Hello friends. I am excited to be here after a very long break. It is my custom to write only on working days. I go to bed at the weekend and public holidays. It is to help my readers and I to rest. I do not believe that serious matters or hard stuffs like these are to be shared during the time of rest.

As I announced last week, from Thursday, November 1, 2012, I will only post my articles on my blog: www.taiwoakinlami.wordpress.com and post the link on my Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Join me today as I discuss the 2^nd fact you must consider before you register your child in a school. After making an effort to identify the motive or mentality of the founder(s), we must study and judge the commitment of an institution of learning to what it claims it stands for in terms of vision, mission and core values. The truth of the matter is that once the motive is wrong, it is almost impossible for the vision, mission and core values to make any sense or meaning.  The vision of the school must be clear on where the school is taking the children or what they want to achieve with the children both in terms of academic and life skills. The mission as we all know speaks about the method(s) or approach the school intends to employ to achieve the articulated vision. A man cannot claim he knows where he is going, if he cannot show us how he intends to get there and the strategy he intends to employ. Sense of mission or sense of direction is as important as a vision. As a matter of fact a vision without a mission is like a car without an engine.

Once you cannot articulate the strategy of achieving your vision it is either you do not have a vision in the real sense of it or you do have but you are ignorant of the what to do. If you do not have any vision by the reason of your faulty motive, you really have nothing to care about until you are exposed or you repent.  Please note that no-vision is also a vision. It simply means you are taking those with you nowhere but where your motive leads. It simply means you have a vision; the only issue is that it is unpopular and you are not bold enough to open up and face the consequences thereof. But, if you are motivated by a noble vision, which you are genuinely committed to achieving and you lack strategy, your genuineness of purpose will create in your frustration, frustrations, leads to despondency, despondency leads depression, depression leads to cluelessness and cluelessness opens the door to suicide. It is either the missionless organisation commits suicide or the leaders do. Whether the lack of vision and mission of a school is deliberate or as a result of ignorance, the school does not deserve to have your child. The next things to watch out for are the core values of the school. Core values talks about who you are or the values you represent, which convince you and your observers that you have what it takes to employ your mission to achieve your vision.

The combination of the vision, mission and core values of an institution of learning represents the flavour the institution of learning wants to spice the life of your children with. It is important you taste it to know if it is fit for the life of your child. And I want to assure you very sincerely that this flavour will remain in the life of the child like chameleon faeces, that when you clean it the smell hardly goes. May it please you for me to announce that I am signing out at this point. Tomorrow, I will dwell on core values as the true test of commitment to vision and mission and share practical examples on how at one visit to the institution of learning, you can find out what they really stand for.

Do have an INSPIRED Day.