The admission process

It has been a while since I posted a new topic on my blog. Life and work have been taking their toll recently. But don't worry I'm back, and it is awesome to finally get back to writing a blog post. I've missed it. Let's get to the topic for today:

How would you feel when everything you have worked for since you entered nursery school as that budding three-year old, that teenager graduating from secondary school, and that kid with big dreams of changing the world and all of a sudden on a Saturday morning, you watch as your dreams float away because of an admission exam?





Although I have talked about the education system, I have not discussed about the most important component in the education system: our students. I don't focus on improving our education system to make more money for our lecturers or universities, but how changing the education system affects our students. How can we produce students that are capable of coming out of our universities with all the tools they need to succeed in whatever field they enter? That is the goal of higher education. However, in Nigeria, we have to restructure the admission process to bring us one step closer to fulfilling this goal.

Currently, secondary school graduates take numerous entrance exams such as WAEC (West African Examination Council), JAMB (Joint Admissions Matriculation Board), NECO (National Examinations Council) in addition to the post-UTME exams one has to take at specific universities before one can enroll. The way our students are admitted must be reviewed because so often are the dreams of most Nigerians determined during the admission process. Why should a student be forced to abandon their medicine or engineering dreams because of an exam such as WAEC and JAMB score that does not give any insight into the career potential of a student. For example, if I were to take the WAEC and JAMB exams and I happen to earn a score that can guarantee admission but cannot guarantee me acceptance into the engineering program at a university, I would be forced to pursue a degree of which I have no interest in like Mathematics or Business. One change that is needed is for universities to abandon the current method of deciding what course a student pursues depending on exams (JAMB, WAEC etc) that are meant only for admission. Exam scores should be for admission only and nothing more. When accepted students matriculate at their university, specific exams can then be taken that are related to engineering, medicine to accurately determine what students should study. The first year of a university career can consist of students taking general science, business classes. I understand that there is not enough space for everyone who wants to study medicine to study medicine, but there is a better method than using admission exam scores. At the end of the first year in university, students in science can take an exam to determine what aspect of science (medicine, engineering, chemistry) they are ready for.

One of the reasons I detest the use of admission exams for purposes like career determination is because of the numerous things that can happen during an exam. I could have fallen ill on that exam day, have had a bad day the day before, had a fight with my parents that disoriented me, lost someone in my family, even broke up with my girlfriend. So many things could have happened before and during that exam date but none of these things should give a university the right to force my hand into changing my career choice. Who are they to tell me I could not become an engineer or a doctor?

To reduce the effect that admission exams have on the admission process, universities must consider secondary school results as an integral component of admission. This issue is close to my heart because some of those dear to me have been denied their dream of becoming a doctor because they missed the cut-off admission exam marks needed for medicine. By other accounts such as their secondary school results, I know they would have made great doctors.  In Nigeria, universities do not consider the six years of effort, struggle, and dedication of what we call secondary school. Secondary school results tell a lot more about a student than a single admission exam. Secondary school results and transcripts give a timeline of a student. Transcripts should help answer some of these questions: Are the students improving as their classes get tougher? Are they struggling? Are they consistent? Can they handle their desired course and succeed when they enroll in the university? Frankly, I have never understood why universities don't consider secondary school results. It is laughable that the one piece of information that can tell how great a student is or can become is not even considered as evidence for potential admission into a university.

Students are what really matter when reform to education is considered. We build universities because of the need to teach our people the skills they need to become successful in the future. When a student pursues a career they have always dreamed of, they pursue it with a passion because that is what they have always wanted; something they would do everything in their power to obtain. Why do we quench this dream and passion by forcing them to pursue careers they have no interest in? I don't blame our students for pursuing those careers because that is the lemon that life has provided to them. All they are left to do is make lemonade and pursue whatever course the university thinks is appropriate for them.

However, for education to move forward, we must give our students the opportunity to pursue whatever dreams they have in mind. We should refrain from using admission exams to determine the futures of our bright and eager students. And as the UNCF motto says, "A mind is a terrible thing to waste."