Random Thoughts on Education

Greetings, good people.

It is yet another wonderful Friday and we get to read something. While of you never give a thought to what happens in the developing of an article and the level of effort people put in writing these things (si milandutu), some have asked about how long it takes to write and how these topics are chosen. I do not think that this is the best platform for answering such questions, but I have to point out that writing these articles has its own challenges. There are times that you sit down with ideas streaming down to the fingers and down to the keypad and there are times that the same article takes you years because you do not have some juice to add to it. There are times that you have to dig around to find what to write on and there are times like today; times when you have a lot of people pouring champagne on other people’s cereals (if you know what I mean) thus giving you something to write about.

When I was thinking of something to write about today, a number of topics came to mind. There was that move by the National Council of Higher Education to discredit come colleges and there were the Doom anointing issues. I also had some filed experiences that I could have shared. All those had some lessons for everyone, but for some reason I have decided to tell you about my secondary school graduation.

25th September, 2009. That is the day that me and a bunch of other equally interesting people officially bade farewell to St Patrick’s secondary school. It was a colorful ceremony and I could write a book about how I injured my right hip (still hurts) while playing football against staff members, the special meal we had and the disco. Those, however, are not good for a Friday so I will talk about the speech by the Guest of Honor instead.

The man in the spotlight on the day was one Dr Isaac Munlo. I can’t remember what capacity he was acting in then let alone which international organization he worked with then (or now). While we all loved the proceedings, we all hated the delays that came with the speeches as we looked forward to the special meals and the all-men disco that followed. This was no exception and s soon as Dr Munlo was done bragging about what he had done and how much goodies he had accumulated half the hall went to sleep.

Anyway. The speech.

Rather unusually, Dr Munlo chose to title his speech”Education for What”. I still haven’t figured out whether that was a question of statement but that is probably not important. The speech focused on the main purpose of education and gave hints on why we all should treat education with the seriousness it deserves. I didn’t get much from the speech because it was probably too big for my 16 year old brain then, but he touched on a couple of crucial areas. He talked of the different viewpoints that people have when it comes to the perceived benefits of education and how some just go through it aimlessly as one of those routines. He also talked of how others have gone beyond looking at education as a means to good earnings to enhance self development in all areas of life i.e. social life, spirituality and many other areas you can think of. Sadly, I did not pay attention to the whole of the speech, but I guess he concluded with words of encouragement and told us to make the best use of education for our good and the good of those around us and the country. I am pretty sure that he said that. Definitely. Maybe.

The memory of that speech and recent experiences make me wonder as to whether more of us need these speeches. It reminds me of the rude expression, “educated savages” and makes me wonder as to whether we have too much of those around here.

One would tend to wonder why people study medicine and still get sick; study economics or other finance related “courses” and still be poor. Well. That is an extreme way of looking at the application of education, but there are times that such radicalism makes sense because on the other extreme we have people who do not have anything to show for their education outside their workplace.

On one particular day, I happened to be walking with a friend from college. He had some papers in his hand and for some reason he decided to tear them into small pieces and to throw them all over the road. When I asked him why munthu wakusambira like him was doing that, he gave me a statement I have come to relate with my experiences. He said, and I quote “sukulu imatichotsa umbuli koma siimatichotsa uchitsiru”. Ca veut dire, “school takes away our ignorance, but it does not take away our stupidity”. It is probably true, to an extent, but I am pretty sure that all of the people who feed on these articles are better than that.

I, like Dr Munlo, do believe that there is more to education than we see. It is probably why we can comfortably close universities because some plumber failed his job somewhere and that a college had dry taps. It is probably why we are busy discrediting institutions instead of creating environments that would help make them world class institutions that can fill the gap that the public universities have left. Our lack of seriousness with issues to do with education is the reason our school curriculum has little to apply in real life and it is the very reason some would rather use the money they have been given for fees to buy a gadget or drinks.

In the midst of all this, what does education mean to you?

It’s a call to all of us to use the education we have, however little to positively transform our lives and to transform the lives of others around us. Who knows, maybe we could transform the country.