Walking down memory lane, being a student was one of the best parts of my life, and it was a privilege at the same time because not every parent saw education as a must, but we were lucky to have parents who preferred to stay hungry just to ensure that we went to school every day.
I have lots of beautiful memories about being a student and won't deny having ugly experiences as well. There were days when you were punished for nothing; being sent home for school fees and many other things did make the student life tiring, but for the love of acquiring knowledge, we never got tired of returning to school every morning. I always said the challenges attached to being a student were worth it because every piece of knowledge we acquired back then has contributed a lot to who we are and how far we have come in life today.
A lot has changed in the world and what we can describe as a student's life or culture isn't exempt. Education has evolved a lot, and many things have changed in the process. If we look around today, there are good things we did as students that don't exist anymore, while there are things students are enjoying today that weren't available for us back then, and vice versa. In the process of this evolution, there have been both gains and losses in student culture and experiences.
Many of the student cultures that were present in the past have disappeared, while new cultures have emerged across the world among students. If we are sincere, it's fair to say that these changes have had both positive and negative impacts on students.
Technology Integration is one of the things students are enjoying today that we didn't get to enjoy back then. I remember clearly that I started going to the cyber cafe in SS1 to do research on the internet. Our teachers gave us topics to research mostly over the weekend, and we spent quite a lot of money surfing the internet and printing out copies of things we researched, but it's the other way around now because students have easy access to the internet these days.
Students have smartphones at their fingertips; they use the internet, projectors, and many other things in class, which has made teaching and learning easier for teachers/students. Despite the positive impact of technology integration, the negative sides of it aren't helping matters. Today, students get distracted with other activities online, and it's funny how they even compete with these devices in school.
Back then, there was nothing like the internet in school, and even the phones available weren't allowed in school because of the distractions they could cause during lectures.
Another issue with technology integration is how it has made students lazy. Many students today don't see the need to study since they can grab anything they want online, especially with the wide use of ChatGPT and others. Back then, these things weren't available, and we had to study thoroughly to acquire knowledge.
As a student back then, practicals were part of our studies, and we usually didn't wait until we got to senior secondary school before we engaged in practicals, unlike now. I started doing practicals from JSS 1, and it really aided learning. Many of the manual skills I acquired and enjoyed today were from home economics and introduction to technology classes back then, but we barely see these things anymore. Practical skills development isn't a top priority in school anymore, and the absence of it doesn't inspire students to be creative in the field any more.
Schools now prefer social activities such as color day, professional day, cultural day, and others, which are just ways of extorting parents. I understand that these things are part of learning, but they shouldn't be at the expense of practicals and crucial things for students.
I do not expect things to be exactly the same as they were in those days, but the evolution in students's cultures and experiences shouldn't make us dump the good practices from those days. I am sure they can fit in with the development and new cultures, which would automatically boost students learning abilities and add more value to them.
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