If the education we acquired can’t change our lives, what is it good for? By Michael Thon Education is powerful tool any society may need to move forward in terms of ideas and development. The greatest philosopher Plato in his ideal State argued that the State should be ruled by the most knowledgeable person. Professor Marvin Minisky in his book “The Society of Mind” recommended acquisition and accumulation of relevance knowledge as requisite tool for development. Adams Smith in his argument of division of labor emphasized that for the production to be efficient, specialization will not only enhance skill but dexterity Nelson Mandela one of the most celebrated politician of our time said that education is an engine of personal development. “It is through the education that a son of mine worker can become the head of mine, that the daughter of a farmer can become the doctor and that the son of a peasant can become the President of a great nation” When I went to school as a village boy twenty five years ago, we were told inspiring stories of Abel Alier as a distinguish lawyer who had used his education to change things in the community. We were also told the inspiring stories of the distinguish Soldier and Economist Dr. John Garang De Mabior who had devoted his life to champion the freedom of the millions of Sudanese who were marginalized in their own country. Abel Alier used his education to help his country by having well informed policies during his time as the President of Southern Sudan. He built all the current structures that we see today in Juba. Ministries, Hai amarat, University of Juba and Juba football stadium name it. One can argue that the money he used then is less then the three month budget of the office of the President today. On the other hand Dr. John Garang used his education to free millions of South Sudanese by championing one of the revolutions that history would ever tell. Today we have an independent South Sudan and with all fairness, Dr. John will remains as central figure in the history of our nation. That is how powerful the education is. However, am very much worried about the education of today’s generation. “The quest for certificates not knowledge” has reduced the value of education in our society. So many people are going to school to acquire the certificate not knowledge In South Sudan today, so many people want to graduate at the Universities not to change anything but to attain the status in the community. It is no longer what you know but how many certificates you have to fit into the category of Molana, Bachmahandiz and Dicktor and so on. That is why so many people are desperate to acquire certificates in order to join the graduates club. The case in point is of the General I had the conversation with last year. The general told me that he has finished his under graduate studies on distance in one of the South African universities and he has an ambition to study master degree. I congratulated him. I told him that you are my hero because being a four star general who sacrificed his life to fight for freedom is great achievement. But as the general continue narrating what inspires him to study, he revealed how he is frustrated by bigotry he faced with some of his colleagues in the community meetings which are mostly dominated by those who are professors, PhD holders, doctors, lawyers and Engineers. So he simply wants to get the relevance certificate that will grant him the status. The general ambitions of education had nothing to do with how he can change the poor policies in the SPLA as an army that needs transformation. I pitied him on how clueless he was on what he would do with knowledge he will acquire. The general is not alone in this school of thought, many people in our country today are desperate for tittles, that is why a teaching assistant at the University would love to refer as Professor in his village, Nurses and clinical officers want to be called doctors. To me this is every dangerous path. My argument is that education at the end of the day will come to its logical debate that it is not about the certificate you have but what have you done with the knowledge you acquired? bottom line. As long as our cattle are dying everyday of unknown diseases and we have people with certificates in Veterinary medicine, as long as our newspapers runs biased stories constructed in poor English everyday and we have people with certificates in journalism, as long as our roads remains untarmac, our cities unsurvey no electricity in the whole country, no clean water and yet we have certificates in engineering, as long as our constitution remains poorly written and we have lawyers then Education have no value in our society. It will be unfair if I don’t acknowledge South Sudanese of our generation who have worked hard by not only acquiring certificate but use their knowledge in a meaningful way. I will mention few just to appreciate but there are thousand out there who have worked hard. When I think about Professor Jok Madut what comes to my mind is not his PhD but Marol academy that he built to give young South Sudanese an opportunity to access education. When I think about Akol Aguek, it is not his master degree at Harvard that comes to my mind but Akol Aguek foundation that sponsors immigrant across America to University. When I think about Nhial Majak Nhial, what comes to my mind is not his degree at the University of Melbourne but how he has used his knowledge in engineering to build the best dyke in Bor Town. For the first time in history there is no flood this year in Bor town. When I think about Deng Majok Chol what comes to my mind is not because he is at Harvard doing a PhD but how he engaged the US Congress and Senate on the crisis in South Sudan. He raised funds and bought foods for the IDPS. When I think about Valentino Achak Deng what comes to my minds is not because he is a friend to Bill Clinton and Angela Jolie but the Marial Bay secondary school he built in his home town. It is therefore incumbent upon us to ensure that the education we acquired change the lives of our people in positive way. We will only convince our grandmothers and fathers that we are educated if we can change their lives by installing cleans water, treat our cattle, and install electricity in our villages. They will then understand that the different between them and their children is education. But if our going to school to acquire education would continue as the quest for certificates not knowledge then we are not going change anything. We would continue using our acquired certificates as a platform for bragging rights. So if the education we acquired can’t change the lives of our people to prosperity, to make the different between 1950 and 2014 then what is it good for, absolutely nothing?
Posted on: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 09:01:02 +0000
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