The 21st Century Students

  Education in its broadest sense is any act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind, character, or physical ability of an individual. It is the process by which society deliberately transmits its accumulated knowledge, skills, and values from one generation to another. The generation on the receiving end is called “student”. According to Martin Luther King Jnr., “education has two fold purposes; utility and culture”.

  In time past, society had responded to its various needs by adopting several paradigms of education as was suited to solving their particular needs. As epochs unfolded, so did man redefine the core objectives of what to pass on to its students. First, there was education for economic prosperity. Then with the discovery of the beauty of democracy by the Greeks, education was modified to be a means by which it could be secured by sustaining shared values such as justice, equality, and freedom.

  It has been a long march for humanity and finally, we are in the 21^st century, with its own set of challenges and peculiarities. The millennium was ushered in by a dramatic technological revolution. We now live in an increasingly diverse, globalized, and complex media saturated society. This has made students global citizens and digital learners with unprecedented exposure to knowledge. This means that for the students to be efficient, they have to be media literate, hence new curricula has to be designed.

  In the children’s story, “Alice in wonderland”, Alice reacts to everything with “it’s impossible!”. Many educators and policy makers respond just like her when challenged to adopt a new paradigm of education that is suited to the 21^st century; and there is no better time to reinvent schools for the 21^st century than now. But for such schools to ever see the light of the day, then cognizance must be taken of “21^st   century skills”.  Such skills include; critical thinking and problem solving, agility and adaptability, effective oral and written communication, and ability to access and analyze information. This is because students must be thoroughly equipped if they would be able to address a rapidly changing world filled with both new problems and possibilities.

   The 21^st century students should be research driven, not textbook driven; and focus on what they can do, not memorize discrete facts. This will be feasible only when a project based curricula is designed for students. As all manner of thought patterns and teaching pervade our society, students must be able to seek and apply truth for themselves, for it is the mark of an educated mind to entertain a thought without accepting it.

  The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty and we must rise with the occasion.                                                                                                         

Ending Extreme Poverty and Hunger; The GIFTED Way

Business is a game I play, money is a tool I use, but people are my true passion. My waking passion each morning is to find a means to help combat extreme poverty and hunger; my commitment has been to empower youths around me, one person at a time. When a friend sent the link containing the Nigerian Empowerment Foundation’s challenge, I saw it as an opportunity to share my vision for Africa. My hope is that as many like-minded people as possible will see this and initiative and join me to see it come to pass. I chose to call this initiative the “Gifted Network”.

G.I.F.T.E.D is an acronym for Guided Information, Finance, and Technology for Economic Development.

Vision-To raise one million independent breadwinners across Africa by 2035

Mission-To impact economically viable skills in willing Africans and guide them with adequate information and finance to launch their private enterprise to full market scale

Africa has come to become the world’s symbol for poverty. Erroneously many have referred to charity as giving to Africa, a form of giving that has not in any way improved on the lives nor living standards of the African beyond meeting his immediate needs.

GIFTED Network is a program is programs that is focused on finding poor (under privileged individuals) with dependents (or would be dependents) who are willing to find and develop a genuine stream of income to fend for themselves and their dependents. Interested participants would be given a brief entrepreneurial orientation, introduced to multiple skill options to choose from and then attached to a skill coach practicing in the participant’s vocation of interest. The skill coach is paid (if not a volunteer) to transfer his expertise and knowledge to the participant and to expose him to diverse hands on experiences till he (the participant) becomes thoroughly groomed in the vocation to be able to practice independently.

The successful participant is then provided with a start-up capital to acquire the materials, personnel, etc. required to start-up his own enterprise. At this point, the participant must have met the following start-up requirements:

1.       Successful completion of the skill training

2.       Successful completion of the basic enterprise management training

3.       Registration of a business as a joint venture with GIFTED Networks (this is a period of start-up incubation period in which each participant is monitored and assisted till they are able to stand on their own); GIFTED Networks would be delisted after the successful completion of the GIFTED Networks program.

Successful participants who receive the GIFTED Network start-up capital are provided with business mentorship/management support from the GIFTED Network also using peer-patronage method. Some of the support systems to be provided would include:

1.       Financial accounting and book keeping

2.       Recruiting support and personnel management

3.       Tax advisory and processing support

4.       Raw materials sourcing

5.       On-net peer patronage ensuring that GIFTED Network members patronize other members of GIFTED members for their business and personal needs.

6.       Trade exhibitions

7.       Single digit interest rate on start-up capital of 4-9% at a comfortable recovery pace (tenure) as recommended by the GIFTED Network business Planning Advisory committee. Beneficiaries of the GIFTED Network start-up capital who default on repayment would lose the right to being signatories of the Joint Venture account and would then have an account office dedicated to their operations. This is to ensure sustainability of this project.

GIFTED Network Trustees will commit to finding ways to finding ways to motivate participants in performing beyond their expectations and in broadening their market horizon by offering additional trainings, cross market/cultural exposures, performance awards, additional capital inputs, waivers, etc.

