Last week, I argued that schooling is not education and that governments’ approach to providing Nigerian citizens with quality education – primary and secondary to be precise – leaves a lot to be desired. I went further to posit that successive government(s) in their quest to gain cheap political goals and or extend patronage to family, friends, or political associates continually promise to offer free and ‘compulsory’ education at the basic level, only to provide access or quantity without quality. Hence, it isn’t surprising that children spend years in school, but graduate without tangible skills, knowledge, or competence. Worst of all, most can barely read a complete sentence if the need arises.
I concluded by saying that in an attempt to address these problems, government(s) restricted their interventions to providing more input – classrooms, teachers’ training, free feeding, among several others, without taking a holistic look at the curriculum, teaching styles, empathy of teachers, decentralized management, participatory leadership, etc.
Today, my position is that all children irrespective of their parent’s social status have a right to not education, but qualitative and competitive education. If not for anything, children should be educated so they can contribute to the common good, be responsible and active citizens, and adapt to changing times. Being able to think critically, pose questions as well as seek answers, and understand and develop an ethical and moral framework is part of being well-educated.
However, I am also of the belief that educated people should not just possess strong academic skills, but also need to complement them with the right values and principles that will form the foundation of their life’s decisions. Unfortunately, most if not all of our government-owned and managed schools are becoming too narrowly focused and our competitive society has pushed some of our secondary school and in recent years university students to say “I have to cheat” to get ahead. Cleverness, cunning, and cutting ethical corners are not standards of an educated person.
Well-educated people revere knowledge and apply values and principles to guide them as they seek a meaningful life of purpose. They try to make “wise” decisions premised on strong ethical and moral ideals and broad academic understanding. Education is a lifelong process of continuous learning and examination. Being well-educated means having a sense of stewardship and a concern for the common good, not simply tending to self-interest and ego needs.
Parents frequently say they want their children to attend a “good” school. A good school is not one between excellent and poor. For children to grow, develop and prosper they need a place of “goodness”; a sanctuary for learning filled with respect for individuals, reverence for principles and ideas, encouragement of talent and dreams, and preparation for a life well-lived.
If we ask ourselves the fundamental difference between being well-schooled or well educated, maybe we can turn our schools into sanctuaries for our children to become not only highly literate but also wise so they can fulfill themselves and pursue their happiness with a sense of stewardship. Creativity, imagination, joy, ingenuity, wonder, and idealism must not be wrung from our schools. These intangibles are the foundation of the success of our country and are the basis for a well-educated and civil society.
On a final note, education has a diverse but mutually reinforcing set of goals. It aims to do the following: Impart the skills and capacities people need to be productive members of the workforce and their communities; generate and promote the assimilation of new knowledge to spur economic, social and political, advancement; promote social equity and cohesion and the legitimacy that comes from equal opportunity; give people access to a broad swath of knowledge and ideas; promote the study and development of culture and values, including arts and the humanities; inculcate the desire and ability to learn throughout life; enhance critical and creative thinking; promote acceptance and tolerance of difference and diversity; develop media literacy and the capacity to effectively evaluate large amounts of often-conflicting information – a reflection of evolving needs in the 21st century.
Thus, the goals of education are many. As William Butler Yates succinctly put it,
“EDUCATION IS NOT THE FILLING OF A PAIL, BUT THE LIGHTING OF A FIRE.”
