I know it's been a minute, and I felt time was ripe to write something (not corruption or theft related). I was recently drawn into a debate on the education system in Kenya and how it is not designed to be fair and to recognize the diverse talents individuals possess. The most vocal people appear to be the Artists who believe they have been sidelined by the 8-4-4 system of education.
Perhaps a trip down history lane would do some good before we shred the merits and demerits of the system. I think the system began in 1985 or 1986, and the philosophy behind it was to try and arm an individual with all round basic life skills. That is why we had such practical subjects as Home Science, Craft, Art, Music, et al.The view at the time was if one stopped at class 8, you'd be able to use your skills for example to be a carpenter, metal worker, etc....Clearly there were good intentions and who knows how it would have ended up had we stuck to the ethos of the system.
Fast forward to 2012, and the system now is set to be scrapped. "It has not achieved it's purpose", they say..."We are better off with the old system"....So what went wrong?
It is my personal belief that whichever system we employ, the results would be the same, whether it is the old 7-4-2-3 system or the American system. We Kenyans have a knack of messing up whatever systems we place to make our lives better. For instance the Master Plan for Physical Planning done in the 70s..it had envisioned the by-passes, expansion of the city to Kiambu and expanding the airport to have two runways. Plus the zoning was done properly...well 30 years later, we have a mess of a city. The 8-4-4 system has been messed by the competitive nature of Kenyans. The advent of academies and burdening poor kids with 40 books, homework, extra classes in the evenings,weekends and holidays has turned children into academic machines. How do you explain a 4 or 5 year old child being up by 4am and in school by 6.30am to "study"?....I mean what the hell (excuse the swearing) would a kid that age be grasping if up by that time? The kid then gets home at 6pm..I mean at that age they should have 60% of their time playing and getting to know the world around them...But no everyone wants their kid to be number 1 in class, go to a National School, join Med school and be a rich and successful doctor....Dreams they were unable to attain while young. Intentions are good, but we seem to be out of touch with reality....We can not all be academics, we cannot all be number 1.
Imagine for a second what would have happened if Oliech or Mariga's folks forced them to go for holiday tuition...Now like the proverbial kiosk owner in the village who appears to make so much money everyone wants to start their own kiosk forgetting they are the customers,...now everyone wants their kids to excel in football so that they make the same tons of cash. (I still think education is important....helps manage that windfall you get!).
I think this business of ranking kids and drumming it into their heads that some careers are better than others has messed up the good intentions of the education system. I am a product if 8-4-4 and was lucky to have skipped majority of the current ills (weekend classes, holiday classes, early morning preps, sack full of homework et al)....I had extra time for just random discovery and getting to know my bearings and interests....I can say I was the last one off the field at 7pm after checking out of skool at 4pm and class started at 8am not 6am. I made rock slings, had a garden, made bird traps, etc....all what a young boy is expected to do. Now the only knots some kids know how to tie is the shoelace and school ties...
Anyway enough about my rant. What we need is major change in our attitude, yes stay competitive, but in moderation. Let the kids develop "normally"....roll in the mud, have a few bruises, make wire, carton or other self created toys...it's part of growing up as a complete person. The much derided "Art" based careers are not as bad as they are set out to be. Advise your kids on all that is available, and assist them in attaining realistic goals and dreams. We are all different in some way and the differences are our strengths. If you couldn't invent something as complex as a particle accelerator, a much more simple but practical paper clip can do.
Perhaps a trip down history lane would do some good before we shred the merits and demerits of the system. I think the system began in 1985 or 1986, and the philosophy behind it was to try and arm an individual with all round basic life skills. That is why we had such practical subjects as Home Science, Craft, Art, Music, et al.The view at the time was if one stopped at class 8, you'd be able to use your skills for example to be a carpenter, metal worker, etc....Clearly there were good intentions and who knows how it would have ended up had we stuck to the ethos of the system.
Fast forward to 2012, and the system now is set to be scrapped. "It has not achieved it's purpose", they say..."We are better off with the old system"....So what went wrong?
It is my personal belief that whichever system we employ, the results would be the same, whether it is the old 7-4-2-3 system or the American system. We Kenyans have a knack of messing up whatever systems we place to make our lives better. For instance the Master Plan for Physical Planning done in the 70s..it had envisioned the by-passes, expansion of the city to Kiambu and expanding the airport to have two runways. Plus the zoning was done properly...well 30 years later, we have a mess of a city. The 8-4-4 system has been messed by the competitive nature of Kenyans. The advent of academies and burdening poor kids with 40 books, homework, extra classes in the evenings,weekends and holidays has turned children into academic machines. How do you explain a 4 or 5 year old child being up by 4am and in school by 6.30am to "study"?....I mean what the hell (excuse the swearing) would a kid that age be grasping if up by that time? The kid then gets home at 6pm..I mean at that age they should have 60% of their time playing and getting to know the world around them...But no everyone wants their kid to be number 1 in class, go to a National School, join Med school and be a rich and successful doctor....Dreams they were unable to attain while young. Intentions are good, but we seem to be out of touch with reality....We can not all be academics, we cannot all be number 1.
Imagine for a second what would have happened if Oliech or Mariga's folks forced them to go for holiday tuition...Now like the proverbial kiosk owner in the village who appears to make so much money everyone wants to start their own kiosk forgetting they are the customers,...now everyone wants their kids to excel in football so that they make the same tons of cash. (I still think education is important....helps manage that windfall you get!).
I think this business of ranking kids and drumming it into their heads that some careers are better than others has messed up the good intentions of the education system. I am a product if 8-4-4 and was lucky to have skipped majority of the current ills (weekend classes, holiday classes, early morning preps, sack full of homework et al)....I had extra time for just random discovery and getting to know my bearings and interests....I can say I was the last one off the field at 7pm after checking out of skool at 4pm and class started at 8am not 6am. I made rock slings, had a garden, made bird traps, etc....all what a young boy is expected to do. Now the only knots some kids know how to tie is the shoelace and school ties...
Anyway enough about my rant. What we need is major change in our attitude, yes stay competitive, but in moderation. Let the kids develop "normally"....roll in the mud, have a few bruises, make wire, carton or other self created toys...it's part of growing up as a complete person. The much derided "Art" based careers are not as bad as they are set out to be. Advise your kids on all that is available, and assist them in attaining realistic goals and dreams. We are all different in some way and the differences are our strengths. If you couldn't invent something as complex as a particle accelerator, a much more simple but practical paper clip can do.
:-)*like*
ReplyDeleteA novel perspective indeed, good piece.
ReplyDeleteI like the point you bring out about the fact that it is not the system. I'd say it's not JUST the system. The system has its failures, but as you say, even if we change the system, it will fold in on itself to become everything we (thought we) left behind in the previous system. If we examine what the root cause of this hyper-competition is, what will we find? We will find it is the paucity of viable jobs and the lack of an enabling environment for small business that cause this extreme competition. That is why kids are having their childhoods stolen from them. As I said on RookieKE's article, we have become so adept at learning to cope that we aren't realizing some of the harm we are doing to ourselves in the process of this coping.
Thanks for the shout out, and thanks for writing, man. These matters must be discussed everywhere.