We all have a good idea or at least know the meaning of the word prerequisite. In writing this, I want to examine closely what this word prerequisite really stands for in our lives and struggles as students and people who want to succeed in life. Let me ask, isn’t life full of prerequisites? I have often thought of the idea of prerequisites as what actually paves the way to success and learning. The dictionary defines the word prerequisite as “Something that you officially must have or do before you can have or do something else.” So it is what actually makes one eligible for a position, or in the academic field, especially among students, what makes one eligible to register for certain courses in a semester. A prerequisite is a must-have, a precondition for something. A conducio sine qua non as Latin would put it.
Have you ever been found ineligible for some position because you have not fulfilled the prerequisites? Are you applying for a position in industry or registering for a course in school? Have you fulfilled the prerequisites? A student complained to me that he was asked to pay to take a course in basic statistics as a prerequisite for registering for introduction to IS&T research and MySQL for databases before he could register for classes prior to the start of the academic year. What do you think will happen if the student fails to fulfil the prerequisites? Of course, he or she won’t be allowed to register for the courses. If the prerequisites were waived without being fulfilled, then that paves a way for failure. Why do I talk about failure? It is because if you don’t know the basic concepts of something you can hardly grasp more complex ideas about it; and for a student, it means failure in the particular course because he or she will never understand what the teacher teaches in class. Often assignments could be prerequisites for the next lecture. This means if a student fails to do his or her assignments, not only will he or she be penalized with low grades but may not understand subsequent discussions on the subject matter. I have often heard students making jest of their professors for not knowing the subject they teach. Yet in reality, it is the students themselves who are not well prepared because they didn’t fulfill the prerequisites.
So, do you think prerequisites are actually imposed against your will? Not really; they are not impositions of any sort, but are meant to prepare you for better learning opportunities. It is very unfortunate that many fraudulently waive or falsely claim to have fulfilled some prerequisites demanded of them when in reality they have not. They do that without knowing that they are architecting their own failure.
In our world today, everyone wants to fast track everything, especially in education and skill acquisition. Yet we keep quiet and watch our generation decay
Do we still care about fulfilling prerequisites when most schools promote students to a more advanced class when they did not fulfil the requirements of a previous class? For instance, why would a student be allowed to take WAEC and JAMB in SS 2( grade 11)? What happens to the SS 3 syllabus that must be fulfilled before registering for those final exams? Is it because the student is smart or intelligent? Do you really believe that he or she can pass that examination unaided by any form of malpractice? My dear friends, there is no rush or hurry in life. What you neglect today, will surely neglect you tomorrow. Knowledge acquired and time spent doing something meaningful will never be a waste.
Don’t complain when something desired didn’t come your way, because you may not have equipped yourself with the prerequisites for that goal. It is always good to have what it takes to grasp an opportunity when it comes your way than to be found ineligible Think about what you want to do in the future and ask yourself if you have fulfilled the prerequisites or have the qualifications for it. Today might be that opportunity to get back to the basics before dreaming of the more sophisticated or the abstract.
Life is full of prerequisites. You must fulfill l one before continuing forward. Life goes in stages, one step at a time.
People who know what they need or what is good for them will always spend time doing it, no matter how long it takes.
©Clem C. Aladi.
