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| Benjamin Franklin |
Once upon a time, there lived a young man in the
United States of America [USA]. Born in Boston, Massachusetts in January 1706,
he was a printing press apprentice who had only two years of formal education and
dropped out due to his parent’s inability to pay his school fees. He literally
taught himself how to read and write. He would use his money for launch at the
workplace to buy relevant books to read.
That young man
grew up to become one of America’s foremost diplomats. He founded a national
daily, Pennsylvania Chronicle and the
University of Pennsylvania which Ghana’s first President Osagyefo Dr. Kwame
Nkrumah was an alumnus. This young man was called Benjamin Franklin.
A noted
polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist,
politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic
activist, statesman, and diplomat. According to Wikipaedia, as a scientist, he was a major figure in the American enlightenment
and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding
electricity. He invented the lightning rod, bifocal lens, the Franklin stove, a
carriage odometer, and the glass 'armonica'. Benjamin Franklin helped draft the
Declaration of Independence and the U.S Constitution, and negotiated the 1783
Treaty of Paris, which marked the end of the Revolutionary War.
In the words of
historian Henry Steele Commager, "In a Franklin could be merged the
virtues of Puritanism without its defects, the illumination of the enlightenment
without its heat." To Walter Isaacson, this makes Franklin
"the most accomplished American of his age and the most influential in
inventing the type of society America would become." His colorful life and
legacy of scientific and political achievement, and status as one of America's
most influential Founding Fathers, have seen Franklin honored on coinage and
money; warships; the names of many towns, counties, educational institutions,
namesakes, and companies; and more than two centuries after his death,
countless cultural references.
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| Michael Faraday |
A similar story
is told of Michael Faraday, one of the world’s greatest scientists, who was
born in England on 22nd September 1791. He also had only two years
of formal education and dropped out because of his inability to pay school
fees. Like Benjamin Franklin, Michael was also a printing press apprentice. He
was paying money to attend scientific exhibitions. His interest in science grew
stronger as a result of often reading science fictions which people brought to
his work place to print.
One day, he
attended a scientific exhibition organized by Professor Humphrey Davy, a
physicist and as he sat down watching what was going on, he was able to catch a
few things. Excited by the experiments, he took notes, bonded them and sent
them to Prof. Davy later on. There came a time the lab attendant of Prof. Davy
left and he needed someone to replace him. So Prof. Davy rode on his horse back
and went searching for Michael since he had interest in science so that he
could help him [Davy] in his lab. Michael left the printing press job and began
nurturing his ambition in science as a lab attendant and after Prof. Davy
passed away, this was what Michael’s biographer said: “After a while, they
discovered that Michael Faraday was a far richer logical thinker than his
master.” Today Michael Faraday is on the
lips of anyone who has something to do with science.
The scientist
whose discoveries led to the development of the electric motor has been hailed as
the greatest inventor in British history. He was well known as a physicist and
a chemist. He had several endeavors in the fields of electromagnetism and
magnetism during his life time.
Faraday is
responsible for the invention of: Discovered the basis for the magnetic field concept in physics; Shielding effect is
used in what is now known as a Faraday cage; He discovered electromagnetic induction,
diamagnetism and electrolysis using the voltaic pile; He established that magnetism could affect rays of light and that there was an
underlying relationship between the two phenomena; His inventions of
electromagnetic rotary devices (motors and generators) formed the foundation of
electric motor technology; homopolar motor.
In chemistry he
discovered benzene, investigated the clathrate hydrate of chlorine, invented an
early form of the bunsen burner and the system of oxidation numbers, and
popularized terminology such as anode, cathode, electrode, and ion.
Dear reader, you
may be wondering why I’m bothering you with 18th century life
stories of two profound personalities who walked the surface of this earth
leaving behind their footprints which many people in the current generation of
their countries have made attempts to step into with some form of achievements.
Well, it dawned on me recently as I was having one of those usual quiet moments
with myself, thinking of also making a point regarding Ghana’s educational
sector and job market. As to whether that my point would be taken or not, I didn’t
care; but I believed it would not take long and posterity would judge those who
called themselves leaders of this country, yet failed to take the right
decisions.
