Nollywood actor Jim Iyke has shared his thoughts on the popular pidgin expression, “school na scam,” arguing that the formal education system is designed more to instil discipline and conformity than to prepare people for the realities of life.
Speaking in an interview with music journalist Joey Akan, the actor said although schooling teaches values such as discipline, responsibility, and accountability, the lessons acquired in the classroom are often insufficient for dealing with real-life challenges.
He added that the most important lessons he has learned came from personal experiences, mentors, books, conferences, setbacks, and self-education rather than from formal schooling.
“I will also tell you school is a scam. The curriculum is designed for programming and conditioning. There are times I’m in the middle of something, and I want to task myself to recall something I was taught during the time I spent within those four walls, but I can’t,” he said.
“But my life experiences, mentors, conferences, symposiums, books, self-taught experiences, theories of disloyalty, betrayals, the losses I have suffered, and more losses have all amalgamated into my present.
“That is the well of knowledge I pull from every time I need to advance a course, battle, or contend with something.
“I think the classroom just does something. It is designed to show that an individual will show up for a task for a period of time, that an individual can be trusted to show up for a period of time under a certain authority.
“The conditioning, the programming, makes it known that an individual can be accountable and responsible. But the knowledge gotten there, if applied to everyday life, will fail you.”
The actor further questioned the financial success of educators, pointing out that many professors and tutors are not wealthy despite their academic credentials.
“We can also argue from the financial stability of our tutors and professors. How many of them are really doing well in life?” Iyke asked.
“Haven’t you exceeded every tutor who ever sat in the classroom to tell you the dynamics of how to survive in the economic world? How well did you apply it? Are they doing better than you at this very moment?
“I met my professor recently. God bless his soul. We all knew who was doing better when we sat on that plane. I believed him when he said the things he said in the classroom. If I had taken them verbatim, I wouldn’t be here.
“I will tell you what worked. It was what the uncles, the traders who barely went to school but amassed wealth, told me. They told me to go left at all times and never right. The father who told me to forget theories and know when to be ruthless, when to conform, when to stand my ground, and what books to read.
“Some of the wealthiest men in the world did not get it from the classroom. How many of them have PhDs?”
