LETTER TO MY CHILD FOR SUCCESS IN A NIGERIAN SECONDARY SCHOOL

My Dear Child,

I give you good tidings from your mother, brothers and sisters at home. Also from our good friends, LAGOS BOOKS CLUB and their parent company EDUPEDIA ASSOCIATES. Last week I discussed part of what worries me about your education/studies with them and these are the notes they willingly and freely asked me to pass to you. Please go through them as I intend to have additional discussions with you for implementing many of their suggestions. My son, I pray God will bless them into your heart mightily. Amen.Kindly note I added my comments  in a few paragraphs  though.

 1. SELF-ASSESSMENT.THERE ARE SOME HARD QUESTIONS YOU NEED ADDRESS TO YOURSELF SUCH AS “DO YOU GO TO SCHOOL TO PLEASE YOUR PARENTS OR JUST  TO BE WITH YOUR FRIENDS?” or  “WHAT EXACTLY AM I ATTENDING SCHOOL FOR?”
2. MANNER OF SPEECH.A GOOD WAY TO SHOW YOUR EDUCATIONAL LEVEL IS THE WAY AND MANNER YOU SPEAK .FIRSTLY, WHAT  WOULD YOU SAY  AT THE MORNING ASSEMBLY IF YOU ARE WITHOUT ANY PREVIOUS NOTICE ASKED TO GIVE A SHORT EXHORTATION TO FELLOW STUDENTS ON MORAL ISSUES? SECONDLY,HOW ARE YOU LIKELY TO CONTRIBUTE TO  CLASS DISCUSSIONS OR CLASS PRESENTATIONS? THESE MIGHT BE OCCASIONS FOR YOU TO DISPLAY YOUR ABILITY TO SPEAK ELOQUENTLY OR DISPLAY YOUR LEVEL OF EDUCATION.THIRDLY, WHAT ABOUT DISCUSSIONS WITH TUTORS OR MANAGEMENT OF THE SCHOOL?
3. VOCABULARY TO IMPROVE AND DISPLAY WHAT YOU ARE YOU NEED TO IMPROVE/INCREASE YOUR VOCABULARY, LEARN THE ART OF PUBLIC SPEAKING, KNOW THE RULES OF PUBLIC DEBATE AND OF PIDGIN ENGLISH WHICH IS NOW VERY COMMON IN NAIJA
 4.ONE WAY TO IMPROVE YOUR VOCABULARY IS TO READ NOVELS, MAGAZINES AND NEWSPAPERS. THE FREQUENT USE OF DICTIONARIES AND THESAURUSES NEED BE EMPHASIZED.A  NOVEL SUMMARY SCHEME AS PROPOSED BY EDUPEDIA BASED ON  PROPER USE OF A GOOD LIBRARY OR MEMBERSHIP OF SUCH WILL BE HELPFUL AND NEED TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY.
 5.LISTENING IN CLASS.YOU ALSO  NEED TO CULTIVATE THE HABIT OF LISTENING TO YOUR TUTORS AND WHAT THEY SAY. APART FROM PASSING EXAMS, YOUR PURPOSE IS TO GET REAL EDUCATION AND  THE ROOT OF EDUCATION IS TO BE FOUND IN YOUR LISTENING HABITS. EXPERTS HAVE LISTED A  ”LISTENING HABITS INVENTORY AND LISTENING FACTS” WHICH EDUPEDIA HAS PROMISED TO MAKE AVAILABLE TO YOU IN FUTURE.

