As early as 6:o0am this morning while I was heading to the farm for my first task of the day which was feeding the fishes, I saw some students trekking. They attend a government school that is far from the community, they have to leave home early so that they can be at school early as well.
Taking transportation would cost their parent a lot so instead of these kids taking buses, they will trek some distance (from their houses to the bus stop) and take a bus for the rest of the trip to the school. Some rich and average families take their kids to school with vehicles and some with school buses but the number of kids in one public school is the total population of 10 or more private school. These kids go through this process when coming back as well and repeat it for five days every week except on holiday and breaks.
Education has become stressful lately, the inflation in countries has made the cost of living quite expensive and parents struggle to give their kids a good life but it is annoying when after all the education, there is nothing to show for it.
A few days ago the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB) released the results of the examination that is held yearly in Nigeria, over 4 million students wrote it and would someday graduate to join the unemployed youths in the country. It has become a tradition and the unemployment rate keeps escalating while students keep graduating every day.
Many of these students don't understand what they are up to until they get into the higher institution, it has made me conclude that kids need more than just school education to survive in the competitive world we live in today. I am sure we understand that there is a huge difference between becoming successful and just surviving.
Many youths today are only surviving because Education as important as it is doesn't guarantee success anymore, I have seen a proper illiterate that employs and pays graduates salary. It has gotten to a stage where parents don't stop catering for their kids even when they are meant to be independent, they struggle to send kids to school and still have to provide food - shelter for the same kids that they believe would help them as they are aging.
I strongly believe that the level of unemployment in the world today doesn't justify the stress the kids go through and the disappointment these youth gets after the struggles they went through to study makes them lose hope of any good thing happening again and it ends up becoming the end of some kids dreams.
I kept wondering what if these kids were given more than just survival skills even at the teenage stage of life?
Empowering kids with skills is one way I have always believed in to help lots of children remain independent even during their higher institution days things are changing quickly and I believe skill acquisition isn't about just learning handwork anymore, the digital world has opened lots of amazing opportunities that are not restricted to anyone/gender or age bracket and as long as you know what to do, you are good to go.
Using crypto-currency as an example, I saw a young boy talking about trading and I was amazed about how good his parents have empowered him. In another video, I saw another kid explaining the process involved in mining some crypto and I was wowed. One thing I want you to understand that those kids are a step ahead of their mates due to the skill they have acquired at a very tender age.
It doesn't have to be crypto, you know your kid's capabilities and what they are passionate about because it would be wrong forcing them into what they aren't interested in and the most important thing is making them understand why they need to empower themselves at a younger age.
I know you must wonder why we can't let them grow into the youth age and allow them to choose if they want skill or not.
The best time to encourage a kid to take skill is when they are younger because some skills would go through some rough moments kids wouldn't mind going through as long as they enjoy what they are doing.
When they start younger, they become masters with their skill by the time they approach their youth age and it gives them the chance to explore more in their field.
I have a friend who learned his skill when he was very young, he went to the University to learn Electrical Engineering just for him to understand the theoretical part of the skill he learned. Today he works with an airline because he became a master in his field at a very young age.
Preparing kids for success when they are younger won't hurt, sometimes it is great to prepare for the unexpected.
In terms of learning, classroom training/face-to-face classes is still the best method by far. If it's not for the world's health sake, it doesn't make sense to replace traditional classes with online ones.