Until the late 20th century, many African populations only studied up to high school. University was exclusively reserved for the privileged, lucky or gifted. However, today, the standard has risen. It is too common a rhetoric that after high school, one joins a university, which is sometimes unjustified.
While education is held in high regard, motives for acquiring it vary. It can be a quest for knowledge or a search for credentials. In the socially derailed world, it’s now prestigious to go to university, attain papers even when there are hardly any handy skills. It’s been structurally constructed that one can only be fit for employment after a university degree. But clearly, this violates the intent of education. Education should, in any form, stretch and exercise the mental abilities of learners. It should invaluably liberate individuals’ minds to an elevated state of understanding and potential and prepare the learners for more learning.
Like the poet, W.B Yeats orated; ‘education is not filling a bucket but lighting a fire.’ Very compelling and resonant words, yet the fire is hardly lit, nor is the bucket filled. Students are being trained to think like robots from high school, rather than question and reason incessantly.
All I recall, high school education was all about receiving lessons in the four walls of a classroom, knowing all the formulae in Mathematics, knowing how to speak good English, and being the best in class. Best grades were given to a student who named all the body parts of a housefly and ‘lyrically rapped’ Newton’s laws of motion or reproduced the 20 elements of the Periodic Table in their order. What the teacher taught was final, and the critical analysis of the content was deemed indiscipline. We were told to work harder to get admitted to the best traditional universities. In obedience, we crammed everything, reproduced them in exams, and then forgot. This is a typical story from most of the students that studied high school in Africa.
Like a swarm of bees, students flock to universities. With a wavering high school foundation, getting used to the new system is complex. Learning at university is literally self-directed, with just warnings of when the examinations or tests will be given. Without the work ethic and the intrinsic self-motivation, the intellectual experience becomes a replica of their high school expedition. Most students finally crawl through university unaffected and presumably skilled enough for the real world. The intent of knowledge creation and mastering higher levels of intellectual inquiry is hardly achieved. After being conferred with degrees, the students walk out filled with vigour but oblivious of the world around them. Contrary to the school experience, the world gives the students tests, and then they learn the lessons.
In the quest to earn grades, many students lose their ingenuity. Talented vocalists, fine artists, sports personalities are all rounded up in a wheel, irrespective of their passions and talents, and told to pursue the same vision. The rush for academic grades robs them of the other possibilities that can yield more worthwhile outcomes. For most of the students, the skills possessed do not translate to employability. To escape, I mean postpone, the harsh experiences, those with fiscal support choose to pursue Masters degrees, hoping that more qualifications can yield better jobs.
While school education is vital, let us ask ourselves these questions, ‘is the possession of advanced academic qualification a measure of skillfulness?’ ‘Can this attract more employers?’ There’s a stark difference between an academic paper and skills. The possession of these high-end papers could stimulate entitlement and more frustration after spending so much time chasing wind. This results in an overqualified yet ironically unskilled workforce.
Instead of seeking quasi-qualifications and turning into pseudo-intellectuals, one should instead ask the questions; ‘do I need the next level of education?’ ‘Did the last one I had equip me with commendable skills?’ ‘If yes, what gaps do I need to bridge?’ ‘If I am going for a Master’s degree, what am I mastering?’
It may take years of more activism before education systems in Africa are refined and reformed to meet the global market demands. For us to survive, let’s examine ourselves and know when we need more academic qualifications and prioritise creating more value from what we have.
The writer is a governance student at the African Leadership University.