Making of Ghana: A History of West Africa Secondary School (1946-2026)
I am greatly honoured to review this book about my alma mater, written by Dr Charles Prempeh, whom I consider a son, friend, and colleague.
I call him Professor, a title I have already bestowed on him because it would surely come to pass.
He is one of two individuals close to me who are prolific writers and whom I have confessed to that I wish I could write like them.
The first is Kofi Otutu Adu Labi, who, as of now, has over 14 biographical and inspirational books, which he wrote after his retirement and the other is the author of this book, who already has two books to his credit.
He reads voraciously and so readers will find his use of the English language extremely interesting.
An example of what I mean is provided in the first paragraph of A tribute to the founding fathers: Men who felt needed than needy, “The puzzles of life are also such that not even the ardent devotee of the deities or the Triune God can wrap their highfalutin theological cerebral competence around.”
Simple sentence but woven with words that, though they seem simple, are not so simple and you will find many such beautifully crafted sentences in this book, which takes you straight to what he intends to say without any ambiguity.
Tribute
In paying tribute to these founders and trailblazers, Prempeh touched on several issues connected with his area of study, sociology and theology, tinged with ancient philosophical truths.
He notes that the world’s wonders are blighted by existential pain, such that the Buddhist philosophy of Siddhartha Gautama Buddha says that “to live is to suffer,” while Calvinism of the 16th Century French theologian and reformer, John Calvin, said, “No pain, no gain.”
In talking about pain, he wraps the essence of pain in these words, “If God knows about our suffering (All knowing), cares about our suffering (All loving), and can do something about our suffering (All powerful), there shouldn’t be any suffering,” and cites Clive Lewis when he says, “We can even ignore our pleasures, but pain insists on being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasure, speaks to our conscience, but shouts in our pains; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
You may wonder why Prempeh hits on pain and suffering this early in this book, but his description of the odyssey of the founders from their humble beginnings to Accra, the heartbeat of nationalism then would be better understood as you read on.
Succeeding in founding a school despite all the challenges they faced proved that “Indeed, they felt more needed rather than needy.”
Introduction
In the introduction, Prempeh gives us the genesis of this book, which was the result of the 2018 National Science and Maths Quiz (NSMQ), which set tongues wagging due to the performance of West Africa Secondary School (WASS).
Indeed, it rekindled love for the school, especially among its old students and even those who had no association with the school; suddenly, all felt proud to be close to them.
You’ll get to know the interesting circumstances that led to the publishing of this book.
But then a warning! “Whereas the popular cultures of students are discussed in this book as part of the composite nature of life, two mistakes should be avoided when handling such narratives; First it should not be read as part of an accepted sociogenic practice of the school and secondly it should not be read as seeking to reinforce their acceptance as a publicly endorsed practice and contends that history for this project should afford us the opportunity to ‘first take the planks out of your own eye, and then you will clearly see the speck from your brothers.”
Indeed, history should help us to subvert and tame self-justifying actions in order to see life with the axiom, “Compassion is always better than condemnation.”
He also reveals his ideological stance as part of intellectual honesty and discloses that “He is a practising conservative evangelical Christian with a theological and life philosophy geared more towards the school of thought of the 16th-century French theologian, John Calvin.
So, historically, as a Calvinist, the author is also Augustinian with a belief in history as providence.
Methodology and the structure of the book are well handled and it gives wonderful insights into the history of WASS.
Prempeh also makes it clear that the popular culture of students bordering on issues of love, as in the case of WASS-AGISS Fun Club and a few other issues, such as Homoing, Jama, were not discussed through the prism of ethics.
Instead, they were discussed as part of the ways those on the ‘margins’ of life formulated coping strategies in the drama of life socially and historically.
Chapters
In subsequent Chapters Prempeh gives his view on what history is.
Reading this book opens your mind to several issues, giving you an indication of how widely read the author is.
You will find that you have acquired knowledge in a way you had not expected.
I don’t know whether what is presented subtly is intended to teach us as well.
He notes that history is very important and helps us to both mortalise and re-member the past, and historians especially will find the information he presents very interesting.
As a journalist, I can’t help but gobble up his ideas as if I have been starved of knowledge for years.
He takes issue with Ali Mazuri, but I leave that to you, dear reader, to form your own opinion about Prempeh’s assertions.
He also finds a way to touch on Darwin and de Tocqueville and their activities as a way of elaborating on the historical contexts in relation to this project. History, discussed in this book, is looked at from different perspectives, including storytelling, making the narrative extremely enjoyable.
Prempeh believes that “History is to humble us and make us ‘cry our own cry’ to develop humility-mindedness to incorporate compassion more than condemnation without failing to narrate the moral stories that we don’t want to hear.”
Again, he believes that the history of WASS would potentially help contemporary stakeholders of education and nation building to understand the nuances of ancestral sagacity or the humanities – in cultivating the human character for human finishing.
He also successfully touches on the history of missionary education in the Gold Coast, and brings to the fore its influence on the founders of WASS.
This book is not only about WASS, but one that will teach everybody, including academics, students and all who want to know, about Ghana, its politics, education etc., while learning about the school.
Readers, I am done. Book a copy and enjoy.
WASS has a history and you need to know to be informed, educated and entertained. Cheers!
Reviewers E-mail:
