THE JOURNEY OF LIFE AS AN ACADEMIC ASSIGNMNENT!!! THE THOUGHT OF AN AFRICAN YOUTH.
Varied
opinions have been expressed about life. Some of these opinions have been
informed by ones religious, social, academic, economic and cultural
inclination. Whiles some believe life is a journey, others are of the view
that, life in itself a destination. These thoughts continue to inform the
actions and inactions of many.
Life may
be seen as an "academic assignment" with a deadline. Yes a deadline!!! which we all have to meet and will meet oneday. The creator of the universe in
this sense will be our Professor. He has given us the topic for the assignment.
The topic is rooted in His purpose for creating us. He has promised us of a
reward if we successfully complete the assignment. The reward is "Life everlasting and prosperity"
but interestingly, the deadline for submission of the assignment has not been
given. How then are we to know the pace of work? How then do we come out with a
schedule to guide us in undertaking the assignment?
Interestingly,
unlike most of our academic assignments where both content and number of pages
matter, this assignment of life focuses on content. If it's a page and rich in
content, the reward is merited. If it is a 50 page document with rich content,
the same reward is given. Quite interesting!!!. It does not matter how long you
live but what matters is the impact you make whiles you live.
For those
who see life as an academic assignment, copying others who are presumed to be
"academically sharper" remains the best option. They copy everything
about others hoping to get the best of grades but rather forget that, those
they are copying are not the lecturers. They sometimes forget that, the marking
scheme is available to all of us, that is, the Bible or Quran and for others,
their faith in their object of worship. Why copy from someone when you have the
marking scheme to guide you?
Another
group of people who see life as an academic assignment but are often either
lazy or busy with other stuff also outsource it. With this group of people,
their lives are often dictated by others who they have outsourced it to. It
could be their spouses, mentors and religious leaders. They forget that, like
an academic thesis, they will have to defend the thesis in the presence of their Professors
before they are awarded their certificates. How do you defend a life you
haven't lived yourself before a competent and capable professor?
What then
is life? The Akan's have a better way of expressing life, they refer to it as
"obra ne woara b)" which literally means, “Life is how you make
it." Life is all about you and your priorities.
For those
who will continue to see life as an academic assignment and copy wholeheartedly, remember you
may be penalized severely for academic dishonesty (plagiarism) and your
assignment may be rejected. To avoid this, probably, a literature review will
not be a bad idea so that you identify the gaps and fill those gaps with your
life. In all just remember that, “All shall pass".
By
YALI DREAM
A BETTER
GHANA
A BRIGHTER
AFRICA
The
writer is a graduate student of Development Policy and Planning at KNUST and an alumnus of the Young
African Leadership Initiative (YALI).
EMAIL:vincentntow12@gmail.com
Sure all shall pass. Very educative and inspiring. Thumbs up
ReplyDeleteAll shall surely pass👌👍
DeleteVery great and inspirational piece. Life in three words, "it goes on". Great work bruh
ReplyDeleteThose they're copying aren't lecturers got me. Very hard nowadays to show authenticity because of all the social pressure to be like everyone else. Our peers and the world around us pound us relentlessly with messages to have us live their values versus our own. There's a huge pull to behave like the majority. But sometimes life is about closing our ears to all the noisy voices of others so we can clearly hear our mission and call within us.
ReplyDeletePHILIP AGYAPONG MENSAH : LIFE IS A GIFT, YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF IT IS WHAT YOU MAKE OF IT, YOUR OWN WAY. THANKS WRITER OHENE
ReplyDeleteWe done. Keep it up
ReplyDelete