THE SCAM OF UNIVERSITY; Students lives Matter

Dorothy Ntrirwaa, Student Journalist KNUST TigerEye Media 

In our secondary school days, there were a lot of untrue stories we were told about university life.

Am I permitted to say most tutors are liars? The beauty of university preached to us, isn't the same we came to meet. Has the university system been robbed ? Or we arrived at the wrong time? Or is rather the wrong university we arrived at?

We were told there's freedom, but we came to meet stress. Yes! We have our lives but we don't own our time. I wish to wake up at when my eyes says, “it’s now time to see.” But my mind keeps on reminding me of the early morning classes I have. Do I then have the freedom I was promised back then? We were told the learning system in the university is flexible. Just met a whole subject which was studied in 3 academic years being studied into detail in 4 months, with holidays, weekends and exam weeks all exclusive as a course. 

Not to even talk about math being taught from a projected slides, with questions being solved with a pointer, leaving you to imagine the solution. Do we call this system flexible? Really?

And you finally meet the scam of University after the release of your very first result. You begin to hear, "first class is a calling", "first class doesn't fetch job for you", "you will become a lecturer at the end with first class" and a whole lot. I say is a scam because I don't think you reading this don’t wish to be or will be unhappy as a first class student. And if you are already a first class student, I don't think you wish to drop.

So why is the truth hidden? Are we to continue to deceive people to rush to universities all in the name of rest but to meet a restless life?

Why did I choose to make the difference? To make people prepare in advance for what's ahead of them? Many freshmen rush into various wings, societies and groups that come across, all in the name of time freedom. Just to realize at the end of it all the little time left has been occupied with meetings and there's no time to even learn.

And when complain, they are being told is a system and they will get used to it with time. But there are still 2nd years, 3rd years even 4th years who are still complaining, so what happened to the "will get used to it with time"?

Instead of them being told to get adapted to the system before, to know if they can add those wings, societies and groups to their stress, they are rather advised to add the stress and get use to the stress. Is this not cruelty? And instead of you to advice yourself or others, that they can achieve any vision, you rather comfort your lazy ass with "first class is a calling" and all sort of “nonsense”, when you know deep down it’s the same thing you are wishing for.

This piece is not to scare you who is yet to make your journey to the university, but to prepare you for what's ahead. And to the freshman, it is to let you know what you've signed up for.  And to our dear continuing students, your vision, goal or dream is not yet in the drain until it is over. So you can start today and stop complaining and your dream, goal, vision or ambition for your coming here will surely come to pass.    

My name is Ntiriwaa Dorothy, I’m a second year student of Statistics and I am never too busy to “stop and smell the roses”