PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY: ''IVY LEAGUE'' HYPE AND THE FALLACY OF EXTRAORDINARINESS.
''Scientific management of resources in the line of production, distribution, exchange and consumption is called simply allocation of resources. The allocation of resources discussed principle of right sharing of resources among competing sectors. Whatever, the type of economy be it capitalist, socialist or mixed decision has to be made regarding allocation of resources''.-Jeevan Thapa
Solving a mathematical equation is not the same as running a country because with mathematics there is a certain level of exactitude or given, while governance is encapsulated by uncertainty and imperfections this is more assuredly so when resources are limited and an opportunity cost decision has to be made between and amongst competing mutually exclusive constituents or demands, the fundamental questions here would revolve around how, what, whom and where.
''In microeconomic theory, the opportunity cost of a choice is the value of the best alternative forgone, where a choice needs to be made between several mutually exclusive alternatives given limited resources. Assuming the best choice is made, it is the "cost" incurred by not enjoying the benefit that would be had by taking the second best choice available''.-wikipedia.org
I do not understand what all the hypes about ''ivy league'' schools are generating that we now think or assume wrongly in my view that it is a panacea to resolving or rejuvenating intellectual pursuit in Nigeria to the extent that it is now being used as a necessary/sufficient criteria for allocating forex resources for parents who have decided to send their kids to school abroad whether ivy or not.
This in my opinion is a red herring and a fallcious argumentation predicated on sentimentalism and moralistic sermonization.
If we adopt a prima facie logic that kids came to the world as a result of the conscious actions or inactions of humans in this case their parents in an exchange of sexual affection involving two or more persons, more here is predicated on the assumption of medical intervention then the first call of responsibility to take good care of those children rest primarily on the bosom of their parents, guardians, who are legalistically speaking responsible primarily for their care and management.
No sentimentalism or moralistic sermonization that can take away that fundamental imperative of caring for ones children or child as the case may apply.
The state can facilitate by creating a conducive atmosphere for proper upbringing with the provision of social welfare services and there are multifarious methodologies for achieving that via government programmes, but when resources are limited government must prioritize in respect of the kind of assistance to be given taken into consideration the impactness of such assistance on the pedestal of the greatest benefit for the greatest number of citizenry, cost implications, egalitarianism, utilitarianism, fairness, justifiableness, from the purview/reality of resource inadequacy in Nigeria.
Note that this is a very difficult policy decision involving delicate joggling and distribution of limited resources. In most advance democracies this is the standard practice, recently in the Netherlands government decided to stop support for feeding/clothing allowances for kids provided through tax rebate because of paucity of funds to continue with that social welfare programme.
Here decisions were made not based on sentimentalism or moralistic sermonization but rather on economic logic. What you dont have you cannot spend and if you do you are living beyond your means.
Here the government is saying to the citizenry that they have to take responsibility for the feeding and clothing of their kids and if it comes to stopping student support they will not hesitate to do so, infact this is already happening indirectly because students are now made to borrow money from a special organisation to finance their studies at reduce interest on the loan.
That is the kind of arrangements those parents with kids abroad should be asking for, not forex subsidy and I am sure programmes like that exist in various countries abroad that those kids can tap into with the help of their parents if they have done adequate research on this subject matter.
I am glad that @Delemomodu said the following in his piece ''That is why our parents say the best inheritance that a child can be given is education. I also saw the practical side with my mother sacrificing all pleasures to pay for my education at one of the best secondary and tertiary institutions of the time''.-@delemomodu
If honourable @Delemomodu parent can sacrifice all pleasures, I could not fathom out the reasons why the parents of those kids schooling abroad now would/could not do the same sacrificing their hedonistic lifestyle.
Kids do not necessarily have to attend ''ivy league'' school to be smart or prominent worldwide or be an accomplished individual in life. Ivy leaguers are not necessarily the best in the world, Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, were discovered in Nigeria and not necessarily because they studied abroad or in any ''ivy league'' school.
Furthermore, going to ''ivy league'' school is not a panacea for success and neither is it a necessary nor sufficient condition for prominence in any intellectual endeavour or in business life, there are so many people in the world with ''ivy league'' education that have not contributed anything significant to the enrichment of humanity except self aggrandizing pomposity bragging about the school they went to; a reflection of how backward and primordial our thinkings are in Nigeria, when /where people think going to Harvard and Oxford are synonymous with brilliance and automatic success or prominence.
''I cannot over-emphasise that it is the dream of every reasonable and loving parent to send their children to the best schools all over the world whether they can afford it or not''-@delemomodu
It is good to have dreams and aspirations for our kids but we need to be realistic with those fantasies. To hope and dream of sending your kids to school abroad when you don't have the resources or the propensity economic wise now and in the future is just self dellusion unless you are someone who lives on miraculization theology.
Hope is good, dreams are fantastic but reality is metacognition. We need to prevent false hope and horror dreams to avoid the pains of the heart for those kids whose parents are unrealistic about their financial or economic possibilities to bring to fruition what I called dellusionary aspirations.
If those parents have good fiscal management and discipline they will not be in this messy situation, they would have kept money abroad for the upkeep of their wards for the long haul or the period needed for their study, they should know that studying abroad has its uncertainty economic wise given the fluctuations in the forex market and the imperfections prevalent and dominant in our economy.
