By
Abubakar Sulaiman Muhd
26/03/2013
Shokorology, in general terms, means relaxation and
enjoyment of life. Shokorology can also be defined as a way of academic life in
which students on campus enjoy their life by
devoting much of their time and attention to the pleasurable activities
rather than the studies itself. It is away of academic life whereby students engage
in certain activities they can derive pleasure and comfort from, and by displaying
certain fashionable characters and appearance that will impress others.
Students with the belief in shokorology must be
attending every resting point, joints and other amusement parks on campus where
male and female students gather to interact freely for the enjoyment of
themselves without internal disturbances and interference from the school
authority or other external forces like Hisbah.
However, students in shokoro can be attending all
their necessary lectures but have nothing to do with library except in some
special and emergency cases, i.e. when exam is around the corner or they are
given assignment finding information in books that can only be found in the
library. This does not necessarily mean that students practicing shokorology
are not serious, smart, intelligent and obedient. Shokorologists are brilliant
and obedient to the rules of the college. Only that they devote much of their
time to shokorology during day time to the extent that they can’t have spare
time to read their books while on in school but do reading their notes with
much concentration at home after school
hours.
While at resting point, joint or park, a
shokorologist can buy dish and refreshment to all fellow shokoroloigts when he
or she has has money in their pocket. But in the case when a student is in broke,
that is no story, she or he can enjoy in the pain of the pocket of
their friends. In reciprocation, put differently, when their friends have no
money they can buy them dish and refreshment in return of the gesture they did
to them when they were in the same condition of financial break down.
When a group of friends is in short of money or have
no money at all, they can still derive comfort while watching others enjoy, a
kind of existential or notional shokorology. Another swap means of maximizing
pleasure is that students can kill time by engaging with the opposite sex in
animated conversation on various aspects of social life ranging from school
life, hobby, favourite dish, colour, books, movies, TV show, travelling, and
other life experience as well as sharing ideas and views about their individual
perception on the concept of love.
During time-out or free hours, students usually come
to the centre passageway of the college to sit and watch the world go by as
students move to and from all directions. For male students in such sitting,
their discussion centers on assessing the most impressive and attractive lady.
A lady who among all the girls, wears the most attractive and flattering
clothes and knows how best to apply them to match on her body with an acute
consciousness to catch the attention of the guys. For a lady to be chosen as the most
fashionable and attractive, she must be a girl with high-level passion and deep
desire in make-up, using a lot of cosmetics such as talcum powder, creams,
ring, earring, necklace, perfume and costume, all of them working together to
bring the unity of her face.
In this assessment, the look of the face counts a little. The main consideration and criterion set as a standard to qualify a girl win the position of a Lady of the College, is her matching appearance. A girl wearing a red clothes, blue headscarf, and black shoes will have little chances, or no chance at all, in winning the coveted post. A lady who wears purple dress, violet scarf and shoes and holds a matching bag can easily win the position especially if she knows how to swing her body while she walks and opens her cleavage and the beauty of her face for others to see and appreciate. Another considerable factor is the way and manner in which she controls her voice with tantalizing pauses and delay, and by way of putting sweet phrases here and there in her speech. Such lady is what the guys usually referred to as ‘Babbar yarinya.’
Female students on the other hand are not left
behind. They also form their own group to discuss and assess the most handsome
and attractive guy. Unlike guys, ladies usually consider some attributes with
which they choose the Boy of the College. A boy chosen appears to be tall,
mesomorph, light-complexioned, and a Fulani-like with smooth shiny hair who
always happens to be clean even if he is not brilliant. One important thing is,
he must be unserious, playful and full of humor or else he might end serving as
academic bodyguard. The girls don’t like someone with hefty ideas and too
formal and serious.
The belief is that a boy with smooth and shiny hair
is a seed in their life that can make them yield babies especially girls that
will grow to have long and smooth hair, as the penchant for long hair is always
gaining ground in the society. It is value-adding to have a light-skinned
friend if you are pitch black. Unless you are hopeless and resign that you will
always be rejected, but even that you can
consider having an open hand and pretend to be gullible. Girls will
troop to share in the spoil. Also pretend to not know any bad words they would
say about you, they will abuse you behind your back.