GIFTED Network participants would be expected to serve as volunteer skill coaches to at least ten other interested persons per time, thereby helping to raise the next generation of empowered youths and thereby ending extreme poverty and hunger in Africa.

This initiative would require an initial two million naira. This sum would cover the cost of training the first set of participants and would be done in partnership with some financial houses and state governments.

The purpose of the GIFTED Network is to uplift one person who will in turn provide support to others and join in raising many more. It would be a revolutionary chain that will combat and stamp out poverty from Africa. It looks daunting, but so do all great projects; they appear impossible until you begin. The story of Africa may have been one of gloom and despair as peddled by the rest of the world, but we can still paint a beautiful picture of Africa through the GIFTED Network; if we act now!

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MENDELS’S RELIEF

The first time I heard the song Oleku

It made me remember Abiku

That sorrowful cycle of birth and death

As death crept in with disguised stealth

Limited by the knowledge they had

Our forebears resorted to measures very bad

Many a forlorn mother would have to watch

As the corpse of a dead child is set to the match

Abiku or ogbanje whichever you please

Call it but it sure it won’t release

Many a mother from her nights of tears

All spent torn apart by her fears

Again and again the cycle repeated

It was a brazen cycle of death

Till many a couple were out of breath

And had their initial love very depleted

Today I can say that things have changed

Science and Mendel have brought some relief

To so many families bound by their belief

That the stubborn Abiku would never be aged

It was just a challenge of genotype

So AS or SS, what is your type

Odim Street, UNN, 1829 hrs, 27.05.11

ANGUISH OF A LETTER

ANGUISH OF A LETTER

For six long years we’ve known each other

Till we were as close as can any brother

Did I say brother when I meant sister?

Could your gender have a hand in making it bitter?

No, twas the arrival of the letter

That said, I should have known better

Your young niece needs blood I was told

If she dies I’ll greatly sorrow

No way even if we must borrow

Another’s blood is as costly as gold

I’ll give my blood, I said boldly

Just ensure am not treated coldly

So off I went to DIFF in a cab

Where I was ushered into a lab

In came a slender nurse and my arms were dabbed

That I didn’t feel a thing when my arm was stabbed

As the blood flowed my heart erupted with joy

But not for long because fate was coy

In the visitors lounge, there I waited

Letting my eyes feed on images as they floated

Watching a show called Big Brother

And see some folks act like they had no mother

There I sat till there was a flutter

I looked up and saw the nurse with a letter

Sorry we can’t use your blood type

Because it’s not the right phenotype

In this letter are further details

With all the test carried out on your blood

This letter plunged me into a bad mood

And I left like a cat with tucked in tails

Blimey you might query what I did see

That made me to lose every glee

It was a report labeling me an AS

I try to ponder on all I gather

And immediately recalled you were AS

Cancelling the likelihood of a future together

Again and again I remember that letter

That keeps telling me I should have known better

Odim Street, UNN, 1809 hrs, 27.05.11

INDELIBLE IMPRINT

Tall and graceful she stood apart

She struck my heart, jokes apart

Was her melodious voice ringing

That set my heart singing

Or was it her godly wit and wisdom

And in depth knowledge of God’s kingdom

That made her actions strikes a chord in my heart

And made my job a very easy art

Yes it is true I have known

Through experience I have gathered

People whom heaven have fathered

Have a distinct personality that is renown

Who is this who in a short frame

Acquired from me such fame

Onyinyechi is her name

Federal Polytechnic, Idah, 1549 hrs, 25.06.11

LIFE’S PARADOX

LIFE’S PARADOX

Have you ever thought “life’s not fair”

And wished you retire to a secret lair

Where you could be all by yourself

Leaving all your jobs to a house elf

So you might do a bit of soul searching

And be further strengthened for future marching

He wants you out of his house 

You are no longer his spouse

And you want to end your life

Because you aint his wife

Take heart, life must go on

It aint important he was a big con

That you failed an exam is not issue

If you insist on crying I’ll give tissue

Don’t give up my dear

No need to fear

Just bend down and try again

By it you’ll your confidence regain

You sit thinking your lots the worst

Any moment your tear bag might burst

You lost your dad now your joy is gone

Ever remembered those who had none

Having a weepy face is pointless

Don’t because all that’s meaningless

Your mates make you a laughingstock

So you feel like you are out of stock

They talk to you and it lands like a rod

Whatever they say they aint your God

Just understand you are the best

And pursue purpose with all zest

Because you complain bout nature’s test

You’ve not given humanity God’s best

Do you know the toughness of your brain

Is enough to give everyone enough grain

Purpose aint understood so there’s abuse

That’s why many talents lie in disuse

Life is not the problem dear reader

It doesn’t matter that you are a trader

You don’t have money

Not even to buy honey

That’s ok, just have a good attitude

Your life will overflow with beatitude

Final Year Mechanical Engineering class, UNN, 1427 hrs, 05.06.11