My Advice to a 15-Year Old Kid
A struggling mother asked her kid of 15 years to call me today to give her advice on life.
I don’t know how to do this mentorship thing and imposter syndrome will not allow me to see myself as any kind of mentor to anyone. In truth, I am also still trying to figure out this life thing and I am not at a point where I can look back and say there is a path to success for anyone.
However, I think I know enough to offer this girl tips on how not to ruin her life. There are at least three things that life experiences and research has shown disproportionately affect the upward mobility of the girl-child:
- Getting married before the age of 20.
- Having children at a young age.
- Not finishing secondary school.
Getting involved in one of these three is enough to derail the life of anyone, but statistics show that many people are trapped in all three. Unfortunately, this creates a vicious cycle where you are suddenly poor, and with a kid to feed. Going back to school becomes intensely difficult when you also have to work and care for your child. Grownups have difficulties taking care of a newborn, much less a child saddled with another child.
The education part needs to be expanded upon a bit. In one of my longer pieces, I explained the education dropout funnel of Nigerian kids. The dropout rate of Nigerian kids makes my jaw drop.
The dropout rate for primary school education in Nigeria is put at 36%. Out of every 10 children who get into primary school, 4 of them do not get enrolled into junior secondary school. It’s worse in the transition from junior secondary to senior secondary school.
Going from junior to senior secondary school has proven particularly challenging. Some states report an enrolment of just 16% transition from junior secondary. Incase you want me to break it down, just 2 out of 10 pupils who get into junior secondary move on to senior secondary. A 2010 report puts the number of children who drop out of school between the ages of 15 and 19 to be 7.2 million; that’s more than the population of Libya. We can be sure it’s much higher now, 12 years later.
It’s alarming.
Not going to school hinders development and limits opportunities. Don’t mind the school-is-scam brigade. There is a reason university certificates are forged by some of your influential compatriots.
In any case, I hope this kid listens. The odds are already in her favour. May she not let herself down.
