In my department we do offer a course called fieldwork, this fieldwork was one of our major core courses when I was in school then, so you can never miss fieldwork for anything, fieldwork starts from 200 level to the final year. Apart from the stress, fieldwork is always fun
Fieldwork is when we go to different states to know the geological history of the area, take samples of rocks that existed in the past, and take them to the lab for analysis, this is always fun then because we get the chance to see everything we were taught in class, it is the practical of what we were taught in class, this time we get to mingle with each other, we call it camping, and most times it can last for a month or more and this period is always fun, we get the chance to speak to our lecturers, ask questions, also spend quality time with them and eat on the same table with them.
During this period there is no discrimination, we act as one because this is different from class work entirely, the school authority does sponsor our movements and also gives each student a feeding allowance for the period we are going to spend on the field, they are responsible for our welfare.
If you are a geologist then you can understand what I am saying about fieldwork, this period is always tedious though, but it is always fun for us, it is a time when all the ladies lodge in one room, and the guys do the same, we always make use of NYSC camp of any state we are visiting so that we can have space to move around before moving to our assigned area.
We enjoyed this privilege as a student then, we learned so many things and also learned how to operate different geological tools on the field, but in this era nothing like that anymore.
I heard that the department had to cancel fieldwork because of everything that is happening in the country, they do not have Ransom to pay to the kidnappers, so they teach the students in the classroom as theory, no more practical like the way they did for us.
One of the biggest challenges we had as students was the issue of pre-requisites, hmmm this pre-requisite made some students spend more years than they expected in school then, and some spend five to six years of four years.
Pre-requisite means if you fail one course and it is a pre-requisite that means you will not be able to register for those courses in the next level unless you pass the one you fail, in my department all our 200-level courses were pre-requisite which will hinder most courses in 300-level, people suffered for this issue then.
I was checking the school platform last year and I saw that they removed pre-requisites, they have a new vice chancellor now and he canceled everything called pre-requisite, I saw the video when he was addressing the students on the matriculation day and he said no more pre-requisites, they were all happy because people can not graduate at the exact year they plan for.
Though I felt devastated but also happy for them, I know what I mean by saying I felt devastated because I know a guy that doesn't graduate because of that issue, he spent more than six years because of pre-requisites and our lecturers are not nice at all, they prefer to be seeing your face every year writing the same course, I do not know why they derive joy in such attitude.
I will not say they should bring back pre-requisite because I won't gain anything from their downfall so I am happy they cancel that.
This is my entry for this week's episode of hivelearners community prompt of #hl-w106e2 which is tagged "SCHOOLING BACK THEN"
