Back to School

Back to school after the long winter break More than half way into this year. Indeed it has been a great three weeks for many, for some it was time to just sit back and relax, whilst others with some wise perils used the time to try and revise what they have been struggling to understand. Back to school goes beyond buying new things for school, worrying about the school fee and the like! With so many activities, education seems to be losing its vibrancy, even though it is cardinal to every sector of civilization. Back in the day, education meant everything on the African continent. It was the passport to a brighter future, as people tried to enter into the mainstream fields like teaching, medicine and other government posts. But with time, or rather with the slow growth of the African economy, or the misuse of resources, and the obvious depletion of natural resources which results in high unemployment levels on the continent, it is no wonder that most school going children try to opt for careers in arts and culture, such as music, modelling, dancing and art. Although these are the unconventional fields, if one makes a break through, they do pay a fairly good dividend compared to studying towards working in an eight to five job. Most jobs are now specialised, and therefore require people with a lot of experience to get employed, leaving the average graduate looking around for a job for much longer. Africa is a continent with such huge potential of job creation, it always reminds me of the two marketing managers that were sent off to explore a new market, the one was came and gave a report; ' Don't waste your time, no one wears shoes in the area.' the other came and said, 'Huge market potential everyone needs shoes.' I think that Africa is at that stage, it is a growing economy but its difficult is its lack of belief in manufacturing, there is a myth that already made products from overseas are cheaper, and even if African produce the products they are of such mediocre quality that they are beaten off the market by imported items. So where are the graduates that are supposed to do the quality checks? Why not bear the brunt and face the hurdle of the high cost of production, but produce nonetheless after all it is only through mass production that the cost will ultimately reduce? But at least an attempt would be made at creating some jobs and adding value to the livelihood of many households. More emphasis should be given to commercial farming despite the expensive costs of the farming equipment. Although, every parents worry is getting their child into university, which is the ultimate goal and measuring stick of the educational system, one has to be practical and address these issues. Of course this applies to main stream schools. Of course we have other schools like the special schools that cater for slow learners or medium classes within the main stream, what is the measure of success from the educational departments. Although the slow learners have been now identified, these were in the olden days referred to as simply dull and made to repeat until they could no longer be accommodated in a particular grade as they were now too old for their classmates. I stand corrected, but many African countries have not even identified this type of learner. Other than what is discussed above come the other challenges that the educational system is facing which includes teenage pregnancies, violence, bullying, drugs and alcoholism amongst learners. This, to some extent have caused extremists to consider home schooling their children. I too spent a number of years and am a member of a home schooling team, although I do not home school. But, it is always a tempting thought. Without taking the fun out of education, other than making it easy, we need to encourage a lot of sports, that can pruduce disciplined children. We also need to look at other unconventional ways of teaching, such as the one being practiced in the Bronx called the ‘keep’ system. In this system, the class will only progress once the slowest leaner understands what is being taught.It is said to be proving a success. This is the method, my friend is advocating for as a system to the current failing system. Or is it failing?