6. CLASS NOTEBOOKS.INCOMPLETE CLASS NOTES , ROUGH-LOOKING NOTEBOOKS, DIRTY NOTEBOOKS  ARE DANGER SIGNALS THAT THINGS ARE NOT GOING WELL WITH YOUR STUDIES. THERE ARE  WAYS FOR TAKING NOTES TO GET YOU OUT OF TROUBLE WHICH YOUR SCHOOL OUGHT TO TEACH YOU.I ASSUME THEY MUST HAVE BUT ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION TO NOTES COMPLETION SESSIONS AT ALL? THERE IS  NIP SCHEME BY EDUPEDIA FOR NOTES COMPLETION WHICH I SHALL SOON ASK THEM TO EITHER TEACH YOU PERSONALLY OR  PROPOSED TO YOUR SCHOOL (SAY IF YOUR SCHOOL IS NOT ALREADY OPERATING SOMETHING SIMILAR)
 7.HANDWRITING.IT IS SURPRISING TO NOTE THAT THE PROBLEM OF MANY STUDENTS CAN BE TRACED TO THEIR HAND WRITING OR WRITING STYLES. BAD HANDWRITING ULTIMATELY LEADS TO SPELLING MISTAKES AND UNPLEASANT AND SOMETIMES ANNOYING RESPONSES FROM TUTORS OR EXAMINERS.YOU MUST THEREFORE FIND WAYS TO IMPROVE  YOUR HANDWRITING. WRITING STYLES ARE USUALLY CULTIVATED OVER A PERIOD OF TIME.
8. PLAN WHATEVER YOU WRITE/SPELLINGS.YOU MUST ALSO LEARN HOW TO PLAN YOUR WRITING LONG BEFORE THE EXAMINATION DAYS, WRITE YOUR FIRST DRAFT, THEN REVISE AND EDIT WHAT YOU HAVE WRITTEN. YOU MUST LEARN THE ART OF DEVELOPING WORDS INTO SENTENCES THEN INTO PARAGRAPHS AND THEN INTO ESSAYS, STORIES, ARTICLES, POEMS, ETC YOU MUST ALSO LEARN HOW TO WRITE RESEARCH REPORTS, LESSON NOTES, ETC. EDUPEDIA WILL ALSO IN FUTURE PROVIDE ADDITIONAL AND MORE DETAILED NOTES ON THIS
 9.TO BE A BETTER AND STYLISH WRITER YOU MUST ALSO MASTER YOUR SPELLING DEMONS.
 10.ASSIGNMENTS/STUDY TECHNIQUES/RED &SALVATION NOTES.YOU NEED TO MASTER THE TECHNIQUES OF STUDY AND DOING ASSIGNMENTS. YOU MUST MAKE SOME EFFORT AT IMPROVING YOUR CONCENTRATION WHEN READING AND YOU SHOULD FIND A WAY TO JOG YOUR MEMORY LATER ABOUT WHAT YOU HAVE READ.. TO DO THIS,TWO TECHNIQUES CALLED  RED  NOTES AND SALVATION NOTES WHICH SHALL ALSO BE PROVIDED ON THIS FORUM BY EDUPEDIA  MIGHT BE USEFUL.
 11. AFTER MASTERING STUDY TECHNIQUES A GOOD STUDENT SHOULD TAKE HIS TIME TO MASTER VARIOUS EXAMINATION (INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL) TECHNIQUES WHICH CAN BE HELPFUL TO HIM OR HER IN THE EXAM HALL. SPEND SOME TIME TO PONDER ON THE WRITE-UPS TO BE PROVIDED BY EDUPEDIA ABOUT THESE TECHNIQUES..I HAVE SEEN THESE WRITE-UPS AND I THINK THEY MIGHT BE GREAT FOR YOU.A SUMMARY OF THESE TECHNIQUES IS EVEN ROUNDED UP BY A DIAGRAM CALLED “THE RE-FACTOR” THEY ARE INTERESTING AND REAL FOR  ALL NIGERIAN STUDENTS ESPECIALLY IN SENIOR SCHOOL YOU WILL ALSO READ  NOTES ON SALVATION LINES FOR LAZY STUDENTS.BUT I KNOW YOU ARE NOT LAZY..I WAS ALSO TOLD THAT  RED NOTES ARE CONVERTIBLE TO SALVATION LINES WHEN EXAMS DRAW NEAR.FROM WHAT I CAN GATHER FROM THESE NOTES STUDENTS NEED NO LONGER FEEL THE NEED FOR EXAMINATION MALPRACTICES DURING NATIONAL EXAMS.
 12.SCHOOL SURVIVAL TOOLS/COMPUTER STUDIES.YOU MAY ALSO WISH TO ASK YOURSELF WHAT TOOLS A GOOD STUDENT MUST HAVE IN ORDER TO SURVIVE SCHOOL
 13. YOU ALSO NEED TO SHOW MORE INTEREST IN COMPUTER STUDIES AND THE WEB. WHY?. THERE IS MORE EDUCATION NOW ON SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, FINANCE ECONOMICS,LIFE-SKILLS ETC ON THE WEB THAN ANY WHERE ELSE.THE INTERNET IS NOW THE BIGGEST SCHOOL/CLASSROOM THAN EVER EXISTED.
 14.TOOLS FOR ACADEMIC SURVIVAL AT COLLEGE.Textbooks / Writing Material / Maths Set / Exercise Book / Drawing Books / Science Or Practical Note Books
 15. Assignment Note Books /Red Notes Book And Salvation Lines Note Book / Maths Continuous Practice Notebook / Remedial Studies Note Book / Novel Summary Note Book.
 16. A 7- Day Personal Time Table Which Will Include Personal Study Plan and School Time Table (Time Management Chart). Use the one distributed by school.
 17. A file containing all your past examination and test scripts with their past question papers for future reference.
 18. Different write-ups prepared by Edupedia on Study Aid Series at school.
 19. Frequent use of your school library or external library like that of the LAGOS BOOKS CLUB.
 20.Use of Microsoft Encarta / Encyclopedia Britannica CDs and frequent reference to Web sites such as ‘Wikipedia.com  and How to Study. Org.
 Your mother,siblings and I pray each day for your success in school towards becoming a responsible citizen of our fatherland. By God’s grace you shall be part of the new crop of intelligent hard-working youth Nigeria is empowering to give us a better image in all nations on this planet. Please face your studies seriously and revert back to me as soon as you can on any of the 20 issues raised above. God bless you.
 Your father,