Certificate is overhyped!

Amidst the debate of O and A Level grades amongst "intellectuals" came to my mind one of the words I learnt a decade ago. I have been using it copiously in my write-ups. Before I delve into the vocabulary point, I have this to say about this needless raging debate of certificates.

I'm not fixated fellow of certificates because I believe there are several people on the street who are worthier of the certificates we wield with self-conceited aura of pomposity. They simply didn't get the opportunity you and I had. And you know and can cite chaw of such examples.

Flashback to your Primary 6 days and ask yourself if you were the brightest in class. You probably might have amassed certificates more than the brightest fellas. You are probably well placed in society today. And those old schoolmates whom were obviously the bosses of rational thinking are still grappling with what to do, based on the social strata they found themselves. Please, spare me any motivational quote here. It's largely not because of your megabrains but the wherewithal to pay for your certificates.

Today, after SHS, every certificate is practically "buyable". Even if you don't meet the minimum requirements for any course, the fee paying option is always available.

I hate it when people (obviously with no self-confidence) feel Ph.D holders and its equivalent are beyond reproach and critique. Glorious Lord of Nazareth! Arrant nonsense!

Let me tell you a true story. My SHS 2 maths teacher was a complete zombie. This guy was a disaster to an extent that he couldn't "even" teach "common" modulo. The easiest maths concept of remainders - just obtaining remainders as answers. He couldn't work any modulo question out of the examples given in the maths textbook. He was a university graduate! I can't even remember his name except Modulo, his nickname.

Sadly, Mr Dramani, who was wizard and genius of demystifying maths concepts to students was sacked. His crime was being a post-secondary trained teacher and per the school's administration, was not qualified to teach us. We wept! He left us to teach in JHS whiles Modulo continued with his pollution of minds and destruction of Blaise Pascal's passion.

If you want to corroborate this story, ask Damigi Mohammed, Abdallah Bitamsimli, Obeng Richard et al or 2002 Batch of KASS, Tamale.

This brouhaha of academic certificate is hugely overrated and nauseating. And if we don't salvage our minds from this fixation, one day our institutions will be filled with Ph.D illiterates running amok the affairs of our nation.

Enough of this childishness, for Albert Einstein said "imagination is better than knowledge". We don't need whatever certificate to imagine. Some group of people must stop behaving as if they have seen God with their certificates. Enough is enough. I know some people will say "forget him, he doesn't have certificates". But be reminded that I have the best certificate of my life - Birth Certificate.

Now the word: Vocabulary Point

Noun: Paper tiger

1. Someone or something that appears powerful or dangerous but is not. 2. One that is outwardly powerful or dangerous but inwardly weak or ineffectual. 3. An overrated person or organisation. -Merriam Webster & Mine

Examples: (with no malice aforethought)

1. When it comes to military might, the US is a paper tiger.

2. The General Secretary has no influence in the party - he's a paper tiger.

3. Beware of paper tiger institutions masquerading as lords of the stock market.

4. Efo Kojo is paper tiger notwithstanding his rich CV.

5. Whiles the opposition touts IMANI's credentials as formidable think tank, the government feels it's a paper tiger.

6. MTN is a paper tiger in the comity of telcos.

7. Most committees set up by the government are mere paper tigers.