may she RIP) for example...she became a successful artist after dropping out of school..yet she was made to feel like it was a sacrifice...THOUGH it wasn't...singing put food on her table..isn't that what they said education would do?. .she could read and write..she was articulate and she was doing what she loved and was good at it..too bad her dreaam was cut short not long after it was realized! ....chale!...
I studied Marketing many years ago when people didn't know what it was...I myself was lost as to what it entailed but I chose to study it cos I couldn't get go to University (for crap reasons )and I had to still get 'educated' even though I'd finished A Levels!!...that course was expensive...it was a UK affiliated #course so ofcos I had to pay in pounds!...e hard oo!!..I had many challenges getting the funds,pounds I meant!...sigh!!....eventually i didn't even bother finishing the 3rd level...I could only complete the first two levels....it's been so long I can't even rember the names of the levels!....then I proceeded to job hunt for years and years based on the certificate I had...and I struggled to get a good job...when you have a marketing cert in Ghana your options of job 'capabilities are limited....you can't go looking for a bank job if you didn't study banking....yet in some cases people studied one thing and ended up working in a different field...take for e.g. ,my good buddy Gideon Aryeequaye who studied science in school but ended up as a news anchor. .and he loved doing it!...the system is comme ci comme ça....hmmmm....they have created structures that is not very #reliable.
Some of the Universities these days charge an arm and a leg to provide education. ..and every year the fees increases. ..parents are practically selling their livers to give their kids an education....they want them to become lawyers and doctors even though the kids don't want to...even when they are not capable of doing it...most kids feel forced to study these subjects not only cos society says so but also their parents too!!....pressure pressure pressure!..another derogatory word I hated and still hate is 'illiterate '....just cos someone didn't get educated in a building he's automatically labelled 'illiterate' ....but the person might have life education which can be more valuable than anything else....being a graduate today is overrated!..working in an office,as my friend Akua Blakofe recently said ,is overrated. .working 9-5 is overrated .wearing an ill-fitting suit and sweating like a fish outta water is overrated...who asked us to wear suits to the office anyway?..suits are made for certain body types and weather ....you'll see #someone forcing his monstrous bulk into a suit and tie. .with all his muffin - tops and love handles spilling out of the pants like there's no tomorrow!...and the tie digging into the skin of his neck like he's committing suicide with a hanger's noose !..imagine someone's image of a serious,successful person is trying to sell you business drenched in sweat and rumpled and dusty from walking in this relentless heat of ours!...would you take that person serious?..please sew and wear clothes that fit your body type for work or anywhere else..suits are for those who have the body to pull it off...wear clothes that will make your body breathe freely..clothes that will minimize sweating..plenty of us can't afford our own cars with A-C..I went through this same longsleeved-shirted/suited era when I worked briefly with Stanchart Bank..the pay was crap and so I always arrived at the client's soaked in sweat from sitting in trotros and baking in the Ghana heat!..I have a flat arse so no I wont wear fake-hipped clothes that will make me look like a tree in a tent..know what works for your body type,i say again!......our lawyers please stop wearing them stupid wigs and gowns...I sweat when I see them clad in them!...urgh!!!!over 60years of Independence indeed!..ma foot!
Way back our #African prints were only appreciated by the tourists ..Ghanaians sewed only Kaba and slit with those fabrics..but thankfully today things have changed and suddenly we appreciate our fabrics..instead of that government idea of only wearing Ghana prints to work on only Fridays, it should be made WEAR AFRICAN print clothes to WORK...to WEAR anywhere else everyday and anytime!...let us take back our lost identity as Africans!..thanx for reading! ..#shalom #gaylesgifts
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