Most important lesson from school

Is there even a specific lesson one could learn from school and consider it the most important lesson? It sounds almost impossible to pick a single lesson from school because schooling does not just revolve around the academic curriculum but also includes experiences, relationships with people, and interactions with the environment during the school stage.

But narrowing it down to the academic curriculum, particularly in my secondary school days, I would say that the most important lesson I learnt from school was in English Language.

"Why English? Why not Mathematics or Physics that you claim to know very well?"

Well, honestly, I understand those subjects to the best of my capacity, but there is a kind of exposure I got from English that caught my attention and, till today, it still amazes me how some of its concepts came about and how confusing and even embarrassing it could be when someone goes out of line.

First of all, in my country, Nigeria, although English is the official language, it is not our mother tongue. So, most of us learn it to understand it, unlike in western countries where English is their native language and you find them being very fluent in it.

During my secondary school days, one aspect of English I enjoyed so much and paid deep attention to was the Oral English section. I found it both funny and interesting how some words are spelled one way, yet pronounced differently, sometimes omitting certain key alphabets in the pronunciation. We have words like “Colonel,” “Aisle,” and so many others whose pronunciations are entirely different from their spellings. To be on the right track in pronunciation, one needs to fully understand how the system works.

I may not be very good in English when it comes to being fully fluent, both in speaking and in writing, but one thing is certain: the lessons I learnt from secondary school have helped me a lot to understand how most of these tricky English words are pronounced. And if someone mispronounces such words, I can easily tell that the pronunciation is wrong.

Back then, during our final exams in secondary school, the English Language paper usually had two sections: one for the major exam and the other for the Oral English part. The funny thing was that both were conducted separately and on different days. And I never failed that part of English for any reason. Good old days!

Thanks for reading.

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