Page 49 - Grundtvig International Secondary School Yearbook 2019

ARTICLE THE TONE OF DEPRESSION
AMONG NIGERIAN STUDENTS

they are hated come into class, teach and show clear preference for some
students over the others. If a dumb student should work pretty hard to pass or
an average student gets a higher mark than usual, some teachers would ask,
“How did you get this score? It couldn't have been you. Who helped you? I
know you well”. Tell me who would hear this without getting frustrated. To
me, it's only the students that have given up on the teachers in every way. Some
people dwell on these words and keep on failing because of what a teacher had
once said. I will not limit the comparison to Nigerian adults because I know
that it is obtainable anywhere in the world. When I read a post that says “Our
parents compare us to our mates as if Dangote is not their mate”, I believe,
without bias, that it is the voice of the depressed children. The fact is that
sometimes, they don't seem to understand that everybody has a place where he
or she shines. For instance, I am arts inclined but you want me to be in a science
class and succeed. I have no interest there and I don't probably have the
aptitude for it. Imagine me being in a science class, failing without having any
interest in where I am and u compare me to someone who dreams, lives and
would probably die for science. Just look at the gap. I can't get optimum success
where my destiny does not lie.

In many Nigerian schools, speaking up and airing your views are heavy and unforgivable
crimes. We are being trained to take over the leadership of this country in the future but the so
called future leaders are trained to be afraid of speaking their minds. How will they ever come to
change Nigeria for good? A teacher insults you in class and you politely tell the teacher that those
words are hurtful, discouraging and kill your desire to learn. If you don't receive a slap, you can be
made to face one form of punishment or the other. Who would want to suffer and see his marks
deducted for nothing? They just keep quiet and receive insults that are like daggers to their hearts,
have their dreams shattered and live in depression. At this point, all hope to pass legally is lost. So, it is
generally believed that instead of speaking out, you should just keep quiet and endure everything.
Seriously, with this we want to build a greater Nigeria with future leaders that know their rights and
stand their grounds without fear? This sounds like a joke.

There are workers' strikes from time to time. A student who is meant be in school for four years ends up
staying for seven years. Who wants to live this nightmare? You look at students jump into business
after secondary school and you think they have no ambition? No. they are only taking the next
available option that they think will benefit them. It even hurts more when after all these, students
graduate and roam the streets in search of non-existing jobs. Some adults believe that in this era,
students suffer some illusions they create for themselves. Gone are those days when if a teacher
flogged you, you would wait outside the school, hide in the bush with your friends and when the
teacher would pass, you people would haul stones at him. And as the stones are landing on the teacher,
the pain, hurt and depression would be flying out of you. Many students are just depressed by so many
debilitating factors. A student should not be quickly judged when he behaves abnormally. Judgment
should take a slow and careful process. Really, some students now feel that they are students for the
sake of their parents and not that they wish to be students.

Anosike Oluomachukwu

Grundtvig Interna onal Secondary School 047