Dear read,
kindly read the above two stories again and ask yourself, how far has Ghana come
as a nation in terms of advancement in the field of education and economic
development. Personally, with my lay man view I seriously think that there is
something wrong with our educational system and the earlier we sat down and
rethink, repackage and redesign everything for the classroom, right from the
basic school level to the tertiary level, the better it would be for us as a
country.
For instance, if
any of our children go through fifteen or sixteen years of uninterrupted formal
education [primary 1 to college or primary 1 to university] and can’t achieve
even one of those things done by Franklin who only had two years of education,
then one will agree with me that that should be a cause for concern. In the
same way, if lecturers of our university, polytechnic and teacher training
colleges can’t be result-driven [by letting that reflect in the knowledge
acquired by students], then that should be a source of concern to all right
thinking Ghanaians.
Truth be told, a
lot of tertiary students these days engage in nothing but competition to emerge
at the top of their class and not to come out with knowledge and expertise that
will solve societal problems. And so, they do everything they can to pass their
exam. Besides, a greater number of tertiary students copy project works of past
students that have been parked in their schools libraries; revise them and
present them to their project coordinators who also fail to do due diligence
and approve of these works by the students.
If academic
institutions in Ghana were teaching their students how to be innovative and
creative and not just how to pass exams, which lecturer would have the guts to
demand for sex from a female or male student before awarding s/he marks? If
lecturers were not arbitrarily failing students based on silly conclusions that
they refused to buy their handouts, why would any student engage in
unconventional practices to attain A+ or first class? Nonetheless, why should a
student fail because s/he does not belong to the political party that the lecture
belongs? The end result of such absurdity is a teeming number of unemployed
graduates some of whom can’t even write application letters, let alone think
outside the box when it comes to taking critical decisions.
Regrettably, it
is only in Ghana that most people now go to the university to pursue higher degree
or certificate programmes because they want better conditions of service or fat
salaries at their places of work and not because they want to bring some new expertise
to their places of work. Yes, that is how far we have come as a country, where
certificates are glorified by employers instead of them paying much attention
to the creativity and innovativeness of the job seeker or employee. And to make
matters worse, some heads of department/lecturers are conniving with students
who don’t attend lectures yet are awarded certificates at the end of their
course mostly by buying the certificate.
None of the
personalities I’ve mentioned above including Microsoft and Facebook Founders
Bill Gates and Mark Elliot Zuckerberg, respectively acquired degrees
before they could achieve such great feats. In Ghana, we have the likes of
Apostle Dr. Kwadwo Safo Kantanka, Ghana’s engineer, herbalist and agriculturist
extraordinaire, Abdul-Malik Kweku Baako, Managing Editor of The New Crusading
Guide Newspaper, Kwame Sefa-Kayi, one of Ghana’s “Five-star Generals” in
Broadcast Journalism and host of Kokrokoo on Peace FM, and among others.
Recently, as I
was busy in class [facebooking] one of my lecturers [name withheld] passed a
comment on his wall that Ghana’s Premiere University, the University of Ghana
plans to stop offering courses in diploma in the future. I hope this is a joke;
that was what I said to myself. I said so because, in most parts of Europe
including the United Kingdom and the USA who we use as a yardstick to measure
our own achievements, they still have most of their higher institutions of
learning offering diploma programmes.
So you ask, what
at all is wrong with Ghana as most of her citizens and institutions are so obsessed
with certificates when there is enough evidence to suggest that most of those
with so-called big certificates are not too intelligent as they ought to be. In
fact, I think as Ghanaians, we’re too known and often want to let everyone believe
that we know more than those [Western countries] who invented most of the
things we are learning in our schools. If after 56years of independence we
still import toothpick, handkerchief, matches, used underwear, etc into our
country, then what shows that we know too well, especially when most of our
leaders have some of the biggest certificates one can imagine. I am worried.
How about you?
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