EDUCATION MUSINGS

Education. Such a noble cause, yet  can be a fool's paradise and a pain in the butt if taken lightly. It is said that education affects the quality of life. But what is true is that only quality education guarantees quality life. In Kenya education has ceased being about learning and become more about who attaains the very first letter of the alphabet. Education has become more about syllabus. If anything, education, as seen through the skeptic's eyes, should be discarded and replaced with learning, acquisition of knowledge and skills without the confines of a linear system of knowing things. It is learning that is an eternal phenomenon and not education.

Now to waylay any misunderstanding that may get any stalwarts of education on my vulnerable throat, I am not against schools and curriculum. What I seek to antagonise in this confused rant is the teaching of children about things only applicable within the confines of a class room- 'Text book learning'.

In most of our schools, this is  the learning going on, where students and teachers alike go through a staid, plain and linear system with no deviation whatsoever towards interesting, entertaining or vibrancy. Students steamroll through a straight road where every sign is predictable despite the fact that one has never gone through it before. And any progressive teacher who attempts to infuse some simillitude of liveliness and excitement is rebuffed in a manner similar to a Priest exorcising a demon. Yet we wonder why our graduates barely scrap through the employment line. It's the system man.

Education, as it is, is a treasure hunt, only without the adventurous journey but with the same reward- nothing. Most times anyway.  Seen through the skeptic's eyes, having one child go through 8-4-4 and have another drop out (for good reason of course i.e lack of fees and nothing else really) after class eight, it would not surprise the skeptic to see the dropout make it in life while the graduate nips at the heels of employment. It is as if going school is just delaying an imminent failure. Learning is an important aspect of humanity and learning about life and how to live and how to live a quality life should be a number one priority of schools - after gaining of knowledge of course.

Our obssession with grades often veils our reason. Why should we have bright students  that can barely comply with the active side of life and work. Life skills are just as important, if not more important, than good grades. Students should learn not just how it works but how to make it work. Rather than have it done, they should do it. Rather than just write procedures, they should perform them too. Action. It's about action. Life gifts those that doeth not those that sayeth. It why our education system is limping. We just have too many sayers yet very few doers. We learn about what will be on the exams and not what will help us in the future. We don't get to learn about life and while it would be unfair to say schools don't help in improving lives, it is fair to say that schools that don't groom us for life aren't helping no matter what grade they help us attain. I mean thanks for the grade but then what? 

We should not put too much value in grades and forget an individual's other useful qualities lurking beyond the grasps of a grade. Life respects no grades. If anything, life has its own meaner and strenous grading system. With life, you just don't need to read books, you better know how that thing the book is talking about works. That is how life grades us. And even then, life will still mock you before bestowing on  you the medal. It is unfortunate that some of us( the skeptic obviously) never learnt much about life in school and that is why the ropes are tighter and stakes higher for us. It was and had always been 'good grades, good life', but its turning out that that is quite disputable. Grades will do exactly zilch when it is time for that breakthrough. Okay, maybe saying grades are useless is hyperbolic and disrespectful, but a majority of what will be important and appreciated by most will be those skills that were totally acquired outside school, skills that the hard knocks of life taught you.

And speaking of teaching, we can't talk about improving the quality of our education without calling out our teachers. Our teachers should be able to do more than just teach. Our teachers should be able to inspire and motivate and guide and counsel. Forget the cane, unless you are teaching a herd of cattle, in which case you should question how you got that job as a teacher. Majority of us today look for inspiration, someone to talk to and look up to. Teachers and parents should teach us those skills they have. Those skills their parents and their parents' parents taught them. Trust me, combine life skills with a killer grade and you get one badass citizen ready to face off with life and kick it on its iron balls. 

From 'The Confused Musings Of Kiraka D. M.'

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