So we got talking (it was a long walk and talking was a way of making it less tedious), we did the normal introduction: Name, level, hall, department…and the rest. And that was when she said the words.
‘Which department are you?’, I asked her. ‘Err…what’s that course again self… Agronomy’, came the reply.
What! I couldn’t believe my ears. Wait, let’s rewind a little. ‘Err…what’s that course again self… Agronomy’.
In my head I was like, did she really say that?
She is a plump, dark girl with lovely big eyes, long hair and all. Pretty? Yeah, very pretty. But her choice of words, at least at that time, was not pretty at all.
I know of people who don’t really like their courses and as a result are not proud of it. But at least they say it with confidence or maybe pretense confidence; whichever way, they at least talk about their course with dignity.
When I gained control of the situation, I hid my shock and just laughed over it. But deep down, I was hurting, hurting for the department, for the lecturers there and for the students there also. It wasn’t so much of a nice thing to say but I just let the moment pass, knowing I would not forget it in a hurry. We talked about so many other things, she learnt about me and vice versa. That was when I got to know that her father’s choice of course for her was undefined, her mother’s was Pharmacy and her’s was- well, medicine. No wonder I received the kind of response I got. Medicine and agronomy are quite different form each other.
Anyways, I am of the opinion that one is supposed to be proud of one’s course no matter what. Just like acknowledging that one is sick, as they say, is the first step to recovery. The first step to becoming successful in school is to love your course because if one doesn’t love it, one cannot understand it and if one does not understand it, one cannot read it and if one cannot read it, one will ultimately fail. I am aware of the fact that a lot of people who are assigned to another department other than what they applied for are not proud of their courses. Some haven’t ever accepted the fact that they are in that particular department.
Funny, isn’t it? But these things are true. The earlier they accept the obvious, the better for them. Be proud of your discipline, no matter what it is or what it entails. That is the first step to success.
Victoria Paul
Editor-in-chief
