I once had a lecturer who did not know what he taught (either he did not know or he was not sure). When he conducted a test or an examination, he expected us to produce exactly what was in the handout (word for word, space for space) which was also not made by him but a senior colleague lecturer.
After taking his paper, you go to your room with headache not because you had to think but because you had to memorize every detail and produce it. Such a lecturer also demanded for Book and Research Allowances. I believe there are many lecturers out there who fall under this category of lecturers who wouldn’t like to read through students’ work before marking. Always looking for simple avenues to make work suit them. For Christ’s sake we are in the university to think not to “chew and pour”. You are to mark my ideas which are similar to yours not yours which I try to understand and that is why it is called an examination so that you assess my understanding of the course and not how I memorise details.
This explains why we have some first class students who are lost in the field because they did the ‘chew and pour’ stuff and did not even understand what they produced to the lecturer therefore becoming less creative people at their workplaces. It’s rather unfortunate some of those who think ahead are those in the second class upper and lowers and find it difficult securing jobs. Even when they do, they are able to stay longer in their jobs than others. Unfortunately, these are the same lecturers who would come on air and say we are less thinking graduates.
Until lecturers like that my lecturer change, Ghana will see university graduates come out and the results would be the same. I can not end this article by not saying BRAVO!!! to all lecturers and teachers who encourage creativity and research and mark students who produce exact details in handouts down. You really deserve more allowances than the others.
In some institutions, lecturers award marks to students who seem to have read wide hence encourage research knowledge. I would like to encourage students not to rely much on lecture notes but also do their own reading, at least it widens your horizon.
