Though I've left schooling a long time ago, I still couldn't help but wonder how fierce it would be if I was to be involved in a debate titled, "Internet: The Biggest Asset And Curse of The Modern Day Student."
Back in the days, we had internet, but it wasn't that prominent. I could vividly remember how elated I was when I registered my first Yahoo mail in 2003. It was a day that I felt all my prayers were answered. Funnily enough, I had no real need for mail then. I just wanted to own it for the sake of it.
Globalization rode on the back of the internet to the forefront of global domination. When I was in school, we had little use for the internet. We had little use for social media. Though I registered on Hi5 in the 2000s, I used it to communicate with just one friend who travelled to the US. Facebook, Twitter, 2go, WhatsApp weren't dominating lives. We weren't this rotten.
I witnessed a pitiable occurrence happen to someone recently. A secondary school girl recorded her nudes and sent them to her teenage boyfriend. Unfortunately, the video leaked and went viral to the point her parents got wind of it. It was embarrassing, to say the least. Then I wondered to myself, "Would this have happened in our time?"
Yes, we had a lot of misbehaving students when I was in secondary school. My seniors already introduced the idea of having a girlfriend as early as junior school 1. In fact, I was forced to dance with girls during our social nights every Saturday evening. Despite that, there were boundaries. We had lines we would never cross. We had fear.
A lot of people who were students back then are now parents. They can attest to the level of discipline and morality in schools across the country. Though we had belligerent ones amongst us, the majority followed the laid down path. We had little influence from the outside world. We weren't watching movies where a 10 year old boy will yell at his teachers or parents for correcting him. We had discipline.
However, despite the level of discipline and morality, we were short on a lot of things. Just recently I was laughing at myself when I remembered how I wrote my Chemistry practical for the senior school certificate examination. It was a lot of what we call "la cram la pour." I am now a graduate of Chemistry and it's clear how easy Chemistry as a practical course would've been if we made good use of the internet in our time.
When I was in senior secondary school, a singular period lasted for one hour and twenty minutes with 50 minutes of abstract explanation and 30 minutes of writing notes. I can't even explain how hard it is to abstractly explain the Pinacol-Pinacolone reaction or one of the several other reaction pathways in Chemistry. Yet we were expected to just read and understand these things. No videos, no practicals.
When I taught Chemistry in a secondary school about two years ago, a period lasts for about 50 minutes. Half of that is for practical explanations with videos downloaded from the internet as corroboration. It made Chemistry so easy to teach. The very course we used to term the most volatile course started sticking. Students had tonnes of video evidence to run to learn and understand a reaction. Quality of education has improved.
Lastly, the internet has provided earning opportunities for students nowadays than it was back then. Till I graduated, the only money making stuff I tried were online betting and HYIP. To make money as a student then, one had to either sell stuffs, do assignments or projects for colleagues, or go the way of hard labour. School curriculum doesn't allow for working in a structured environment except during holidays. And these holidays are unpredictable and hard to plan for due to unexpected events like strike action.
These days, a lot of students are earning serious money as freelancers. We definitely have students on Hive who are already on the way to building a successful career as a writer. Just yesterday I was imagining how interesting it would've been if I was still a student and making as much as I am making now. Life would've been very easy.
Where I work now, about 10% of the workers are undergraduates. They have no money problems. They can prepare very well for adult and family life because they have a stable income. Back then, students barely made money. We depended on whatever amounts our parents provided, no matter how little it may be.
As for the disparity which is none other than erosion of discipline and morality in our schools, we can only continue to sensitize and advise. When I was in secondary school, you did not dare mention sex in the class even when reproduction was being taught in a Biology class. These days, secondary school students are already being taught how to use condoms. That is a significant shift in mentality. That's where we are now.
All we can do now is to listen and give advice. It's a changed world.
