One big peer pressure I faced while in school was the urge to “sort” lecturers in order to pass an exam or to boost my grade. Back then, this was so rampant in our department — almost everyone was into it, and it was seen as a normal way of school life.
I remember a particular examination day. The lecturer made the exam so difficult; it was actually the most difficult exam I had ever seen in my entire life. The class was rowdy with laughter and surprise at the tough nature of the questions. Even the strict invigilator who was supposed to be serious as usual, lost it and started laughing with us, making jokes about how everyone would come back to repeat the course if what we were saying about the exam questions was true.
In the midst of the struggle, a lot of people just wrote down their names and matriculation numbers on the answer booklets, submitted, and left the hall. The exam invigilator was surprised and tried to call them back, but they boldly told him not to bother. They already had their plans intact to go and pay the lecturer for marks, and that was what a good number of my classmates did. They all went out to sort the lecturer for an upgrade and to pass the course in order to avoid a carryover — and at the end, it worked for them.
As for me, I was very disciplined not to sort lecturers all through my school days, but that particular term, the pressure came massively. The thing is, it’s not that I was playing on Christian religious righteousness as many people thought back then, because I was very dedicated to church activities — it was simply because there was no money to do all that. I was barely managing to survive the semester.
My close friends sorted their exams with huge sums of money, and I became really scared of failing if I didn’t do like them because the lecturer could use anger to fail those who didn’t sort him. But I resisted the pressure, stayed put, and hoped on God to see me through. And yes, when the result came out, I passed the exam in a manner I couldn’t believe.
How did I escape the pressure?
It was purely determination to stay firm. I didn’t move away from people as others suggested as the best way to reduce pressure in such situations. In fact, those people were my friends — my coursemates who were into sorting lecturers, my roommates, and lodge mates. It was determination not to give in that helped me.
Thanks for reading.