I'll be honest.I did not miss my lectures in university.Well, probably one or two. I had good reasons. I think.We have two breeds in university. Self-sponsored students and those who get loans through the Higher Education Loans Board(HELB). That you'd better get the best insurance policy than HELB is fodder for another day.During my time, getting a B plus in the final secondary school exam would get you space in a university. At first, we had the few major universities i.e University of Nairobi, Maseno, Moi, JKUAT etc as the options.Then our former president Mwai Kibaki became generous.He made almost all existing colleges into universities.The first step was the lexicon awkwardness that is 'University Colleges' then slowly they started receiving charters to be 'fully-fledged universities'. This 'promotion' happened even though investment in the institutional infrastructure was not as massive.Soon, we had crowded universities and they introduced the funny courses that I trust you have heard of. Kenyan university courses are getting complicated by the day.Bachelor of Software Engineering. School of Computer Informatics and Science.Just an example.Problem is that college did not have internet and 60% of the students did not have laptops. The rest did not know how to use them.The option that existed was the computer labs, which were tiny and had old computers that you had to share with students from other courses. Most of them came to Facebook and email.So we had two problems.Facilities to support learning were below par.Lecturers were unqualified and boring.How else would you explain someone with a higher diploma in computer science teaching undergrads?Our option was to slave and religiously attend all classes to receive teaching from a boring teacher or go watch movies and learn elsewhere. We chose the latter.I was lucky I had a laptop and could occasionally find Wi-Fi to download open source notes.My classmates chose the other way.The external memory way, if you know what I mean.Wait, you did not understand that? You need your brain for the exam (internal memory) or if it is too busy, you opt for the external memory.We were back to square one.The pathetic system of reading to pass exams.If after the exams you asked what I just wrote, I wouldn't tell you.So I never missed my lectures. I just missed the school's lectures. 70% or 75% of them.I passed my exam. That was all they needed, right?Show that I could remember what was taught.Is it worth it? No.I wish I could have done other things. I have a degree now. I can apply for jobs with it.In interviews, I prove that I am a level-headed human. That's all.What if I had spent that time actually learning from the university?Maybe the tuition fee I paid would be worth it.Am I complaining?Absolutely not.Do what you have to do.Avoid the external memory though. It is not pretty when you get caught. You do not want to pay for hefty legal fees in Nairobi.And use your 75% free time well.Your kids deserve it.