Rilwan, Bimbo, and Toyin were the first friends I had as a freshman; we were the early birds to present on the first day of resumption and registration. Toyin and I were in the same department, Anatomy while Bimbo was in Agricultural Science and Rilwan was in Microbiology. We all were in sciences and thus, had some courses we took together, not minding the different departments we belonged.
The four of us sat together often during lectures and even when any of us was absent, we made sure to keep a seat for the person. The hall was filled with students from various departments, including those from medicine which was the department we envied. I enjoyed interacting and meeting new people, thus, such a noisy environment was just good for me. The lecturer, a bald and somewhat moderate-sized short man walked up to the podium and the once market-noisy hall soon became a graveyard silence.
“I do not tolerate nonsense in my class. Any class I walk out from, most will end up with credit passes.” The zoology lecturer stated and this realization sent a shiver down my spine while the class passed incomprehensible side comments. “And that includes noise making.” He continued.
I felt immediately uncomfortable. I liked noise, or a playful atmosphere and the now graveyard silent hall was not one to suit me. I knew most students were fresh graduates from high school, mostly obedient and those in medicals or para-medicals wanted to be among the top twenty candidates that were moved at the end of the academic calendar.
“This very organism has its back curved, just like a hunchback. Do you understand or do you want me to still demonstrate?” The lecturer asked during his lecture.
“Do it sir,” I shouted from the far left middle row where I sat.
The lecturer paused and looked in my direction, luckily we were many sitting together and only the people seated close to me knew I made the statement. “What did you say?”
“Do it sir.” Another random student repeated from a different angle other than mine. The lecturer stared at the students for a brief moment, chuckled, and walked out of the hall causing an uproar of ‘please sir’ which fell on deaf ears.
At this point, the hall went into an uproar with visible anger and murmurings, and swiftly, I left the hall with my gang of friends. I saw a few students pointing accusing fingers in my direction and further hastened my steps away from that environment. I wished I had not out of my jovial nature said that but the deed was done.
"MJ, you're not serious at all. You chased a lecturer out of class." Rilwan, my friend nodded his head in disappointment.
I was speechless at that instance. My other friends looked at me for answers but I had none to give. "Nothing will happen, we'll scale through. We'll just have to study harder, especially in this course." I managed to say after all. I knew begging the lecturer was out of the options, he behaved as if he did not want to teach us and reports from senior colleagues indicated that that was his pattern or excuse for not continuing lectures. Luckily, the wind of that incident died down a few weeks later.
I wish that was all but this did not deter me from continuing my jovial state on campus. I was quick to joke around especially when people buried themselves in their books. I just could not sit down to read for long hours without not standing up to stretch or visit people reading. This was unlike my friends. Toyin wanted desperately to crossover to medicine and gradually, detached herself from the gang. Her new gang seemed more focused and prepared to be among the top twenty that about two hundred students struggled for, including myself but not seriously. I was pretty open to bring among and if I wasn't among the lucky number, it made not much difference to me. I just wasn't going to do more than my best and neither would I do below.
How soon the freshman year ended and results were pasted on each candidate's portal. I got a B pass in the course which the lecturer walked out despite many people lamenting how high the failure and credit passes were.
The College of Health Sciences collated all results from the anatomy and physiology departments and the overall best twenty candidates were selected to continue the following academic calendar in the medicine department. Surprisingly, I was the twentieth candidate to be crossed over to medicine. Toyin did not make the list, painfully even though she passed the course alongside my friends, Rilwan and Bimbo. I was shocked to learn that the next batch of students after my set had the policy reviewed and though the best twenty were crossed to medicine, the selection was done by picking the best ten from anatomy and the best ten from physiology. It was a miracle for me because if that rule had been applied during my time, I would have not made the top twenty. Thankfully, today I'm a doctor despite the many more troubles that humbled me during medical school.
Bro, sometimes carrying book around the school doesn't mean that a student will pass ooo. The first time I tried joking in class like you did made me lost my phone so I didn't mess with any lecturer after but are lucky there was no consequences and in the end, you even made the top 20 student who were chosen to study medicine.
Lolz, you're right. There was a guy whose eyes were always red from lack of good sleep, he read like there was no tomorrow and unfortunately, he didn't make the list
Getting a B is not bad, especially after that scenario. You did very well
Yeah, it was good for me
What an interesting story, @jjmusa2004. Your sense of humor almost got the best of you!
Thank you very much. I'm grateful
I feel the failure rate in the course was high because students were told this and they already accepted it; which led them to do the bare minimum and prepare to fail. Good thing you rook your studies seriously even when you were the jovial one.
I was glad I passed the course, along with my friends, we had a positive mindset
A prank that almost got you into serious trouble, luckily everything returned to normal and they were able to continue with their studies.
Thanks for sharing your experience with us.
Good day.
Thank you for your kind comments. I'm grateful