The choice of course to study is one very tricky aspect in a child's (or teenager's) education. This part would be way easier if you could choose more than one course to study. But alas, everyone has their area of specialty and choosing what you have no idea about could be catastrophic (for a straight A student, failing is kinda catastrophic). To make choosing a course less stressful for teenagers, it's advisable to have someone who can help you with certain decisions but the choice is still in the hands of the teen. But what do you do when the people who are supposed to be guiding you are making the choice for you instead?
According to my parents, my education has always given them “problems”. I was very timid when I was younger. I had no confidence in myself and I always thought I didn't know as much as other kids. And this was a very big problem to my parents because my older siblings were very smart, confident and they had amazing grades and they didn't want their only daughter to be the black sheep. They would always compare me to the other children and it really lowered my self esteem. But as I grew older, I became more confident in myself and once my parents saw my capability they started scheming and immediately chose a course suitable for “the kind of brain I carry”🙄. They told me I would read nursing. They planted that seed in my head from my childhood. I didn't understand the consequences of letting them take control then, but I guess they're catching up to me now. Now my parents have refused to give me freedom to choose. It's scary feeling like you literally have no control over your own life; feeling like a stranger in your own life. I now realize why I had such low self-esteem as a child. It wasn't necessarily because I didn't know enough, it was because I was afraid people wouldn't listen to me just like my parents.
Sometimes I can't help but wonder how many young people actually go through this stress (it's very stressful and frustrating to me). I actually have a friend whose parents told her she was a disgrace for wanting to read a particular course. You're supposed to be counseling your children not judging their decisions. The funny thing about all of this is that if you go ahead and disobey them (read another course, maybe even dropout of school) and you end up being very successful, the same people who ridiculed you, maybe even disowned you, will be the first to celebrate your success 🤦. So why not just support us all through the way. It's not like we're asking for a billion dollars. No young person will watch you dictate their lives and be happy with you, but apparently Nigerian parents have refused to see that. They believe they know best and have refused to see that things have changed. Yes, we know the economy has changed but we have adapted to the bad economy. JUST LET US DO OUR THING.
I remember my dad told me some time ago, “Be smart or people will take advantage of you”. But it's the same people who warned me about being cheated that ended up cheating me of my own life. The same people who told me they would support any decision I make, have failed me. At a point, I thought they would eventually support my decision but I guess I was wrong. I want to SPEAK MY MIND so bad. But as annoying as it is, there's nothing I can do about it. They won't listen to me.......
