I have had to answer this question from Americans many times this year and it has raised so many concerns. My job brings me into contact with foreign volunteers looking to make a difference in the lives of orphans in Africa. Naturally, our conversations about their service projects inevitably segue into other issues including my educational history.
The fact that such a question arises makes me worry incessantly, and I believe I have every reason to. Is it true that a good education has become so rare in my beloved Ghana, that one who sounds as confident and informed as I do must have been educated beyond the shores of Ghana, or worse still, beyond the shores of Africa?
Of course, one could argue that it is the mere ignorance about the internal workings of the country and the continent that make a visitor assume certain things and jump to certain conclusions, and I wish it were a convincing argument. In fact, this argument usually works when the issue under discussion is the existence of cars, or the availability of clothes, or the likelihood of spotting a lion cub along the highway. But could it not also be that most of the people that my curious acquaintances come into contact with act as though they are seeing God-on-earth for the first time while simultaneously torturing the English language with violent attacks on its set rules?
I do not hesitate to let them know that all of my formal education, at least so far, has been in my home and country Ghana. They do not know that at the back of my mind, I am silently accepting that I actually belong to a minority. Why should this be?
There is a cycle that continues to produce people who have been through school but cannot hold an intellectual conversation on any subject and I am determined to break that cycle. I do not want to have to home-school my children just to be sure that they do not fall victim to the current trend. Imagine if, every time my son came home from school, I would have to tell him that what his teacher told him was actually incorrect. How many children do you know who trust their parents over their teachers when it comes to matters pertaining to school work?
I want my children and my children's children to proudly say "I went to school in Ghana!"
The fact that such a question arises makes me worry incessantly, and I believe I have every reason to. Is it true that a good education has become so rare in my beloved Ghana, that one who sounds as confident and informed as I do must have been educated beyond the shores of Ghana, or worse still, beyond the shores of Africa?
Of course, one could argue that it is the mere ignorance about the internal workings of the country and the continent that make a visitor assume certain things and jump to certain conclusions, and I wish it were a convincing argument. In fact, this argument usually works when the issue under discussion is the existence of cars, or the availability of clothes, or the likelihood of spotting a lion cub along the highway. But could it not also be that most of the people that my curious acquaintances come into contact with act as though they are seeing God-on-earth for the first time while simultaneously torturing the English language with violent attacks on its set rules?
I do not hesitate to let them know that all of my formal education, at least so far, has been in my home and country Ghana. They do not know that at the back of my mind, I am silently accepting that I actually belong to a minority. Why should this be?
There is a cycle that continues to produce people who have been through school but cannot hold an intellectual conversation on any subject and I am determined to break that cycle. I do not want to have to home-school my children just to be sure that they do not fall victim to the current trend. Imagine if, every time my son came home from school, I would have to tell him that what his teacher told him was actually incorrect. How many children do you know who trust their parents over their teachers when it comes to matters pertaining to school work?
I want my children and my children's children to proudly say "I went to school in Ghana!"
