Author: Farai Shadreck

3. Education System

What is the importance of education if in the end you are stock a pile of certificates and remain poor or mentally enslaved to only one thing? Job seeking.

Education System of Africans is actually the worst to say the least. People are taught employee’s mind not the employer’s mind. As we speak right now we’re all waiting for the government to stand up and say “Bring your certificates my people I’ve created jobs for you.” Some are even dreaming of this white guy from America to say, “Hey, You got a passport? Cool, let’s go get a visa we’re leaving Africa for L.A next month, I got a perfect job for you.”

This is what we’re living in because our education system is more of theory than practical aspect. There’s is less emphasis on skills training while still at school and more emphasis on getting As and Bs, no wonder there’s drill learning. Albert Einstein once said, “Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind.”

There’s one time I went to our local councillor with my brother and we asked him to help us get the youth centre so that we can train children from our community coding skills. The response I got from him went like,

“Hahaha. Do you know what you’re talking about? This course is for people who who’re at University level not the level you’re talking about. It’s too hard for them. You’re wasting your time.”

Two months later I got a 11 years and 12 years old designing websites in HTML5 and CSS3. They can tell you all the tags they’re using and what they mean. They’re even doing projects outside coding and use coding as a motivational activity.

I realised that our elders think for the young ones and assume what they can and can’t based on what they managed and failed to do. Practical skills are the most essential skills one can ever get and make them a better person.

Our education does the first 2, hearing and seeing but very little of doing. The reason being that there’s very little investment towards educational material. Some rural school even today do not have computers in this digital age in time, even some high density town schools too don’t have any.

Albert Einstein says education is what remains when we’ve forgotten everything else learnt at school. People usually forget what they hear and/or see but what they went through or did themselves they do not. It remains vivid in their minds. However our education emphasises the hearing and seeing part then they use certificates to certify the practical skill.

What do you think about the African education system towards empowering an African child?

Let’s talk about it.

“Coming together is a beginning, staying together is a progress and working together is success

Henry Ford.

Yesterday I talked about division as our first reason to why black people are not becoming Successful, today is a continuation to that reason which brings us to reason number 2

Valuing Tribes more than Humanity.

“Above all, we must avoid the pitfalls of tribalism. If we’re divided among ourselves on tribal lines, we open our doors to foreign intervention and its potentially harmful consequences.

Haile Selassie

Yesterday I talked about whites coming to our nation and destroying us by first dividing us. It became easy for them to divide us then conquer us because we were already divided as tribes. We allowed tribal lines to be thick and visible between us and they saw it and used it against us.

The wars against them came, Zimbabweans, not tribes, fought them united and defeated them but soon after, I don’t know if it was hunger for power or selfishness, tribal lines were drawn again. The same mistake that had us enslaved has been repeated again. Haile says, above all we must avoid the pitfalls of tribalism. This is true. Tribalism is a pitfall that opens doors to foreign intervention that leads to harmful consequences.

Tribes are important because they bear our cultures which are the most meaningful things about who we are and where we’re coming from, it bears our roots. However it’s not more important than Humanity, unity, tranquillity, love and oneness. What’s a tribe without humanity? Tribalism is emphasised but not well taught no wonder western culture has taken over and tribal hurt is the only cultural practice left because we emphasise the wrong thing. This make the foreign intervention a way more easier, just like what’s happening now, Trump making us dance to his sanctions tune.

The most important thing is humanity and unity over tribal emphasis. If only we could use the name Zimbabwean for anyone who’s from this nation then we’ll see how successful we become together.

When I began today I used the above quote from Henry Ford and that makes a lot of sense. When a nation is one and they stay together without emphasising tribal differences there’s progress. That same progress then leads to working together. Working together makes people see how powerful they’re as the team, no one will have to leave the nation to get help and strength from other nations. Together we can. Together we become successful. The nation has the talent and strength it needs to become noticeable, all that’s needed is unity and working together, start initiatives that emphasises togetherness.

What’s your take to this? Let’s talk about it.

Being black, to most people, can be considered as a curse. Why? Being black is mostly associated with poverty, mental enslavement, being weaker or even old-fashioned and barbaric. Black nations are not as advanced as Eastern and Western regions. The question is why? Let’s look at some reasons to follow.

Division

Black people are the most divided people. Before we were nations we were tribes. These tribes had their own way of doing, their own cultural practices and their own codes of conduct. When these tribes merged and became one to form a nation-like or simply said, States, they didn’t come to some sort of agree or to at least meet halfway with others so as to live peacefully. Then whites came and when they started eying power they used tribal divisions to their advantage to make matters worse. You know what they say

“Divide they fall,….”

This further divided us even more and and the other tribe started to think negative of the other tribe. This war never ended, we’re fighting our forefathers’ war and those who are wrong and in power are not admitting to their wrong doing which further cause more tension. We’re too divided.

Tribal issues were the major cause of division we’re having now. We forgot to say let’s be Zimbabweans not Shona, Ndebele, Tongas etc, in Zimbabwe nor should we be strongly into political parties to an extent that who ever isn’t the supporter of the political party you’re supporting is an enemy.

We were taught hatred amongst each other and we nurtured it. We forgot to see that we’re murdering our own nation.

When people are divided, they’re easily ruled around, they’re easily defeated. The mind of a person who lives where there’s hatred is easily controlled by fear, selfishness, hatred too and no love. Even when decisions are made, there’s no agreement that people can get to. This is our reason number 1. Number 2 is coming.