Types of Shokorology
There are broadly two types of shokorology: absolute
shokorology and limited shokorology.
Absolute Shokorology
This is a situation where students engage and
submit themselves absolutely to shokorology, neck deep. Their life seems
to be made for the purpose, having no other concern in their mind or subject of
discussion than shokoro activities. In this type of shokorology, students ask
around and ferret out, seeking out information on any event taking place or
going to take place with full detail as to when where, who and who among the
ladies and girls will attend the show.
Shokorologists
have an extreme desire for attending parties and are normally those who
love taking pictures, are at all the time at the forefront of any social events
if not organizers.
On the campus they don’t attend all their lectures that
truly concern them. They rather perambulate, malinger and regurgitate
lackadaisically around the spots where girls are known to be found, and vice
versa. In case they attend a lecture, it can be in another department different
from their own and definitely it must be to the accompaniment of watching
ladies only to concentrate on their phones doing 2go, facebook, twitter,
Whatsup, Nimbuz and BBM etc.
They don’t come to school on the official hours and
sometimes play the game of truancy unless if they have an appointment with a
lady whom they really want to see and have to comply with her directives to
hang around, killing time up till she finishes all her lectures of the day.
In many cases, they take long time without crossing
the threshold the school gate and when they do, they don’t come with their bags
or take some portion of their books or any other learning materials. Rather,
they come single handedly. While at home after school they go clubbing instead
of reading the poor lessons they receive from the school.
As to the ladies, they practice virtually all the
habits of their male partners. The only difference is that such ladies come to
school regularly and are coming to school even during holiday just to keep to
some appointments they made with their guys. In schools that offer hostel facilities, such students
prefer to remain on campus during holiday to going to their homes.
In their talks with guys, obscene words and lewd
statements dominate their conversation which more often leads to fondling,
touching and the big enjoyment, you know. They are confident, upbeat and
unpretentious, they aren’t shy of anybody. The less confident can use veil at
night and invite a man into their Hijab.
Out of school environment, they maintain their
relationship with their partners where they can meet at a rendezvous when they
get titillated to exhaust their lust. This type of shokorology is meant for the
class of students termed as “first class big boys and first class big.”
Limited Shokorology
In this type, students make the balance of
shokorology and studies. Playing all the game of chatting, attending parties,
gamboling around but careful of lectures and conscious of the purpose of their
presence at school on the belief that without education all the pleasure of
life will remain elusive. They attending all their lectures and take with them
their books to read them at home. Students map their ways of deriving comfort
and pleasure to some certain limits. They believe that school is a place of
learning while home is a place for revising and duly studying what they take
from the college.
Unlike students practicing absolute shokorology,
this class of shokorologists doesn’t go clubbing and even on campus, they
struggle to remain consistent with their religion and culture or attempt to
reconcile the two with the social engagements. According to shokorogy theorist,
students falling into this category are classified as social ustaz, very shy to
do things freely because of the judgmental eyes and having lack immoral
courage. The extreme of their decadency stops at the words of mouth where you
can hear them say some phrases like ‘za ka ji dadinta. You will enjoy it. Za ka
ci amfaninta. You will benefit from it.’ In as much as school hour is over they
just abandon any shokoro activity.
These kinds of students are those who relax at
school and study hard at home. Sometimes other students in the college look
forward to their failure in the exam but strike their opponent with great
surprise because after the result is released they emerge with flying colour
and fascinating performance. This group of students is termed as “second class
Big Boys and Girls.”
NB
Many young adults give the excuse that they enjoy
their life in their young ages so as to avoid doing remedial of the shokoro in
their their oldhood. It is equally important to know that, according to IBK,
those who work hard and read a great deal of books are rewarded with important
positions in the society. So the more effort you made the more reward you
receive. As the same case with farmer, the more committed and dedicated he
becomes to his farm the more and better yield he would cultivate. But no matter
the amount of rain and fertilizer, he would not harvest the good yield if he is
reneged to his farming responsibility.
