A few days back I was sent a video clip of Sir Ken Robinson talking to TED whereupon he makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity. The video clip run for about 24mins and my initial thought when I got this clip was to ignore it – purely because I felt frugal of my time committments at the time it was sent. However the person that had sent to me, had requested me to give him feedback and ignoring such a request was not something that comes easy to me. I always think that if someone takes the time to pass something across adding a request that you let them know your take, it is somewhat rude for me to ignore. Also if I say I will get back to them, I know myself enough now to view this as a binning excuse on my part. Simply because even with the intention being that I will get back, I never do – something else crops up, something more demanding and requiring just as more time consumption, that in the end the prior requests get forgotten and end up in my mental bin.
Returning to the subject of Sir Ken Robinson’s talk whereby he challenges the way our children here in the UK are educated. He champions a radical rethink of the school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence. He argues that “it’s because we’ve been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers.” Students with restless minds and bodies — far from being cultivated for their energy and curiosity — are ignored or even stigmatized, with terrible consequences.
Well his words struck a chord. They took me back to the time of my primary education in Uganda which still operates along the lines of streaming pupils in to classes dependent on academic ability of conforming to the written and stipulated curriculum. The system in operation was and still is – you were tested every final term and moved up a class depending on whether you attained the required pass rate. Whether or not you fully understood what you gave in the answers to the questions was incosquential — for all that mattered you could’ve crammed robotically the answers as long as they tallied and you got the required pass rate. As a result of academic streaming, it was not surprising therefore to find younger aged pupils in a class or form that housed older aged pupils.
Now one thing that puzzled me and still does in fact is what appears to be an inherited form of formal education in all the academic institutions back in Uganda. Just like Sir Robinson states about “educating people out of their creativity” – I find a comparison of teaching in Uganda in the sense of that we were educated out of our culture. The situation remains because of inherited teaching methods and curriculum vitae.
Namunyumya girls school-Uganda
An example which up to this day that I can cite is that of a rural farmer who scrapes and saves to put his child through the formal education system. After excelling in his/her studies at a secondary level, the youngster soon enters university. In Africa, one is not considered to have made it academically if he or she has not passed through University or have letters after his/her name. In fact most jobs in Africa are geared towards the service delivery industry favouring graduates. Problem is, mass unemployment is like a cancer that is spreading and not all graduants will be able to be placed with an office job. Herein lies my puzzle.
This the photo my old primary school. It has since been taken on the English name, St. Michaels’ girls primary school – but I still prefer the Pre-colonial name Namunyumya girls School
Returning to the farmer’s dilema, after years of saving and scraping to put a child through the formal education system, the farmer (parent) is puzzled why it is that his child is not willing to return and work or help him out on the farm but would instead prefer to roam the city roads touting for business. In extreme cases, the young person soon resorts to short-cuts which sadly may cost him/her their life or assets. Well I guess, the fact that farming – be it animal husbandry or agricultural farming was not so readily availed to this young person to tie into his founding roots in the formative years of his formal education might shed some light to the youngster’s predicament.
For the young person, taking up farming is a last resort considered to be for losers or failures, since he/she most likely grew up being told that if he/she wasted the fees on returning poor grades, his/her education would be cut short and he/she would return to the farm to till the land instead. So farming in this young person’s eyes was ingrained to equate failure. Besides, the youngster might have studied law – and in a rural village setting, such skills might not be economically viable…
I look at the education system and think along the lines of what Sir Ken Robinson raises. Are we pushing our children to attain academics simply because they will look good to show off on paper or should we nurture our children’s educational developments along the lines of complimenting the abilities or skills that can give them a balance in the society around them? Should the model of education be along a set curriculum globally and if so who is to determine what is viable to teach?
Some excellent points, well made Grace
Perhaps when we talk with our children we should be a little more choosy, as you rightly say its made to seem that farm is the only option if they fail at business, instead of bringing the skills to make the farm more productive.
I love that TED video, and we do educate the creativity from our children, we teach them to confirm to society rather than to create, and we are paying the price for doing so.
Interesting blog Grace. It reminds me too of a coffee grower I met in North East Uganda last year. An old man of possibly 70 years old. he had managed to put his sons and daughters through the education system from the sales of coffee. He told us one of his sons worked at the airport but he didn't know what he did there!
Only this afternoon sisters and I were discussing the education system in Uganda and the fact that there is no provision for those that are not academically gifted or simply not interested. The conversation soon turned to recent bombings and the hard truth that it was possibly made in Uganda by the very people that are not supported to use their ingenuity or rather put their ingenuity to good use!
This maybe precisely for the reasons you raise educating folk out their creativity!
Thank you Sarah. I love this video too as it made sense of the rebellious take I'd displayed in my formative years and which was attributed to stubborness alone. With the onset of awareness in the rights of all – children and adults that is being spear-headed, perhaps the approach in education needs an overhaul to suit the demands of the changing societies we find ourselves in.
Ida the cited incident of the coffee grower is definitely one to front! Even sadder is the fact that after so many years of running a coffee plantation, this elderly farmer probably had to let the farm go to ground simply because he had not invested to sustain its growth.
One area that I've recently taken an interest to in education is encouraging pupils within sub-saharan countries to experiment in producing solar panels and utilising bio-energy efficiently.
The irony of the coffee grower and his son is that the son would probably have a bettter income from it than he could ever earn at the Airport what ever it is he is doing there. The old man had taken on young people from around the village maybe they will take over the farm if the son isn't interested!
I have not quite read thru the other comments but I will give you my scenerio; I went to a high school near one of those polytechnic institutions, a catering school and a nursing school. While we worked towards getting a good course at university with government sponsorship, our colleagues at the technical institute were already forging careers and earning some money along the way. That however, did not change our attitude that these were failures in life. Ignoring the fact that while you wasted 2yrs in A'level and another 3 yrs at uni, someone could be rich by the time you get your first job.
Other one is of my brother who went to a similar institution. Incidentally, he ended up being the sore thumb in the family while the rest of us pushed on despite the fact that we always ran to him for pocket money since he started earning quite early.
My point is that it's not that the system is totally wrong. It is more about the attitude that we give the alternative channels of education. They are only practical options for those who know what they want at an early stage in the education system unlike some of us who only get into certain courses because 'that is the only combination you have if you are to continue to A' Level. That farmer would be heartbroken if his child came home and told him he wants to get an apprenticeship at Kawanda to learn more about farming. This attitude to alternative education is way too deep that we have grown up to know no better.
Enock welcome and thank you for your contribution to this topic.
Borrowing from Sarah's comment to tie in with yours – the change in approach will need to start with us parents or educators. Which in a way comes back to Sir Robinson's talk with TED – the video clip contained here. The attitudes are inherited or copied from what's observed and then passed on. If other jobs or careers are undermined or seen to be worthless, then chances are very high that they will not be encouraged by parents or educators…That farmer would be even more heartbroken to find that his son sold off land because he simply didn't know how to fully utilise it.
It is sad to admit but that is the bitter truth that is happening with most of our educational institution and this is sadder in Africa because we implement systems that we haven't owned, the end result is always some disappointing realities like the ones raised by Grace and the Video.
This is when we come in as parents and teachers to nurture our children into balanced, openminded, principled individuals who are ready to take risks in life. We need to remind them that the world is ready to stigmatise them into levels/classes but they should not let it decide their fate.