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5 courses Nigerian parents were crazy about in the 80s

Nigerian families in the 80s were so obsessed with these courses that it was considered a part of parenting to guide your children to study these courses.

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Nigerian families in the 80s were so obsessed with these courses that it was considered a part of parenting to guide your children to study these courses in the university.

Other courses like Business Administration, Public Administration, Music, Zoology and so on were adjudged to be of no value. In fact, any course that has to do with administration in the eyes of the minds of Nigerian parents was reduced to a clerk's job while music and theatre arts were believed to have been designed to keep simpletons academically busy in the University.

You must have heard about how the Afro Beat Legend, Fela Anikulapo's parents sent him abroad to study Medicine, but instead of following his parents' whims listened to his inner self and followed the path that led to music.

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This exemplifies the kind of control Nigerian parents exercise on the career choice of their children. And here are the five courses your parents would have loved you study in the 80s.

Medicine:

It was common to hear people gossip about the son of their neighbour who works as a doctor in a big hospital in Lagos, Port Harcourt or Kano.

The idea of having a son who is a medical doctor was a thing in the 80s and some parents could sell their cocoa farm to ensure their children become a medical practitioner in a big Hospital in Lagos or other cities in the country.

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So, for these Nigerian parents, Medicine is the only choice they endorse for their son or daughter can study in the university. Any other interest could cause rancour in the family.

Engineering:

Some Nigerian parents were obsessively fascinated with Engineering as a course in the University. The Engineering field like Medicine is big and diverse, and parents in the 80s usually want their children to excel in one of the many subfields of Engineering.

Saying, my son is an Engineer in Lagos is one of the proudest things for fathers and mothers to say.

Law:

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Law is another profession parents were strongly endeared to. These parents did not enjoin their children to study law because they were troublesome, rather their interest in the legal profession stems from the respect lawyers command in the society.

This respect is also transferred to the parents too as neighbour hold such parents in high esteem. And who wouldn't like to be revered for having a prosperous child?

Banking and Finance:

This is a profession that is closely associated with money. You can say parents who encouraged their children to go to University to study Banking and Finance have money in mind.

They understand what it means to be a Banker. They know the value attached to working in financial institutions and they want their children to be a respected financial expert in their lifetime.

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Accountancy :

Just like Banking and Finance, the relationship between accounting and money is responsible for the reason why parents want their kids to become accountants. To some of these parents, every accountant is automatically a rich man and of course no parent wanted to spend money on a child to go to University to bring home poverty.

There are reasons why parents invest in the education of their parents and one of such reasons is for their children to become accountants

These five courses were majorly the notable professions parents subscribe to. Some parents still do choose for their children though, but to a great extent, the rate has reduced. Children now have the liberty to choose Music, Zoology, Sociology, Geology even Traffic Management in University.

It may be argued that parents chose these courses because they are lucrative, we cannot also deny the fact that these courses command respect, prestigious and relevant.

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So, let's not blame our parents, they only want the best for us.

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