EdUcAtIoN iS nOt A sCaM

On that fateful day many years ago, while we were playing football together with my friends in the compound, the sun beat down on us, casting long shadows across the dusty ground. Our laughter echoed off the walls of the face-me-I-face-you kind of house, where privacy was a luxury we rarely enjoyed.

Suddenly, with a swift kick, my friend Simon sent the ball flying through an open window and directly into our neighbor's room. The sound of breaking glass pierced the air, and we froze in shock as our neighbor emerged, her face flushed with anger. Confronting Simon, she demanded an explanation, her voice trembling with anger.

But Simon, known for his aggressive and stubborn nature, refused to back down. In a fit of rage, he stormed into the kitchen and grabbed a table knife, brandishing it threateningly. Before anyone could react, Simon's mother appeared, her eyes wide with alarm.

With quick reflexes, she snatched the knife from his grasp and hurriedly returned it to the kitchen, her hands trembling with fear. Hours later, as the sun began to set, our neighbor's elder brother Femi arrived home from work. His sister recounted the incident, her voice trembling with emotion.

Femi's face darkened with fury as he confronted Simon's mother, demanding to know if her son had indeed tried to stab his sister. We watched in disbelief as Simon's mother denied the accusation, claiming that her son had not carried a knife but rather a harmless spoon.

We exchanged incredulous glances at each other as we whispered to ourselves, astonished by her blatant lie. The tension between the neighbors escalated, reaching a boiling point when Simon's father returned home from work. Attempting to intervene, he was met with a forceful push from our neighbor, who scornfully dismissed him by saying, '

Go away from here, you foreigner.' Furious at the insult, Simon's mother retreated into her room, putting on a pair of shorts, her face flushed with anger and ready for a fight. Crying and saying how dare you call my husband a foreign man. Moments later, the sound of sirens pierced the air as the police arrived on the scene. As they questioned the parties involved, incredulous laughter erupted among us, the absurdity of the situation impossible to ignore.

Even the police officers struggled to maintain their composure in the face of such drama. Ultimately, the conflict was resolved, but its impact lingered in the air like a heavy fog. To this day, I still marvel at how something as unimportant as a misplaced football could ignite such a fierce and absurd dispute.

The moral lesson gleaned from this bizarre tale serves as a touching reminder: education is not merely about academics but also about understanding and empathy. Had Simon's mother been educated, she would have known that calling her husband a foreigner was not an insult, but a reflection of ignorance.