Nigerians being obsessed with Education has jack to with Immigration or Green Card.... think its easy falling into a studying pattern!!..this attitude was cultivated in Nigeria reason being educated people are the most referred even though Entertainers are now increasingly given some prominence but alas!!...enough of the musicians are frustrated Graduates they are more Grads in Nigeria than Nigerians anywhere in the Diaspora...enough Nigerians would on average have at least a first degree anyway before coming not just the US and UK...you should see the number of Nigerian Doctors in Russia when they used to give scholarships back in the day...
And please lets stay on course..i noticed some of the negavity filtering through it seems we cannot see something postiive in us as Individuals or as a Group without being shut down...get over it

@Shemsi
This problem is across the board as you mentioned same can be applied to Educated AAs having nothing to do with the Black Community once they all educated they feel a cut above the rest...

@et al
and enough of you have seen how some brothas and sistas in a professional role carry on some would hardly acknowledge you its quite a sight!!...so thats at a macro level..sh*t happens everywhere

@Stymelove
You talking rubbish...go do a proper comparative analysis...What the heck do you think of the Credit Crunch??...unless you been in relapse of course..What some elements of Nigerians do is peanuts compared to the legitimized fraud that goes on in Trading Floors...

@Incognito
That post was uneccesary expected more from you...leave that stuff to the Village Idiots
Theres a time and place for them things....

astmartins - I've given my Nigerian bredrins more than props in this thread.

@VK

I did not get this paragraph here can you explain...

What I was getting at was it has always been stated that Nigerians success stories do not always return home...essentially not giving back...In the UK we have situations where your fellow African(Both African and Caribbean) wouldn't even acknowledge you at work(despite being only a trickle of us)...throwing out of the window any so called solidarity..(though the receptionists where i work are the friendliest and most down to earth sistas you can ever meet)...
So what do people expect of your average Nigerian when some of us cannot even do the basic thing like acknowledge a fellow brotha and sista yet some want to cast aspersions on Nigerians not doing this or not doing that...

@Incognito
I know that bro and i recall some fellow Nigerian professionals you work with whom you big up from time to time...I'm aware there is the other side to Nigerians but folks drag it up all the time...as for the housing scam lets not even get into all the scam or desperate acts teenage girls...and every race us included pull to get cheap housing

LOL! There just had to be one.

Overall, this thread has been fine. But there was a thread some two years back where all a dude was trying to do was show some pics of nigeria....and that was enough to cause a riot in here.

I think that getting a degree to the 2nd and 3rd generation Nigerians in the UK is beginning to be seen as not as important as it used to. It could get quite stressful at times growing up in a house where your parents are mad keen on education and you furthering your education.

Me- I was not that bothered about getting a degree but my dad went on and on about the importance of getting one so i caved in the end and discovered a course that i really liked so that was good. I was not obsessed with getting a degree though. I didn't even really want to go on to do A levels.
Now my dad has been going on and on about me getting an MA i started a course then left. If i do go back to it i will do it mainly for my dad. It will give him a source of pride and he thinks that it will help me career wise.

My elder sister- She started out studying for a BA but then left the course and later fell pregnant and that was the end of it. She doesn't see the importance of going back to get her degree she really could care less about it and has done some other things that make her happy. My sister thinks that education is important but she is not going to push her children into doing something that they don't want to do.

Brother number one- He has got a degree in Economics from a top London Uni and a Maters from Kings College.

My youngest brother- He started out on a course and then left in the second year to set up his own business. My dad does not put pressure on him to go back and get a degree. My mum though she does keep on at my brother to go and get a degree but my brother is just not interested right now.

In Nigeria most do go onto further education.

Of course my sister will try and get her children to reach their full potential whilst at school but when it comes to them deciding if they want to continue their education at the age of 16 or 18 they are not quite children anymore. My sister has put both of her eldest two children through the 11+ exams and one of them has just recently passed their 11+ exams.
We have discussed this and i don't know about the rest of her children but
my sister would like her eldest daughter to go onto university but if her daughter wanted to go on to do something else that she had her heart set on and she was deeply unhappy in going to university then my sister would not force her wishes on her.

