THE NOTORIETY OF INTELLECTUAL
DISINTERESTEDNESS AMONG THE YOUTHS: ANY HELP TO NATION DEVELOPMENT?
1.0.
Preamble:
The sanctity of
studies has, and is largely eroding the grasp of a great majority of the youths
with unlimited velocity. Moreover, ‘academic studies’ which can be said
to have a greater take in defining the youths’ destinies in this spatio-temporal realm have been
sacrificed under the altar of laziness, haphazardly decorated and squalidly founded on intellectual indifference by most youths.
Still, the youthful zest and energy
which should be harnessed into positive intellectual ends have been substituted
for apathy, lethargy, unseriousness, aimlessness and insouciance. The youths,
therefore, find satisfactions in things that are cataclysmic! Things that
destroy instead of the ones that build. No one desires to suffer. No one wants
to bear the aching pains of sitting down to study. These are engendered by the
fact that the sacrament binding the
youths to studies has fallen pronouncedly apart and thus call for salvation. This has, as a result,
sky-rocketed to unimagined back-forwarding of so many sectors of our nation’s
development. Consequent upon these anomalies, and mourning the youths’
negligence of the prophecy of A. D. Sertillanges in his inspiring work, The Intellectual Life, that intellectual
work leads to the development and deepening of the mind, it thus lies in the
interest of this essay to search for ways of salvaging the progressively
decaying nature of intellectual advancement among the youths especially as it
concerns their unacceptable attitude to academic studies in connection
to the role this plays in nation building.
2.0.
Evolution of Nigerian
Intellectual Liberation: Towards a New Nation
One of the major
contributing factors (if not the only major factor), in the 1960 independence
of Nigeria could be traced to education. The British colonizers, then, came
with their so-called ‘superior knowledge.’ They used it to heavily exploit us
in almost every area of our life. According to Walter Rodney in his thought-provoking
work, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa,
the colonizers, ab initio, never
wanted to introduce the Africans to education or academic studies lest the
latter get to know the secret of their sovereignty since knowledge is power and
ideas rule the world. Their colonizing power rested in the authority of their educational
prowess. But, as centuries ebb, Africans got the hint of education and thus began
to drink in the ocean of the ‘whitemen’s knowledge.’ This, the Africans
achieved, through education. They had to study in order to acquire knowledge and
be empowered. This, without mincing words, and in the Nigerian context, gave
birth to the eventful fact of 1960 independence and the ensuing quick hand-over.
In the end, Nigeria began to see another face of life brought about by
education. It was a move towards building a nation though with much setback in
terms of corruption that characterized to finish, the mid-20th
century Nigeria (though this was the disease the whitemen left us in).
3.0.
The Intellectually
Decaying State of Some Nigerian Youths:
Most contemporary
Nigerian youths seem to enjoy swimming in the ocean of distraction and
vanities. All around them almost constantly bear the semblance or bespeak of inattentiveness
and uncontrolled zeal for mundane things. We live in the age of ‘instant
gratification.’ Delayed gratification is obliterated and the opposite is
sought. Suffice it to say that majority of the youths detest
studies/learning. Some find it too burdensome to sit down to not just read
but study. As such, the fruits of studies erode them. Much of the study hours
are wastefully lent to movies. The
social networks dominate most of the hours. Few hours spent in studies are often
used up in distracting thoughts. The place of sleep in their studies occupies
vast abyss. Sporadic sleep is taken as another escape to studies. What a
defeated soldier! Of course, the yearning for examination malpractice has
become a major characteristic of most examinations taken in Nigeria. Any
examination without malpractice is likely to be a mere self-imposed lecture.
Can a nation be developed when its citizens are found hell-bent in the midst of
these? The answer is obvious!
4.0.
Academic Studies:
Any Help to Nation Building?
