THE "EDUCATION IS A SCAM" DEBATE IN NIGERIA: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

Abstract

Education is intrinsically a virtue and the educated are elites in virtually all societies. This is not just a claim; it is a fact. Likewise, Nigeria had a fine history of education which was once believed to be a necessity for material progress, human development, and social emancipation. However, the recent slogan in the Nigerian popular culture is: “education is a scam.” This sounds like turning logic on its head and a distortion of history. How can education be a scam? If it is a scam, how and when did it become a scam? How can education be seen as a virtue that it has always been and reorient the youth not to see it as a scam? To answer these questions, this paper argues for the urgent need to restore education in Nigeria to its former hallowed position. Its findings reveal that the falling standard of education and the unrealized dream of gainful employment by graduates—after being educated—fuel the notion that “education is a scam”. This paper concludes that education is not a scam but contextually seems so, due to government’s disarticulated educational policies. It recommends that Nigerian governments at all levels should massively invest in education and reorient the youth on the virtues of education.