Thinking for a change. Time to let every brain in the game
The heading for today’s column was adopted from the title of a book by John C. Maxwell in which he quoted Napolean Hill as follows: “More gold has been mined from the thoughts of men than has ever been taken from the earth.” To make great strides, then, is for every nation to focus on each person’s natural propensity or innate strengths which Daniel Goleman summarised in his famous “Multiple Intelligences”.
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The trouble is that decrepit systems - nursed by some equally stale bureaucrats - have an uneasy time cottoning to the notion that people are gifted in particular ways and have to be supported to succeed where they show the greatest promise. Winston Churchill told a story of a personal disappointment in his book, “My Early Years”: In his “riper years” he had the idea to go to Oxford, but he said, “it appeared that this was impossible. I must pass examinations not only in Latin, but even in Greek. I could not contemplate toiling at Greek irregular verbs after having commanded British regular troops; so after much pondering I had to my keen regret to put the plan aside.”
Such anomalies tend to float in my mind in terms of how Ghana’s education system unwittingly victimised the youth by placing primitive hurdles to block their growth. It was in that state of mind that I received the following letter from a reader who I was happy to meet after a presentation at the British Council, Accra.
The Letter
“I read your piece, masterfully woven around the quote by Albert Einstein which said ‘Imagination is more important than knowledge’. Sir, before I could finish that piece, I was interrupted by tears. The genuine concerns it raised gave me an assuring faith and the confidence to tell my story- which I believe also affects many unfortunate applicants.
“I completed SHS in the year 2008. I had read Visual Arts and was hoping to pursue excellence in the fine arts. The following year, I bought admission forms from two universities, applied to study painting and sculpture and began a hopeful preparation towards tertiary education. But, when the schools released their admission lists, both expectations eluded me.
“Crestfallen, I attempted to find the cause of these denials and was told, to my utter bewilderment, that I did not qualify. Fact is, I have searched the word qualify and examined its varied shades of meaning. But, by God, I am yet to understand what our system means when it uses the word qualify. This is because one recurring idea in the many explanations of the word qualify is the fulfilment of a necessary condition; and herein lies my argument.
“For goodness sake, I had applied to study painting and sculpture not aerospace engineering or physics. Perhaps, a breakdown of my rejected results will explain my vexation: English Language A1, Mathematics D7, Integrated Science B3, Social Studies B2, Picture Making B2, Ceramics A1, General Knowledge in Art B2.
“Believe it or not, on account of the hallowed mathematics and our occult regard for it, my life was put on hold for six years. I write because there is injustice here. To be honest, I have nothing against any subject but I certainly have a problem with a football academy that recruits players judging by their ability to play the saxophone instead of the ball.
“I quite remember, on one occasion, when I was at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology to seek admission. A certain lecturer looked at my grades, and said “Sorry Prince. This is absolute nonsense but that is what they want us to do”. In plain words, I guess he was telling me that I had no option than to excel in Maths in order to study painting and sculpture.
“Sir, I think it highly unfair and, to a large extent annoying, to accredit an art student with Maths and not a science student by painting or drawing. Or, is Mathematics so supreme that it outdoes all the other subjects no matter how brilliant the latter may be? Are we not killing many dreams and geniuses by this slavish adherence to the irreplaceable necessity of Maths? Are we not annihilating many Picassos, Soyinkas, Disneys, Achebes and Beethovens?
“For the love of God, what tangible explanation can we give for the super abundant worship that we lavish on Mathematics, English and Integrated Science - even when they have no bearing on the course a student wants to pursue? Of course, it is categorically indefensible for a prospective accounting student to fail Maths. The same applies to the future journalist who fails in the English Language. But, to fail a promising art student because he has a mere pass in Mathematics is simply unjustifiable.
“I am appalled by our system but even more hurt by the passive attitude of policy makers and citizenry on issues that affect the youth so negatively. We seem to have an unrivaled capacity for taking things for granted. How can we cast these pressing issues aside and rather - without any guilt on our conscience – discuss whether a politician's suit is for men or women?
“Please, sound the nation about this Mass murder. Please tell our accreditation officers to spare us the pedantry when they attempt to defend the indefensible. We only ask of them to tell us in very simple language, why fishes in Ghana are judged by their abilities to climb trees rather than their ability to swim.”
[Email: anishaffar@gmail.com]