I implore you, let’s take a step back to ask ourselves this important question. Why do we need to go through the rigours of educating ourselves? It’s crucial because it determines our future.
Is it to do what everybody else seems to be doing? Should it aid self-determination –help set our own course in life? Are we driven by a genuine desire to learn? Drive for independence – to help enhance our ability to reason and decide for ourselves what is best for us?
Is it to expand the mind and give direction, helping us to see what the undereducated can’t see or is it merely to prepare us for our chosen career? Is it to make us cleverer and more knowledgeable than before or should it empower us to be wise, to make better decisions and to have a deeper comprehension of what is right and what is just?
Is it expected to positively influence our outlook on life, causing us to see things from a position of greater understanding? Is it to help us understand better that our way isn’t necessarily the only way, leading us to value others and their views too? This speaks to having a heart of tolerance and love as there are several ways to fry an egg and none is more superior than the other.
Are we to use the advantage education bestows upon us as a weapon to oppress the less privileged, the uneducated and the undereducated? Or is it meant to furnish us with a mindset to lead them all better? Is it to gird and embolden our hearts in the midst of seemingly impossible situations or is to equip us with the understanding that because it hasn’t been done before, doesn’t mean it can never be done? Is it to open our eyes to the fact that things can and should be better than they are?
Is it to enlighten us to the point where the proverbial bulb lights up in our head? That pursuit of the common good, really is the rational way to go. Is it so we can come to the realisation that it behoves everyone to play his or her own part if we sincerely desire a better future for our society?
Do we agree with the philosophical school of thought that education should guide leaders to rule well and condition the minds of citizens to pursue perfection in citizenship by obeying the laws of the land? Should it inform us of the nexus between rights and duties, privileges and responsibilities? I know many of us parents, have lectured our children overtime about this one. All I can say is, “the Lord is our strength”.
Some say education, as a life transforming exercise, should discipline the mind. As there is hardly a surer proof of disciplined thinking than disciplined action. should educated people not make punctuality a watchword? As further proof, should they not also do the right things without being forced to do so?
I don’t believe we’re quite there yet. Correct me if I’m wrong but as a people we rarely seem to do the right thing even when we know what the right thing is. Many believe rules are made to be broken in pursuit of our selfish interests rather than help to standardise good behaviour which would ultimately benefit all.
But then, how many truly care about all? Instead, we appear totally defenceless as we’re mercilessly ravaged by the “do you know who I am syndrome?” We flaunt our unmatched ability to flout all rules with impunity as confirmation of just who we are. This always acts a measure of our clout. Funny thing is, this sickness is no respecter of persons as it plagues all classes; from the billionaire to the “brokenaire”. None is immune. All seem to have something to prove. Don’t ask me what.
Is it not one of the objectives of education to produce individuals, excellence in ability as well as excellence in character? People who become useful to themselves as well as to society? Some, making indelible contributions to humanity by way of scientific advancements and social re-engineering. Should it not in the process broaden our horizons, providing us a healthy and critical outlook on reality? Is its purpose not to help us acquire the right values, propelling us to take right actions on our own? Shouldn’t education bring us to the inevitable conclusion that without justice in the land, peace will forever remain an illusion?
A truly educated person should understand that his life ought to have some meaning and place a higher value on preserving it.
I say this with commercial motorcycle (Okada) riders in mind. Most appear to place very little or no value on their lives which is sad enough in itself. It becomes more worrisome when you realise that someone who has little regard for his own life is not likely to have much regard for the lives of others either. This makes them little better than kamikaze projectiles; ready to destroy and be destroyed.
So, if we all agree that education should generally result in placing a higher premium on life, we shouldn’t stop there. An educated person should be able to ask what sort of life he wants. Should it be one of suffering and just getting by? Which may be more accurately termed as merely existing rather than living. Or should it be one of flourishing as a human being, achieving self-actualisation and all that? A need inherent and peculiar to mankind. If the answer is yes, then some schools of ethical thought insist this ought to mirror our thoughts on how everyone should live too.
After all, they say what’s good for the goose is also good for the gander, so how moral would it be for you to think that you are the only one who deserves the good life?
Unfortunately, this is not always the case but my immediate concern is our part of the world where it seems to be so pronounced.
Here, the Aristotelean philosophical theory of moral weakness screams at us, reminding us it’s still very much alive and not prepared to offer us any apologies to anyone. Or what would possess a normal human being, recruited to protect his compatriots to decide instead to oppress, molest, defile and destroy the lives of those under his watch, at the various Internally Displaced Persons (IDP)camps in the war torn North?
What sort of mind would do that to anyone, talk less of those reeling from unimaginable calamities already? What sort of man would unethically enrich himself and in the process sentence millions to a slow and painful death from abject poverty? Knowing the right thing to do but lacking the restraint that would prevent one from following the socially destructive path of self-interest is not a sign of sound reasoning.
I have no doubt in my mind that education is a moral enterprise.
Some years ago, I asked my daughter who was eight at the time if she could tell me the difference between a knowledgeable man and an educated man and her response struck me. She said, “a knowledgeable man knows the right thing to do but doesn’t do it but an educated man knows and does the right thing.” If you ask me, one of the best ways to do right by your children is to do right before them.
Changing the nation…one mind at a time.
OLADAPO AKANDE
