ENJOY!

BELOW IS AN ARTICLE I SHARED WITH FINANCIAL TIMES (FT.COM). FOR SOME REASON, THE EDITORS CHOSE TO 'WATER' IT DOWN.  THIS IS THE ORIGINAL VERSION. MY PRAYER IS THAT IT PROVIDES YOU GOOD READING PLEASURE.   ENJOY!                                                                   

                                                                     

Learning delights the Mind - Leonardo Da Vinci

It is not often that one associates the arduous pursuit of higher learning such as the MBA program at the Lagos Business School (LBS) with the term ‘enjoy’. This is so because, while education is truly food for the mind, the road to its pleasures is paved with spirited hard work, and men usually don’t associate hard work with enjoyment. At the LBS however, this paradox comes alive at a particular time of the day.

For the LBS student, a typical day commences at 8:15am with group/board meeting of the different groups of the MBA class. During this meeting, group members discuss and analyse the cases for the day. This activity lasts for 1hr and 15minutes. 

At the end of this meeting, each student/executive is armed with salient points to defend any position he/she decides to take on contentious issues in the differing cases. This is usually serious business because the students’ grade depends to a very large extent on how he/she effectively participates during class discussions. While strong language may be used during this time, the debate is usually fun, as it presents lots of learning opportunities.

However, as class goes on and the clock wounds down, the once quick minds soon gets lulled by hunger, and attention subconsciously gets regulated to the cafeteria. Like Pavlov’s dog, at the ding of the clock at 12:30, tongues salivate and the mental savour of the cafeteria’s meals whets appetite. Its lunch time... Now, this is my favourite time in the day’s cycle, and for good reasons!

First of all, save for the fact that this break presents opportunity to refuel the body, for me (especially for me), it presents the opportunity to hear the now self-hallowed word ‘enjoy!’ How drab life would have been if we had nothing to look forward to? At the end of the sand comes the green grass; after rain, sunshine…and at the LBS, after some tough, spirited trading of learning points, comes lunch.

At the cafeteria, continental dishes are usually on the Menu, and lines form as empty bellies line up like cars do in a petrol station on FIFO bases (no hierarchy is observed). In buffet service style everyone is served, and just at the point of last input, the waiter utters the word enjoy with a charming smile. This induces digestion!

Truly, here only is the paradox of education, hard work, and food accentuated- at least for me. In addition, I’m strongly convinced in my mind that should the LBS trained MBA forget everything he learned during his time at this highly esteemed institute of learning, the word enjoy (and the smile that follows its voicing) shall never elude his/her memory.   

After lunch, we return to conclude the day’s business dealings in our executive class rooms. The curtain finally gets drawn at 3pm. However, for the most part, students stay behind to study, work on projects or complete their assignments. When we are done, we head home to come back tomorrow. For me, ‘tomorrow’ represents another opportunity to hope, to dream, to learn, to long for and get satisfied; for truly education is food for the mind- Enjoy! 

Ozue Ezeife is a full time MBA student of Lagos Business School. A member of the MBA10 class, he can be reached via email; ozue.ezeife@lbs.net.ng,  Follow Ozue on twitter @EzeifeOzue, he blogs at www.ezeife-ozue.blogspot.com