We need our best brains to germinate and blossom in Nigeria where we need them most not abroad. Moreover, there is no guarantee that those kids would eventually return home to contribute to the development of Nigeria.
OTUNBA ADE ILEMOBADE is a philosopher
Twitter: @pearl2prince
Solving a mathematical equation is not the same as running a country because with mathematics there is a certain level of exactitude or given, while governance is encapsulated by uncertainty and imperfections this is more assuredly so when resources are limited and an opportunity cost decision has to be made between and amongst competing mutually exclusive constituents or demands, the fundamental questions here would revolve around how, what, whom and where.
''In microeconomic theory, the opportunity cost of a choice is the value of the best alternative forgone, where a choice needs to be made between several mutually exclusive alternatives given limited resources. Assuming the best choice is made, it is the "cost" incurred by not enjoying the benefit that would be had by taking the second best choice available''.-wikipedia.org
I do not understand what all the hypes about ''ivy league'' schools are generating that we now think or assume wrongly in my view that it is a panacea to resolving or rejuvenating intellectual pursuit in Nigeria to the extent that it is now being used as a necessary/sufficient criteria for allocating forex resources for parents who have decided to send their kids to school abroad whether ivy or not.
This in my opinion is a red herring and a fallcious argumentation predicated on sentimentalism and moralistic sermonization.
If we adopt a prima facie logic that kids came to the world as a result of the conscious actions or inactions of humans in this case their parents in an exchange of sexual affection involving two or more persons, more here is predicated on the assumption of medical intervention then the first call of responsibility to take good care of those children rest primarily on the bosom of their parents, guardians, who are legalistically speaking responsible primarily for their care and management.
No sentimentalism or moralistic sermonization that can take away that fundamental imperative of caring for ones children or child as the case may apply.
The state can facilitate by creating a conducive atmosphere for proper upbringing with the provision of social welfare services and there are multifarious methodologies for achieving that via government programmes, but when resources are limited government must prioritize in respect of the kind of assistance to be given taken into consideration the impactness of such assistance on the pedestal of the greatest benefit for the greatest number of citizenry, cost implications, egalitarianism, utilitarianism, fairness, justifiableness, from the purview/reality of resource inadequacy in Nigeria.
Note that this is a very difficult policy decision involving delicate joggling and distribution of limited resources. In most advance democracies this is the standard practice, recently in the Netherlands government decided to stop support for feeding/clothing allowances for kids provided through tax rebate because of paucity of funds to continue with that social welfare programme.
Here decisions were made not based on sentimentalism or moralistic sermonization but rather on economic logic. What you dont have you cannot spend and if you do you are living beyond your means.
Here the government is saying to the citizenry that they have to take responsibility for the feeding and clothing of their kids and if it comes to stopping student support they will not hesitate to do so, infact this is already happening indirectly because students are now made to borrow money from a special organisation to finance their studies at reduce interest on the loan.
That is the kind of arrangements those parents with kids abroad should be asking for, not forex subsidy and I am sure programmes like that exist in various countries abroad that those kids can tap into with the help of their parents if they have done adequate research on this subject matter.
I am glad that @Delemomodu said the following in his piece ''That is why our parents say the best inheritance that a child can be given is education. I also saw the practical side with my mother sacrificing all pleasures to pay for my education at one of the best secondary and tertiary institutions of the time''.-@delemomodu
If honourable @Delemomodu parent can sacrifice all pleasures, I could not fathom out the reasons why the parents of those kids schooling abroad now would/could not do the same sacrificing their hedonistic lifestyle.
Kids do not necessarily have to attend ''ivy league'' school to be smart or prominent worldwide or be an accomplished individual in life. Ivy leaguers are not necessarily the best in the world, Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, were discovered in Nigeria and not necessarily because they studied abroad or in any ''ivy league'' school.
Furthermore, going to ''ivy league'' school is not a panacea for success and neither is it a necessary nor sufficient condition for prominence in any intellectual endeavour or in business life, there are so many people in the world with ''ivy league'' education that have not contributed anything significant to the enrichment of humanity except self aggrandizing pomposity bragging about the school they went to; a reflection of how backward and primordial our thinkings are in Nigeria, when /where people think going to Harvard and Oxford are synonymous with brilliance and automatic success or prominence.
''I cannot over-emphasise that it is the dream of every reasonable and loving parent to send their children to the best schools all over the world whether they can afford it or not''-@delemomodu
It is good to have dreams and aspirations for our kids but we need to be realistic with those fantasies. To hope and dream of sending your kids to school abroad when you don't have the resources or the propensity economic wise now and in the future is just self dellusion unless you are someone who lives on miraculization theology.
Hope is good, dreams are fantastic but reality is metacognition. We need to prevent false hope and horror dreams to avoid the pains of the heart for those kids whose parents are unrealistic about their financial or economic possibilities to bring to fruition what I called dellusionary aspirations.
If those parents have good fiscal management and discipline they will not be in this messy situation, they would have kept money abroad for the upkeep of their wards for the long haul or the period needed for their study, they should know that studying abroad has its uncertainty economic wise given the fluctuations in the forex market and the imperfections prevalent and dominant in our economy.
We need our best brains to germinate and blossom in Nigeria where we need them most not abroad. Moreover, there is no guarantee that those kids would eventually return home to contribute to the development of Nigeria.
OTUNBA ADE ILEMOBADE is a philosopher
Twitter: @pearl2prince
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