The so called advanced nations of the world today keep emphasizing education and schooling as the most important aspect of human development capable of transforming the world positively.
Global institutions, like UNESCO are committed to
educating the people of the world. Renowned individuals have promoted education
as what every society needs to be better. Super rich philanthropist all over
the world keep donating to schools and sponsoring educational institutions
believing access to cheaper education will help develop mankind in whole.
In every progressive nation, there are agitations
and pressure on the government to allocate more in support and budget for
education. It is indeed popular today to think education will improve humanity.
But frankly speaking, check recent history and
current developments around the world against the backdrop of growing
education, that is the number of educated people; the corruption, the greed,
the treachery, the bombings, and killings, and wars and terrorism and crime are
saying different; human crisis has globally become more complex, sensitive,
dangerous and sophisticated despite growth in education. Through world history,
there has never been a 60 million refugee index globally till now.
In fact let's bring it home to Nigeria our own
country, despite the number of growth of educated Nigerians in recent years, there
has been in fact, a decline in the quality of our lives generally speaking as a
nation.
We have become poorer as Nigerians, and we have
so far failed to deliver basic needs, infrastructure and easier lifestyle for
ourselves as a nation.
About thirty to forty years ago, the quality of
life per capita in Nigeria, was much better than it is today and interestingly,
the number of so-called educated people have grown astronomically from then
till now.
Which amusingly but sadly implies the more
educated people we tend to produce in Nigeria, the worse our condition of
living as a people. Education as we think it, perhaps may not really have
helped us grow as a nation.
Can we face this, I mean thirty years ago, roads
were better, power supply was better, pipe borne water was better, health care
was better, security was better, schools were better and we had fewer graduates
than we have today. So is education still the answer to improving the quality
of life of any people?
Ladies and gentlemen, I think very many of us,
especially the proponents of education as the key to improved humanity keep
confusing education with schooling.
Schooling is the ability to access, acquire and
possess facts and know-how regarding a specific or various fields of human life
and endeavour. Schooling is simply about knowing.
So a doctor knows about medical practice, a
lawyer knows about legal practice, an engineer knows about engineering and so
on and so forth. This is schooling.
These guys are schooled in various disciplines
and they have the knowledge and mastery of the practice. This unfortunately, is
what many think and believe education is, this is what many promote as
education but unfortunately this is not education really.
Schooling is localised, and peculiar and
different even from country to country that's why academic syllabus varies from
country to country, where as education is universal, if you're truly educated,
you're educated the world over.
Education is not just schooling, education is
essentially the ability to behave appropriately in any given society.
Appropriate behaviour is the ability to act in ways that would sincerely
promote human interaction and the quality of human existence.
Education stems from proper information about
life and humanity, proper interpretation of this information and the ability to
transform this information into constructive behaviours that will grow and
improve the society.
Education is not what you know, education is how
you behave. Education is not what you know, it's not even in multiple academic
degrees; it's the discipline to do what is right even when what is wrong
appears easier and personally rewarding.
You obtain certificate for excellent schooling,
but the reward for proper education is the power to influence humanity, improve
lives and direct the course of history.
Education is the translation of information,
facts and knowledge into proper behaviour.
Contrary to what many people think, education is
not wholly contained within academic institutions. The most important
institution for sound education is the family unit. The secondary institution
is religious bodies that teach and preach morality and lastly, the academic
institution.
When the family fails to educate, when churches
and mosques also fail to educate, what the academic institution can produce at
best are very knowledgeable but dangerous citizens. Knowledge without
discipline and character is very dangerous and destructive.
What you'll have are lawyers who would prefer to
defend criminals, accountants who would become sophisticated fraudsters, IT
experts who would become cyber criminals, engineers who would create and
manufacture weapons of mass destruction including powerful nuclear and chemical
devices and politicians who would rob citizen blind without shame and with
impunity.
When the family and religious institutions fail
to educate, you'll have managers who daily improvise on how to steal from their
employers and CEOs whom out of greed would ultimately run a mega business
aground.
If the family, the church and mosque fail to
educate, what schooling will produce are extremely dangerous and deadly
professionals; using their knowledge and abilities for destructive ventures.
The School is not where educated people come
from, the home in collaboration with religious institutions and then the school
is where truly educated people come.
A nation that pays so much attention to academic
institutions, but have no deliberate plans to strengthen the family unit or
hold religious institutions accountable cannot truly progress.
When children today are raised on dangerous TV
programs, computer games and a naïve house maid because the parents are too
busy to raise their children, we shouldn't be shocked when in future they steal
public funds, get arrested and still smile and wave at TV cameras; seeing
themselves as super valiant.
If religious institutions no longer preach
honesty, integrity, morals, love for others, fear of God, rejection of sin,
fear of hell and aspiration for heaven and what many preachers today preach is
material prosperity, buying the latest cars, houses, oppressing your
oppressors, favour without labour, instant miracles and special recognition for
heavy tithers and seed sowers irrespective of the source of wealth, it's
only natural for the followers to become very materialistic and desperate for
money; everything na blessing from God. (Laughs)
Sound education is not in academic degrees and
qualifications, sound education is proper upbringing from the home, moral
conduct and ethical behaviour instilled by parents, religious and spiritual
leaders, then of course capacity development and skill acquisition from
academic institutions.
Ladies and gentlemen, do
you have sound education? are your children properly educated? If you don't
know, now you know
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