STRATH VS UON

What’s in a school? The dichotomy is not in the number of prosperous individuals who have gained societal mileage in terms of recognition. It is the way it makes you feel as an individual. It’s never about the buildings and facilities that you will live after your succinct sojourn. It’s not about what the society views the scholars who peruse and pursue academia to the greater heights so much so that they leave an indelible mark. It’s not about those dons and staff who contribute to its wholesomeness.

The end product is you. As an individual, you reflect so much about the institution you have gone through. Whether it instills discipline, confidence, life skills and all the relevance needed to survive in this world that is a monster waiting to take you down. Or a pugilist with clenched fists ready to throw jabs and at the same time swiftly miss the nerve wrecking punches that you throw with rage.

As a scholar who has gone through two of the best varsities in Kenya; Strathmore, a private Uni, and The University of Nairobi, a public Uni. Allow me to boast a little. That’s the extent to which I can take pride.

At the end of the day, no one cares whether you went to Harvard, Princeton, Oxford, or the many Ivy League universities if you turn out to be an academic dwarf. Guys will be like, ‘That guy is from Harvard. Look at the way he is now languishing. I don’t even see the reason why he went to that good school.’

What many who reason in this context fail to realize with their parochial views is that some of those guys only failed to go to greater extent because of one or two variables that if addressed early on, could have contributed to them being respectable people in society.

Like I know a guy who has become a deplorable village sot having been to an international school here in Kenya and failed to finish Uni because of drugs. However, when you take time to talk and reason out with him, you realize that he is sane but has been only discouraged by the debilitating effects of a draconian world. As such, abuse to drugs is the only relief he gets when he is undergoing those perpetual lows has in life.

That was a by the way.

Strathmore is just like any other university sans the formal protocol it has adopted that makes people think that it is stringent and less accommodative. To some extent, I cannot deny that sometimes I usually feel like am in a cocoon only that I cannot come out guns blazing (sic) because there is nothing I would gain at the end of the day other than causing an insipid scene of less value. That’s the reason why I somehow love The University of Nairobi.

When you go to The Prestigious University of Nairobi, you are first told that you are in the best Uni, which might not be the case. But as a fresh scholar who has no experience, you believe that it is the gospel truth. Then your life starts evolving once you start classes. One of the best things about UON is that it allows for radicalism. Which is rare or non-existent in Strathmore. The only form of radicalism that is present in Strathmore is intellectual extremism. When it comes to behaviour, you will be expelled before you even know it. That’s the reason why there is nothing like Political Science, whose dons approve of the same at Strathmore.

When it comes to admission, before you get that letter, you have to go for a requisite debrief in Strathmore which I have never heard of anyone who failed to meet the mark. Maybe, there are those have failed to meet the mark. However, they never write about their rejection. The debrief is usually scheduled after taking an in-house exam and providing  necessary certificates that you have qualified to be admitted to the school you are going to. It's not a lengthy process though.

On the other hand, to gain admission in UON, you only need to have your certificates ratified and there is an induction process or orientation which is present in almost all universities. There are nothing like interviews, doing entrance exams, upon getting that entry letter, you look for your classes and you are good to go.

There is also the misconceived notion that Strathmore is for ‘mababi’ while the hoi polloi who have to burn the midnight oil are the people who will gain entry into UON. To some extent the argument is true, but realistically, the same individuals who go to UON still go to Strathmore. Why? There is a saying that goes like, ‘If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.’ But rationally and realistically, there are many students from humble families in UON as compared to Strath.

Just go to any hostel inhabited by guys in UON, you will find out that they never take hygiene seriously. The haphazard use of the facilities like sinks and WCs and improper disposal of waste is enough to tell you where someone is from. The smell of omena in the hostels and vandalism of most facilities is enough to tell you that such an individual has rural or modest upbringing. Chances are, you will find no one drives an inherited or own car in a class of 500 students, especially for guys in module one. The fashion sense is a disaster. Just let me not go deeper because the meals being eaten at the various messes are not good either.

Strath on the other hand has no hostels of its own. However, those that are nearby are hygienically maintained to admirable standards and you pay a dime as opposed to those in UON. The much you pay in UON for a year is half the monthly rent for a Hostel near Strathmore, which is if you are module one student at UON. Fashion wise, there is little or no fashion in Strath. Broke students wear khaki pants and camera tops that God knows where they got them. The probability of a classmate spinning a car on a daily basis is as high as breathing oxygen and that’s the reason why they are ‘mababi’.

Toilets. If you think that functioning hand dryers, disabled student loos, tissue papers and liquid hand soaps complete with instructions on how to wash your hands are an unnecessary luxury in an institution, as well as perpetually hygienic WCs, then you should be in Strath. There is a big difference between the toilets in Strath and those in UON. In fact, I relearnt how to wash my hands satisfactorily from the instructions engraved on the walls from Strathmore. The doors are not vandalized so there is no probability of someone crashing in to find you in the act. I say, they are cleaner than the place where I used to work in Parklands even though it has more traffic than that building.

There is also the issue about facilities. Whereas UON had many facilities, the reality is that many were not maintained on a continuous basis. There was a time the auditorium seats in 844 building were infested with bedbugs as a result of negligence for a considerable period though they were repaired in the long run. There are some facilities that broke down, like doors to some lecture halls and by the time I was finalizing my stay, there was no single projector that was functioning. Lecturers had to come with school projectors or their own projectors to classes even though there were those installed in some lecture rooms but due to negligence soon broke down. Strathmore is however old school. Lecturers have to use chalks as opposed to pens because they have green-boards as opposed to white-boards. The projectors are in good condition and are in all the classes I have been in.

The façade of UON which is a remarkable whole mark in architecture due to the design that is sole to the institution is quite commendable. You must agree the buildings stand out. The picturesque view is quite aesthetic and there is something that makes one feel proud when you walk on the pavements in UON as fresher. It has a clear demarcation of where students should be walking and there was proper planning when it comes to where schools are located. The lawns are well maintained and it has vast space in as much as most of the roads and parking lots are tarmacked. 

On the contrary, Strathmore is vague in terms of the architectiure. It only acquired a façade recently which is still in the growth face. Initially, the façade was bland with a high school like ambiance. And generally, unless you are a student, you don’t get to see this delectable aura. Though it is a seasoned institution, it has not grown in heaps and bounds in terms of architecture and infrastructure. There are few structures that are monstrously massive. It does not ooze a lot of oomph in this case. But even though it lags behind in scenary, it compensates for the drawback by ensuring it does not falter in ensuring the standards are high while inside. There are no dust, cobwebs, and graffiti on the walls and corners. Like UON, it is a worthy experience that is welcoming while inside, not just a macabre pile of bricks.

I must say I love the ambiance of studying in the lecture halls of Strathmore. They are well aerated, full of life, well lit, soundproof and generally provide both formal and informal relaxing spaces for studying. On the contrary, not all places in UON offer a good study environment. There are certain times when it rained and the basement in Education Building would be flooded and that was among the few places you could hide to study if not the library. Allow me to say up to this point, I have not gone to the Library at Strathmore. Yet I call myself a scholar. But the library is smaller in comparison to the mighty JKML just by the visage. I should go inside one day.

[Part Two]

Hasta la Vista Baby.

[Photo Source: My Own]