The west Vs. The West

For lack of an original title for this post, I came up with the above title ‘The west Vs The West’. I know most of you are not as smart as me so I’m going to give a very brief explanation. The west vs. The west is simply, where I am from (the west of Africa) vs. where I live (originally referred to as the west). For all those dolos that still don’t get, it is 9ja vs. Yankee. If you still don’t understand, then please I’d advice you go back to kindergarten and start all over ‘ponquem’

The reason for this post is a result of something that happened while in class one day which I have outlined in Scenario 1 below. It got me thinking about how different the educational system is between both places. I’m not even going to bother going into the differences or start comparing the two systems in depth because there really is no point {maybe in a later post, I just might}. Below are a couple of scenes that went through my mind while my instructor (back home they are called lecturer) was doing his bestest to make sure I understand the topic he was going on about.

Scenario 1– Entering a class while the class is on…

Yankee Scenario

Student : hey {to instructor}
Instructor: hey howsit going???
Student :: eeeehhh it’s going ok {while swaggering away with cap faced backwards}
meanwhile students are eating cooked food/snacks and drinking coffee/soda

ehn??? U de craze?? for Ulamak’s class or Ifos’s class? Dem no born you well. Even to chop groundnut sef, you have to hide and do it. You have to even chew gum sef with caution. First of all, you wouldn’t dare sneak in {notice I said sneak not walk} to Ulamak’s class while he is already inside and teaching. Only the bold and fearless can even try to attempt it.

Naija scenario

Student tries to sneek in with Ulamaks back turned to the board

Ulamak: a you…come hia! {just as student makes it to the nearest seat and he turns away from the board}
Student : Sorry sir! {note that student is apologizing for an offense he has not been accused of yet o}
Ulamak: so you think you can jus enter my class as you like ehn?
Student : no sir, Sorry sir..
Ulamak: come on will you get out of hia..your mates that are standing outside, do they have two heads?
Student : sorry sir {as he slickers out of the class and other students are hiding and snickering}
Ulamak: come on get out dia. stupid boy {only a boy will attempt this}

Scenario 2– Student doesn’t understand assignment given.

Yankee Scenario

Student : Hey Carl {to instructor}, concerning the lab for last week which is due in this week, I tried loading the server on my mac but can’t seem to get it running. Also the assignment just doesn’t make any sense especially question 2. I think there is something wrong with that question.
Instructor: Really? {Baffled} first of all let’s try to get the server running on your mac.
He goes ahead and helps the student install the server and in the event that he cant get it to work
Instructor: Do you know what James, I’ll have a look at this with my mac when i get home, then i’ll send you the instructions or links on how to get it fixed ok.
Student : Sure.
Instructor: Now about the question, what don’t you understand?
Student : well it just don’t make any sense to me..
Instructor: ok, well this is what you are expected to do {instructor goes ahead and explains the whole assignment up to the point of almost giving him the answers}.

Naija Scenerio

Truth be told, there is no scenario. Lecturer gives you an assignment you don’t understand, first of all, only someone signing their carry over certificate would go and tell the lecturer that they don’t understand the question or it doesn’t make sense. If you don’t understand, the solution is simple. Google the question {which you’ll definitely find there verbatim}. Copy and paste the solution, no need to edit, lecturer won’t know the difference.

Scenario 3 – After finals and receiving your grades.

Yankee Scenerio

Izzie: What? B? why? how could that have happened? {calls up classmate}
Izzie: Hey have you seen your grades for dotdotdot?
random student: Yea, I had an A.
Izzie: Really? {thinking….What the heck? I taught this guy this course}. Ok, I’ll talk to you later {rudely hangs up and angrily emails Instructor}

Email:

Hello Professor,
I just saw my grade on blackboard and it doesn’t seem right. I turned in all my assignments and projects but it says I missed a couple of assignments which isn’t true. I’ve been assigned a B grade cos of this and would really appreciate if you have this reviewed ASAP. I can turn in the missing assignments again and forward the initial submission as proof.
Thanks,
A very disgruntled student.

Reply:

Dear disgruntled student, I’m sorry there is a misunderstanding with your grades. I’ve informed my teaching assistant to investigate this and upgrade scores if necessary. Let me know if there are still any issues.
Best of luck,
A Truly concerned and caring Professor

Izzie{starts enquiring about the TA and get the TA’s number. Calls TA}: hey TA, I’m calling about my grades as professor mentioned in his email to us. Has it been looked into?
Nervous TA: Oh yea, you seem to be missing some assignments.
Very angry Izzie: Well, I’m very certain I turned in all my assignments, maybe it got overlooked or something.
NTA: ok Izzie, can you just resend those assignment to me?
Calm Izzie: sure

Izzie doesn’t relent (on both professor and TA) till her grades have been upgraded to A.

Naija Scenerio

After days of burning candles and sleepless nights of ‘Ofrima’ studies. Grades are out.
Izzie: Tata have you seen your Ulamak’s result?
Tata: My dear I had a D oh.. Thank God.
Izzie: Me, I had a D also o. Ah, I really thank God it was not an F. {End of story, unless you want another 2 years added to your years of undergraduate studies}.

THE END.