You would think that University Lecturers’ jobs include encouraging the students to be the best version of themselves they can be. To encourage the students that there’s a reward for going above and beyond, for putting their backs into tasks assigned to them. Right? Right?!!! Wrong.
This is a pattern that reflects across many levels of people’s lives. People in authority incentivizing subordinates to “not do too much”. Of course, this is not done intentionally, but it is the consequences of constantly punishing those who go above and beyond.
This starts from early on in a child’s life. It was perfectly displayed in the viral video of a Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO) lecturer destroying an excellent model built by an Architecture student. In the video, the lecturer is sitting, and with a long stick, is hitting the models on the board. Continuously. Some of the pieces on the board flatten, some fall off.
The (Non) Rationale: Destroyed For Being Too Good
The reason according to eye witnesses was that the lecturer destroyed it not because of how poor it was…but because of how good it was. Yes, you read that right. No, I’m not trolling you, I promise. The lecturer was sure that the students couldn’t have done it on his own. This sets a dangerous precedent, and makes no sense for several reasons.
For one, it’s a model, and models are only as good as the amount of thought and time put into them. Therefore, it stands to reason that a student who cares about getting a good grade will produce something exceptional. The lecturer’s reasoning is dead on arrival, because it just assumes the worst of all the students in your care. It is insidious at its core.
It also sets a dangerous precedent, as it puts an unfounded cap on students’ intelligence, creativity and work ethic. It’s baffling that this lecturer did not think about this. It would be like asking a teacher or superior “what do I get for achieving this?”, and instead of getting an answer, you’re hit with “you can’t”. The teacher hasn’t even given you a chance to fight.
There’s No Check to Measure Depth and Understanding
This is especially crazy, because the teacher did not consider the student’s knowledge to know if the student was capable of doing what he produced. It’s very easy to test.
“But Olaolu, you don’t know if he even tested the student. It may have been cut out of the video”. A teacher who is interested in testing a student will not destroy the project on the spot. Such a lecturer would have the mindset of “I’m not sure, let me not do anything yet”.
In 400 level, I had a friend who used five programming languages to build a project. The project was a device that was to detect the water level in a tank and automatically switch on the pumping machine if it was below a certain level. All of us that knew him knew he was good enough to pull it off. When he presented the project, it was rejected. The same reason was given too: “too good to have been done by you”.
It gets better, though. He was asked questions by several lecturers. They tested his knowledge on what he built. He answered perfectly. It didn’t matter though. Now, again, you would think that someone who has the understanding of how a complex system works is already 60% of the way to building it, right? Wrong again. Not according to these lecturers.
The Consequences: Young People Are Demoralized and Mediocrity is Encouraged
Lecturers may think they’re being smart by taking drastic actions in these situations where they think a student cheated. However, what you encourage is mediocrity. First of all, students don’t want to spend time working on tasks, only to be told it’s too good to be accepted. When that happens, you’re essentially telling them “even if you can do an excellent job, don’t”.
Young Nigerians are constantly forced to deliver just enough, as they know that above and beyond will usually be met with negative results. Superiors often encourage mediocrity by not appreciating the effort put in by subordinates. Why go out of your way to produce something exceptional if it’s going to be destroyed? These are the consequences of what the FUTO lecturer, and many others like him, did.
Across the board, many people have been made to feel like negative results will come from extraordinary effort. This can only change when superiors learn to encourage excellence, rather than punish it.
Conclusion
Young Nigerians are enthusiastic by nature, and when incentivized, will go all out to achieve what they need to. However, when ignorant superiors cap people’s abilities, it discourages them, and makes them just want to do things that are “believeable”.
The FUTO Lecturer is just an example, but there are many like him. The effect is the same, and at University level, where young people start getting prepared to enter into the work force, discouraging productivity is a horrible idea.
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