SOCIAL LIFE ON CAMPUS by Julius O. Akubo

Introduction Education from the origin was instituted not just to make people professionals in their areas of discipline but to affect and transform the general life of the educated in to a better personality academically and socially. Unfortunately many educated people in this generation have missed the balance as they either only concentrate on the academics or purely focus on the social aspect of education. However we must note that a miss balance irrespective of its causative reasons can never be better than a balance. Practically i shall be focusing on the social aspect of education as it relates to the various campuses in our higher institutions of learning in this article. This is because i have discovered that we have so many instructors educating us on the academics with very few emphasising the social aspect. Ironically we have a higher population of students ignorantly focusing on the socials when compared to the Academics hence the social imbalances in the society of today. What is social life? From a chat with some people I was made to understand that the concept of social life means different things to different people. After a cognitive analysis I was able to deduce that social life is primarily centered on relationships. Breaking it down for better understanding we will have “social” and “life”. So what’s social and what’s life? The English dictionary termed “social” as it pertains to people to be an activity in which people meet each other for pleasure. It also defines “life” in this context as the experiences or activities that are typical of all people’s existence. Basically social life consists of people, experiences, pleasure and existence. Summarising everything I would say social life is the catalogue of all the typical experiences people carry out in the course of their existence with the soul aim of pleasure. It includes activities like friendship, fellowship, mentorship, leadership and relationships in general. You may claim to be too serious and ask why “pleasure”, but let me tell you, one of the basic reasons why you do everything and anything is pleasure. It’s actually the satisfaction you derive from your actions. Why discuss social Life Perhaps you may be wondering why all these stories about social life? It is simple, social life on campuses has become a mess especially in this generation. It is either over emphasised or never experienced at all. People no longer make friends; it’s now all about the human greed of me and me alone. To crown it up you find them posing excuses like “first thing first ooooo” “I know what brought me to school” and a whole lot of other stories that are not even logically appropriate. I once heard of a principal who became a commissioner of Agriculture during the military era all because of the relationship he built with the then military governor back in their school days. What am I saying in essence Academics alone is limited if you must ever become somebody in this generation. We all at some point will have need for each other so you can imagine how it will be when the person you have need of is one of the people you never even said hello to when you should have. Social life is not just all about friendship; it also covers the area of leadership and followership. One of the basic things a student should learn on campus outside the academics activity is either of leadership or followership. I said either because we cannot all be leaders neither can we all be followers. So many students have streamlined politics on campus to a corrupt and morally unstable activity that preaches nothing other than embezzlement corniness. But that is not the actual truth. A leader that has learnt how to lead ten people effectively will without doubt be a better leader than one who has never lead at all although there are rare exceptional cases. Leadership and followership on campuses is a controlled specimen of the larger world reality. Thus your ability to submit to authority and lead effectively is part of the social life you should learn while on campus. Of a truth leadership on campuses are almost nothing to write home about. But one thing you must note is that the leader is who the followers want and allow him/her to be. Better put the leader is the product of the followers. The type of leadership you have on campus is the prototype of what you have in the real world, be it democratic, autocratic, and what have you. Correct the leadership and followership on campus and the societal leadership and followership will take a new turn. Mentorship is one of the constituents of social life because it deals with relationship. Many people have missed the essence of mentorship as it has just become an activity people do because they see others do. But mentorship is needful and its part of the things you should develop to have a sound social life. a mentor is one who has gone ahead of you in life at such u are at an advantage when you have a mentor because you wouldn’t have to struggle much with the life challenges he or she has already encountered. Finally as i conclude I know you may be wondering where partying and celebrating comes to play in your social life. Of a truth they are part of your social life but you must learn to acknowledge limits and wisdom which is what is missing in most parties and celebration on campuses. We can never separate morality from a good social life. Yes you could have birthday parties, graduation parties, send forth parties and the likes but who told you that a party is incomplete without alcohol and sexually immoral activities? Or who says a party must be in the night? I said morality initially but I will like to add that irrespective of your moral standards your spiritual life which I will not be emphasising could tell how your social life is to some great extent. What you do and the people you relate with are as a result of who and what you believe. Others may regard your spiritual life as part of your social life but I am convinced personally without doubt that the two are different. Conclusion In conclusion I will like you to know that social life is not a story that concerns just a group of people neither is it a term that exist in isolation. What makes you complete as a human being are your spiritual life, social life, and academic life. Every other thing is traceable to the three spheres of life above. So in as much as we have discussed social life, you must learn to balance it with your academic and spiritual life if you must be a complete being. Don’t see social life to be less important, and don’t take it as the most important.