Education gives an individual an opportunity to be a contributor in society. It arms the individual with a weapon to wage a good fight. Knowledge provides an individual with fire power for a productive and rewarding life.
A student is educated for service. The teacher digs deep into his student in search of raw materials which can be crafted into something useful. Talents, innate abilities and intellect all start out as a lump of shapeless marble at the start of tuition but soon get hued into a form that is fit for purpose. A purpose to be realised and lived out in society. The student is a product of his society for society is self-preserving. The engineers and soldiers of tomorrow are trained today for today’s teachers and administrators are tomorrow’s aged and frail citizens in need of care. Education is all about ensuring the next generation is equipped to take care of themselves, the old and the coming generation.
It stands to reason that the student at the end of tutelage becomes a product of society, bearing in his mind the cultural norms, cohort wisdom, history and collective aspirations of the people. The teacher imparts this knowledge, in addition to specific technical abilities required for the particular course being studied. Problems arise when cultures from other languages come to play in the class room. Communication flatters and the students begin to mutter under their breath, ‘teacher don’t teach me nonsense’. Imported cultures sometimes lead to a fracture inducing confusion especially when only the teacher has had the privilege of visiting their foreign plantations of knowledge and is stuck with students who have only viewed planes travel overhead but have never flown in one. How pleasant it might have been if knowledge taught was first postulated by pioneers who hail from the land in which the current teaching is taking place. Then knowledge would flow freely with nothing lost in the translation.
At the recently concluded TedxEuston salon (25-6-14) in London, we were introduced to Professor Neil Turok (via a previous Ted talk he had given) who believes that it is possible for the next Albert Eistein to come out of Africa. During his talk however he showed how very little research was coming out of the African continent. That means that most academic departments on the continent will have to cite papers published by non-Africans in their work. The colonial mentality continues for obvious reasons. All things bright, knowledgably beautiful come from abroad. A very dangerous mind-set to have! So we have teachers with certificates from abroad who might even feel superior to their students. How can the ‘been-to’ divide be overcome in the classroom? Students soon adapt, commit things to memory, regurgitate all on examination day and they get a certificate. But what happens next. The society appears to stagnate for numerous framed certificates do not make a people educated and progressive.
Take William Shakespeare. He writes Hamlet dies and some fellow studies this play and becomes a Professor of Hamlet somewhere in England. Nnamdi flew to England and learns Hamlet and returns back to Aba and soon is Professor of Hamlet. Emeka now gets admission to Eyemba University and studies under Prof Nnamdi and gets a first class degee in Hamlet. At no time during his course does the issue of bad roads, democracy by thugery, electricity black outs come up. Is there any surprise that out talented African parrot who can recite Shakespeare for England is of no use to his community? Education must be relevant.
Now what if Emeka studied foe a degree in Fela Anikulapo-Kuti ? He would have heard about light, water, food, House! He would have understood the issues as he lives through them daily. To be or not to be? Will not be his question. Rather it will a contemplation of ‘solider come solider go’ that will be his food for thought. Solutions will be articulated and on graduation, the discussions in classroom will be implemented in society. A course in Fela would have taught him to have world class aspirations through hours of practice, creativity and sacrifice. Societies march forward on the back of the sacrificial lives of pioneers. Fela indeed sacrificed for his art and for the common man. I haven’t interviewed a family member but I suspect he was so keen to distance himself for the behaviours and mind-set of the Nigerian elite he behaved it seems, like someone who had taken a vow of poverty. I cannot imagine him investing in properties in Ikoyi after releasing a song called Ikoyi blindness. He had too much integrity for that. He lived what he sang and he indeed sang for the common man. That was a huge sacrifice.
Emeka would have also learnt about what Napoleon Hill calls the Master Mind principle. Two or more people working towards a goal. Fela and drummer Tony Allen are a case in point. Working hard and long they were able to produce beautiful sounds. The Kalakuta Republic, where Fela lived before it was burnt down by solders was a commune where creativity thrived. Many great things can be achieved when people live together. That cuts out the time wasted in Lagos traffic for one. Long hours of practice breeds perfection.
This Kalakuta phenomenon was used by Mark Zuckerberg when he and his friends moved into a house and worked for hours building Facebook. What is creativity but a pot of soup where various ingredients are cooked up together under pressure to produce something beautiful? It never works if the fish or the salt each take breaks from the cooking process. That is Kalakuta. Wake, read, rehearse, write, work, read, rehearse and on and on. Nobody goes home for the work place is home. Professor Neil Turok also has a Kalakuta vibe going on in South Africa for he founded AIMS; Africa Institute for Mathematical sciences in South Africa in 2003. Here is a place where clever students and teachers are all under one roof in Muizenberg, Western Cape working hard to produce the next generation of brains to power Africa into the next level.
Emeka need not adapt a new lifestye or sense of morality (for each man must navigate his own morality) to get his diploma in Fela studies but he would need to be willing to roll up his sleeves, know himself, know his society and work long hours to improve that society working in tandem with other similarly minded people.
(On a personal level, how come Fela had a six pack aged over fifty years of age? The secret must be revealed)
Could everybody kindly say Yeah Yeah????
Dr Wilson Orhiunu
Babawilly
28-6-2014
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