Factors Determining Shokorology
There are factors that determine the involvement of
students into shokorology among which include:
1. Financial status:- Income
position of a student determines his/her behaviour to accept or reject shokorology.
A student with high income status tends to incline to shokorology more than a
student with meager income though some students endure to indulge in
shokorology despite their financial strain.
2. Family background: - Most of
students who come from the hygienic family usually engage in shokoro activities
as they appear always clean, than those who come from lesser hygienic
background since the solid foundation upon which the concept stands is cuteness
and smartness.
3. Impression and personal
interest:- A student who prior to his/her presence on campus who may have no interest in shokorology
can now develop the it especially if they find those pals who are practicing it so impressively
attractive. Or in many cases, students doing shokorology have already planned
in their mind while they are at home before getting admission that they engage in shokoro when they come on campus.
4. Peer group:- The type of the
associates a student meets in the school will greatly influence their conduct. A student can be financially and
comfortably off and might even come from hygienic family but may not have the
pulse in shokoro. But if s/he meets friends who cherish the idea of shokorology
s/he can be gradually influenced to buy the idea of the concept and develop the
habit in their mind and later on to begin to demonstrate it physically.
5. Level of socialization:- Students
who already have the opportunity to socialize with others in the past or having
past experience of associating with different people even with their relatives at home, have the tendency to
continue in the same line which they have become familiar with. Such students
are usually gregarious who always want to share their world with others and do exhibit
the habit of confidently socialization with the opposite sex.
Advantage
1. One of the advantages of
shokorology is that it gives pleasure, merriment, jollification and comfort.
2. It is nourishing and
refreshing.
3. It does away with physical
and mental stress since different sexes involve in mingling and interaction
through the course of conversation and discussion.
4. It promotes amity between
male and female students hence socialization exists without gender
discrimination.
5. It is educative since the
persons involved share views and ideas about social issues and other life
experiences.
6. It refreshes students’
brains to allow them comprehend the lectures clearly than those who do not
participate in shokoro since the old saying ‘always work and no play made jack
a dull boy.
7. It encourages the
performance of hygiene among students
Disadvantages
Every advantage has its
disadvantage, shokorology as a social phenomenon has its own side effects.
1. It encourages extravagant
and imprudent spending of resources.
2. It serves as a cult group.
3. It encourages the spread of immoral activities
such as homosexual, lesbianism, and fornication.
4. It also promotes nefarious
acts such as stealing and pilferage.
5. Student may cheat their
parent by increasing or claiming false academic expenses to supplement his/her
shokoro expenditure.
6. Students are likely to
develop cavalier attitude or might forget the primary purpose of their presence
in school especially if they become deeply involved in the art of shokorology.
7. It is wasting time since the
students must not meet again after leaving the college during the end of their
programme.
8. It creates nuisance e.g. music
will be coming into the classrooms .
9. There is a great risk of
loss involved in attending party and other social event while lecture is in
progress.
10.
Shokorologists are seen in the
society as defiants of the society if their activities deviate from the norms
of the society which they belong to. For example it is deviation in Hausa
community to intermingle between male and female overwhelmingly beyond
plausible reason even among close relatives.
11.
Shokorologist are very tricksters as they don’t tell heir friends that
they read at home. This tricky attitude makes some members suffer a lot in the
examination hall by looking at the ceiling or chewing the tail end of their pen
since they don’t read and know what to write
on their answer sheet. The worst of it is that such students are always at the
receiving end and are likely to face the hazard of withdrawal for poor
performance in the exams or caught attempting exam malpractice.
By and large, due to the
nature of shokorology as to its advantage and disadvantage, it is some times
good and up to the student to make a careful consideration of the factors
surrounding him or her, be ready to take responsibility of the consequence of
their action, in making decision as to accept or reject shokorology practice or
making the balance of the two. But all is depending upon the circumstances of economic
and mindset of an individual.
