I was talking with a student of NAU Awka who just graduated from Faculty of Education and he told me that he opted for that because he believed that those who study courses like: Law, Medicine, Pharmacy, Engineering, Mathematics, Microbiology and Mass Communication are super intelligent. I looked at him for some moments, laughing as l was staring at his face.
"Why are you laughing at me?" he asked. I kept silent trying to fathom how to address him. He stared at me in bewilderment and l felt a kind of innocent guilt. "You're sneering and jeering at me because l am not intelligent," he added. He must be a versatile reader to have known and used those vocabularies correctly, l thought silently. I gave him a surreptitious look but our eyes met. I took off my eyes as quickly as l can but his eyes were glued to me without hate. However, it made me slightly irritated. I felt pity for him not because he is not intelligent as he said but because he was wallowing in ignorance.
"Sir, can you tell me why you are poking fun at me?" he echoed. I shuddered at his words. And he knew he had spoken out of turn. " You've a negative impression of yourself and you have to change it," l said after a long silence had engulfed our atmosphere.
"I don't understand your drift and insinuation," he said grunting. His earlier vocabularies had impressed me, but this time, it had more effect and impact than before. He muttered under his breathe.
I sighed and was mute for a while subjecting him to a marathon of whirl thoughts. Surprisingly, it was like he was enjoying the serenity of it all because he said no word.
When l felt that silence was no longer golden, l began to explain things to him to disabuse his mind and correct his erroneous impression about himself. And when l finished, he thanked me effusively. "I will study one of those courses when l am through with this" he said as he was leaving. With the manner he said it l had no doubt he will do it.
This scenario is a reflection of what many people think and believe about themselves. And this negative self-concept has deprived many people of greatness fearing to explore and ended up mediocres instead of great achievers.
To relate the above story to the title of the article, many students are of the opinion that only super intelligent people can study the above mentioned courses. It is a lie! An illusion of greatest order! Unfortunately, this has prevented many people from pursuing their dream courses. You don't have to be super... to study any of those courses.
For Law, you can study it even if you are not among the brightest in your class. The two compulsory subjects required by COUNCIL OF LEGAL EDUCATION OF NIGERIA (CLEN) are English Language and Literature in English. And an average student can make credit pass in those two subjects.
Unequivocally, one needs enthusiasm, passion and fervour to excel in any endeavour. Frankly, without the above, success will not be attained. And psychologists and philosophers have said that all one needs to succeed in life is enthusiasm. This is the desire and passion for for what one does.
Erroneously, some people say that there are simple and hard courses. This is also a lie! There is no such thing! The supposedly cheap courses is an illusion because if you send students in so called hard courses, they'd run away because the enthusiasm needed to excel will be lacking.
The "hard courses/ cheap courses" theory is a mere psychological weapon use by students of some disciplines to subject others to state of inferiority.
And for law profession, it is for mature and nurtured minds. It is not for youngsters. And youngsters who ventured into it spend manys years in chamber learning the rope before they can be sent to court. But for well mature souls, you find them in court as soon as they are called to Bar because they have been yearning to do that, for a long time.
However, many mature people could study law not because they want to practice law. It could be for different reasons which only them can advance. There are many Nigerians who are in this category. Hence, Late Dr Alex Ekwueme, Tim Egboka former VC Unizik Awka, Hon Patricia Eteh, former Speaker House of REPS, and Val Anyaika, a former House of Assembly member Anambra State are in this class.
Got to stop here.
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