Of course my sister will try and get her children to reach their full potential whilst at school but when it comes to them deciding if they want to continue their education at the age of 16 or 18 they are not quite children anymore.

I didn't want to say anything at first but @VK just read my thoughts...this is one of the many reasons for the problems we face today as a person of colour haven't you realised you need more experience and qualifications than the YT man/woman?? unless you want to end up in some average job..
The one thing i thought you might bring up you didn't..that is our people need to study things that are practical that are of value in the Real world ...Medicine-Technology-Engineering...Everthing else should be taken as Professional Courses which are more of business vaue to employers than some poxy Degree that serves no purpose....I personally think there are way too many Nigerians in Law and Business...unfortunately many go to University for no reason just for the sake of going but it still gives one a look in...opens doors normally inaccessible to us..A personal story my senior sister was sent to i think it was Southern Texas University yet in the 2nd year she dropped out...well i think some dude turned her head...anyways she got the usual average joe job...my mom felt very very betrayed...well after a few years...Marriage...having the first 2 kids she managed to get her first and studied part-time to get her Masters now shes a Manager at the same place...ironically in Houston
She always had potential and thats why i don't buy the notion that kids should DECIDE thats a Western Thing you see they have the CHOICE this is not Africa or the Caribbean we DON'T have those CHOICES(don't let what your YT friends do deceive you) to make ...the streets is full of people regretting not taking the opportunities whilst younger....
Things i can understand are starting a family in the traditional sense..starting a business or acquiring practical skills...all still needs a cerain amount of Education..do not for one doubt the power of Education..
Another point is not everyone has the aptitude for Education...they can be excused after seeking the appropriate medical advice as to why???....but they still need to divert that energy into doing something constructive

I would be interested to know if those who do get the education in the west are only the 'elite' rich nigerians and not the others. I know there was a civil war in the late 60's there which led to a lot of nigerians fleeing to other countries and coming to the west. Was recently reading about the ethnic problems there with oil and the corruption(nothing new in africa), and the people living in the niger delta area( I think mostly igbo) not getting enough of the oil revenue in their lands and hence rebelling.


Anyways, not hating or anything but would be interested to know about oil profits and nigerian government. From an outsiders perspective and from what i've been reading it seems the government is run by a Housa and Fulani while igbo's are isolated. Would be interesting to know which group are in the diaspora. Nigeria has the potential to be a great example country in africa with the right leadership, and it's too bad those in the west are not going back home to contribute.

@Taysense
The Hausas and Fulani run Nigeria...can you believe they installed had a oil pipeline all the way from the East(Riverine(Igbos) Passes through the West (Yorubas) to Kaduna(one of the places where the hausas reside) imagine the Millions of £ or $ spent on such friutless projects(just recently that same pipeline had had an explosion killing a few in lagos(Yoruba side)...they also have a very strong military base up there..they enjoy the oil more than where the oil comes from the Delta....the Delta people are slightly different from the Igbos but have a lot in common and also fluent in Igbo...
On point ...the hausas and fulanis normally get the so called Elite treatment they come to the Diaspora education all paid for and get back and get cushy jobs from their corrupt connections in power...
Its the Igbos and the Yorubas that pay their own way and you tend to find more of their types in the Diaspora of course the Hausas wouldn't 'stoop' that low to work in the Diaspora..when they have the oil and arms on lock...
The Yorubas are paying the price for not backing the Igbos during the civil war .

Ok what are you going to do if you have an 18 year old who was bright who did not wish to go to university. As they are not underage you cannot drag them there. You can reason with them and put pressure on them but the way you act will be a bit different to how you would do if they were underage and still legally children.

As i said yes you can put pressure on your child and cut them of until they come round or you can encourage them to study for something else. If they were passionate about doing s