From Taiwo Oluwadare, Ibadan
Piqued by the moral decadence, low educational quality and high penchant for criminal acts among young people in the society especially students of Secondary and tertiary institutions, a motivational speaker and senior pastor of Megalife Chapel in Port Harcourt, Pastor Oluseye Taiwo has produced a book to address the anomalies. The author of the book, ‘Great thoughts for young thinkers’ uses the power of questions, illustrations, pictures, diagrams, tables, confessions, songs experience and biographies to drive home his points as a way to motivate young people to reach for the peak of their potentials.
According to the cleric who was a scholarship recipient of the Anthony Robbins Foundation, San Diego, California, USA: “the book reveals the true meaning of success.
“It puts young person in charge of himself via motivational skill and thus will no longer believe “lies” because he would begins to think differently. He will become addicted to reading, knows the value of solitude and noble characters and behold, he is on his way to becoming notable leader in his generation”, he revealed.
The author also revealed in the six chapters book how the world around is changing but students are still the same people that were known to be for the past decades. According to him, textbooks, Schools and their environments change even teachers and syllabuses but students have rarely changed.
He noted that the desirable change remains invisible because formal education had been focused on their aptitude and rarely touches their attitude as he said “students have some inherited patterns of thinking or perspectives towards education and life in general which are yet unnoticed.
He said: “They see education as having a base , which are the four corners of their classrooms. To them, education has time and season. It begins and ends with sessions, terms and semesters alone. Any kind of knowledge that will not reflect in their results is unnecessary. They don’t mind if education gives them nothing more, as long as it gives a Certificate”, he noted.
He further noted that, students should understand that education is self-acquired, and that it can’t be imparted, adding that, “it is only a willing, curious and questioning mind that can be educated.
He said: “Being ignorant of this, students keep blaming their tutors for their failures. Students don’t realize that education is what prepares and equips them to solve life’s problems. They acquired it narrowly while in Schools, only to graduate and see that they are too empty to face the challenges of life”.
The author who is a special educationist by training and who has travelled to various secondary Schools, Polytechnics, Colleges of Education, Universities and other youth organizations across the nation with vision to seeing youths realizing their potentials, said, “above all, education requires motivation as it changes attitude of someone. It makes a student believe that he can do things. It causes him to know he can meet and overcome all problems in the process. It keeps him going, working, striving, thinking, believing and forever trying till he gets to the peak of his career”.
Therefore, the book is a motivational handbook, a personal success coach that contains some widely-discussed topics that shed light on your paths, correct your attitude and make you strong enough to face your academic and life’s challenges without any fear of failures.
The first chapter discusses what success really means, while second to sixth chapters respectively discusses: “attitudes of success, how to motivate and improve yourself, know who you are, say no to violence, and exclusive success stories”.
