Year: 2017

Why bother with education?

What was the point in that project on Tibetan Buddhism I put so much effort into at 15? I’ve never been to Tibet, worked beside a Buddhist colleague or been called upon to identify a prayer flag at short notice. What was the point in that physics A-level my friend had to work so hard

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Distinct individuals

“Nobody Realizes That Some People Expend Tremendous Energy Merely To Be Normal” – Camus. The above phrase is by Albert Camus, a French philosopher in the 20th Century (1913 – 1960), extracted from Notebook IV in Notebooks: 1942 – 1951. My Initial Impression My initial impression of the phrase is that it is an allegation

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Power of the mind

Education is one of the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals); it can also be leverage to achieve all other SDGs (including gender equality and human rights) if it is targeted at broadening the minds of students. Preparing students for working life is disastrous New research divulges that in the nature of mankind, man is prone to

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The Recalcitrant Powers

Struggles have been an inseparable part of human existence. Man’s initial struggle was to survive in unaccustomed nature. But soon, greed, intolerance and power led to the struggles which made the history chapters bleed. In the tales of useless plunders and meaningless wars, the emergence of saviors was a silver lining. Saviors are not necessarily

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Varying variables with a variety of various variations

Find the inverse of the function (x+2) (x+5). Find the sine, cosine, and tangent of the triangle if A=4. Mathematics. Difficult, right? Before writing this essay, I asked many of my fellow students about the subjects they like and the subjects they hate the most. The most-hated subject on average was mathematics, and algebra is

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The Wood Full of Secrets

“RING! RING! RING!” The bell had just rung, that was the sign of the end of another torturing school day for Alexa and Louise, luckily it was Friday. Alexa was quite adventurous and wanted to explore the wood near the school, which has earned itself the title ‘The Wood Full of Secrets’, Louise was quite

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Artificial Stretch marks

What does it mean to test a man’s character? People say the eyes are windows to the soul, and even with that supposed advantage, it still does not seem enough to understand the capabilities, identity and intentions of a man. To understand a man’s character, our minds and souls would have to be even further

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The power of Power

‘Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power”- Abraham Lincoln What ordinarily should be a national mourning turned to a day of joy, with citizens dancing and celebrating unashamedly on the streets, the city of Lagos, Nigeria went agog at the news of the Nation’s

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Children’s Books that both Comfort and Confront us as Adults

Author C.S. Lewis contributed greatly to children’s literature, both through his much loved Narnia series and his commentary on children’s books. Lewis championed children’s stories, but in a society that now has access to a nearly endless stream of stories at the click of a button, do adults still need to revisit the books of

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We Are The Fearless Girl

Artist Arturo Di Modica, after two long years of work, finished his 18-foot-long bronze masterpiece in December of 1989. This piece is one that is recognizable to many Americans: “The Charging Bull,” a sculpture in New York City. The brave, strong Bull was representative of American persistence and spirit, a reminder to citizens whilst they

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Create your own normal, or let normal create you

Have you ever walked along a busy road and thought: If just one person had made one different decision, if the climate had been just one degree colder thousands of years ago – everything could be different. So easily we get caught in our world. All the rules of life, and the norms we burden

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Consumer Protection in Education

Some careers like law and engineering require precise information and analytical skills that take many years of academic preparation to learn. Other careers, like teaching, administration, and the arts require a balance of practical knowledge and broadminded awareness of the history and breadth of this world that we inhabit. Rather than focus on in-class academic

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The role of education

The role of education should be to broaden students’ minds rather than just preparing a student for working life. It is worth noting that we have a great number of working people who have no relevant knowledge since they were employed on merit of their school certificates. I have seen many people who are working

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Disguises nobody realises

The dictionary definition of “normal” is defined as “according with, constituting, or not deviating from a norm, rule, or principle.” The meaning of the word “normal” that our society is accustomed to does not vary as much from it either. “Normal” is a word our society created; it indicated a group of people who are

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The inner voice

“Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And more important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.” – Steve Jobs. Discuss. Have you ever felt alone while walking through the crowded hallways of a school, that you never wanted to be at in the first place? Have

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To Be Or Not To Be Normal

As societies evolve over time, so also do the norms, traditions and customs that guide them. We are the results of millennia of glaring and subtle changes in human behaviour and the ever-evolving laws that guide it. What we label conventional and acceptable has progressed through epochs, through different eras and periods, picked up in

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Broad Or Bust

The time for choosing education as a means to an end is over. We have little choice but to employ education as a means to broaden the minds of students. In the context of this discussion, the term ‘education’ refers to the process of giving and receiving systematic instruction, especially in a school or university

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To Just Not Stand Out

Normal. Before we can look at the energies expended by individuals in the pursuit of normality, we must first look at what constitutes normal. Check any dictionary definition of normal and you’ll find a variety of descriptors; most commonly occurring, average, natural. The list goes on. But we are dealing with human beings, every one

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X and Y: Nothing but Letters

“Denvers, Carl R.” “Magna Cum Laude!” At last. The chromatic dais reflects in my entire eyes and the incessant gaiety of hands seems endless. Lots of countenances are staring at me, grinning as they have one’s eye on my steps on a soft red carpet in the broad auditorium. “Congratulations,” uttered the guest speaker, Mr.

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Normal or “Normal”

Normal. This six letter word seems to be a simple word, but it is not for certain souls. What defines a person as normal? By following a set of rules or social norm which has been accepted as correct, passed down by the previous generation? Or is it merely in the eye of the beholder?

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