I prefer the
word ‘studies’ to ‘education’ because of the abuses the latter has incurred in
the hands of varied writers. Also, this choice is motivated by the fact that it
appears to be a better way of making the message distinct to the readers
especially the youths and again, for the sake of our subject matter. Besides
this, by way of clarification, ‘to study’ etymologically implies ‘to be
diligent, zeal, great care.’ It means to fix the mind closely and ‘abstractly’
upon an idea or a thing; to dwell upon anything in thought; to muse; to ponder,
to acquire knowledge of a thing, to look at something very closely. As such,
the act of studies positively opens the intellect to the world of ideas - ideas
that animate one’s whole being which magnet every other being around. When this
is the case, then, the mind is better fixed on the things that speed up man’s
existence. Part of this is in thinking out ways to well survive in the world
culminating in building a better society.
Academic studies
enable one to be intellectually energized. And so, with Josephat Ukonu,
learning liberates one from the shackles of ignorance and brightens one’s
economic potentials. These potentials manifest and are harnessed in a society where
its adherents live which in turn influence it. In this way, the nation is
founded on a solid rock.
Furthermore,
studies unravel hidden knowledge. In doing so, man comes to the hidden mysteries
of development. It empowers one with the vigour of seeking for avenues of
social development and positive change. With the sharpened intellectual acumen,
it helps to eliminate every cause for exploitation, slavery, racism and other
intimidations. So, learning/studies empowers and makes for a learned nation,
and a learned nation is a developed nation.
Still, academic
studies delete the fear of exam phobia
to an extent and the chances of indulging in examination malpractices are
limited. It builds confidence. The culminating point is the academic excellence
which opens the way to employment (of whatever kind). The question of
unemployment is also reduced to self-employment. With this, a nation is purged-off
of the evils of intellectual destruction and a sure foundation of technological
forwardness is dug. The fruit of this is the giving of birth to a nation
glittering in positive development.
5.0.
The Way Forward:
Indeed, there is
still hope! But then, a work must be done. This work to be done is therefore outlined
by A.D. Sertillanges in his inspiring work, The
Intellectual Life. According to him, for one to engage in intellectual
work, he/she has to begin by creating within him/her a zone of silence, a habit of recollection, a will to renunciation and detachment from oneself and the world which puts one entirely at
the disposal of the work, and then acquiring that state of the soul unburdened
by desire and self-will which is the state of grace of the intellectual worker.
Moreover, man is
endowed with rationality. This reason is the badge of the sovereignty of
physical man over all other physical organisms. Hence, it distinguishes him
from all other animals. So, man is endowed with the capacity to think, to
abstract and retain without eliminating ‘to study.’ In useful application of
this, he charges himself. He prepares himself for the task ahead - the task of
developing himself and invariably building his nation. This can be achieved if
only youths will renew their interest in studies.
With his
rationality and freedom, in addition, man is capacitated with the right to
choice of values, that is, what interests one so much; what one cherishes so
dearly! It is in this sense that I suggest trans-valuation of values for the
youths. When we re-evaluate what gives us joy, happiness, meaning and
fulfillment, then we are in the better position to call upon hard work. A work
that is deeply hard, that sets us on fire, that makes hard people: hard people,
in the sense of studies and learning.
Going further, to
study is a spiritual act. It has its own spirituality. In other words, there is
a spirituality of studies. Any infringement into this spirituality shatters it.
This spirituality abhors examination malpractice, laziness, unrestrained
frequency to social networks, hunger for instant gratification, questionable
relationships, and indiscipline of the senses and appetites. Therefore, the
urgency of re-awakening the spirituality of academic studies as a move towards
building our nation is supremely necessary! Let the youths go back to the
ritual of sitting down and studying!!!
6.0.
The Finale:
How can a nation
grow when its youths score high grades in intellectual indifference? How can
nation development be possible when studies are denigrated? It can be very
impossible for a nation to grow in the presence of laziness, indifference,
apathy, examination malpractice, inattention, distraction which characterize
its youths’ attitudes to studies. The youths belong to, live in and are
products of the society. Therefore, whatever achievements the youths make,
reflect in the society. When made positively, the society is in such-wise
affected, and the same follows when perpetrated negatively. Let us begin to
liberate ourselves first of all from the shackles of intellectual
disinterestedness, from the odorous smell of laziness and distraction and focus
our whole heart, our whole being into positive and powerful intellectual
development through academic studies which invariably transform the society
unto the best. Cherish learning! Love studies!!! Let the sound
of sincere ‘academic studies’ begin to reverberate in the ear ossicles of the
youths!!!
