The Problem of Education

OPINION

(Andragogy vs Pedagogy)

By Joe Etokudor

On professor (Rev. Father)  stan Anich-the initiator of African thinkers community of inquiry college of Education, Enugu had postulated that Nigeria n Education only teaches how to pass examinations. He said. That Nigeria is a country where teachers teach students what to thinks but never teach them how to think.

From the above postulation, we can see that education in Nigeria is a kind of gathering of  facts from  so many sources without synergizing these facts into principles and theories of facts. Nigerian education constantly seeks to teach students how to pass examinations in the school. And when they pass examinations in the school, they think that they have made it. But unfortunately if you examine Nigeria Education with the five pillars  of effective  teaching,  you will see where we are.  First, every effective teaching must contain other higher thinking which means it must leave students to reflection, to construction of new ideas from  what  they heard.

Secondly, any authentic lesson or school must contain deeper information. Very many people go top school with shallow ideas. If teachers do not give information that would lead to deeper ideas, deeper understanding of  life then that  education has  failed.

Thirdly, education should be constructed with intention of activities outside the wall of the school. Any education which is not targeting life, targeting the society as its beneficiary is a waste as such because that types of education will be useful just within the four walls of that  institution and children will pass examination and think that  they are educated.  Out they are not when they go out, they find themselves misfit in the world. So education must be constructed with intentions outside the walls of the institution.

Another important fact is that education or lesson or school must lead the students to what is called substantive conversation. What does that mean/  it would lead students to interaction, to dialogue, to sharing and as they share the ideas, there is  pollination and  cross fertilization. There is growth in the various ideas of those who talk. Most of our teachings do no contain this substantive conversation. So that somebody finishes in class, he cannot come out and share the ideas with others. And by sharing ideas with others, they will also gain from others and improve on what they have. It is called synergic level of education. It does not contain synergic thinking. Finally education must have a social support. Because those who have N20, if they stand before an educated man, that educated man will be shaking because of the N2o. Money is what has social support in Nigeria and not education. When education begins to have social support, social credence, then the  hoodlums, who carry money about would suspend and our young man and women who run after money and abandon education would stop  to do so. In summary, education must have higher order thinking. It must produce deeper insight into knowledge. It must also have relatedness to the outside world. It must have the ability of substantive conversation. This students must be able to speak to one another. There must be sharing. There must be dialogue. And this dialogue is what gives birth to democratic system. That is the importance of education. Once you are educated enough to share ideas, to listen to others  carefully, to make your points  with good  view,  then definitely you have  come to substantive conversation which is the simple  way to say it. Education must  contain the powers of   critical thinking, creative thinking; the powers of careful thinking, the powers of higher order thinking, the powers of synergic thinking.  Form synergic thinking we now   go to the digital age of  globalization, an we are now talking about laser age, no longer the digital  age. That is where our education must aim  at. Nigerian education does not do so. What we do in the schools is to give the children facts, teaching them  what to think and not how to think. Education must give rise to, sharing   cooperation instead, not competition, concelebrating instead of reaction. We are always competing with one another, struggling over who is going to be this, who is going to be that, who is going to be president. They don’t ever think of what does t he president  do ?   How should the president be? They are not addressing the real problems because they don’t know the format for fixing things. That is the problem but  we thank God we  don’t despair, it  will come one by one. Out of  70 countries using philosophy to  tech their  children, Nigeria has not come   in.

Only individual private schools have started it. No education has   yet talked about community of inquiry in the school system, critical thinking systematic thinking, synergic thinking. Making students to think during crisis, making the school an   inquiry classroom where  you just go to collect worn-out and already  balkanized ideas,  but where they construct new  ideas  to confront life. This is the essence of community of  inquiry.

Community of inquiry takes in creative thinking, system thinking, lateral thinking, synergic thinking. When these are formatted into formative questions the children begin to ask question instead of answering them.. The children begin to ask  questions instead of answering them. The children be gin to listen to one another with good ideas and pollinate one another. Then there is growth of knowledge and not just robot teaching of whatever the teacher has taught.  There is a typical instance where some corpers ca me to teach in one of the  schools around who had to go away because when  they came into the  class, they were confronted with barrages of  questions. They could not contend it and they had to leave because they refused to learn  the  system of teaching. If you know how to ask questions you are wise, if you know  how to answer, you  have  good memory. That’s not enough for growth. We must teach the children how to think  and not give them what others have taught .

We are not happy with the  unemployable and  employable graduates roaming our streets. Stressing on  the unemployable, they have certificate but they  cannot depend them.  The  employable  ones have something to offer but because of the nature of social structure here, people are looking for their brothers and those who have  money to bribe them whether they are qualified or not. So that is the social evil that has to be corrected so that the person who  has  merit will be employed.

Students should be made to have something doing before others employ them. We are looking for the time we can make airplane when  we cannot make the cover of a pen. We must teach   our students to start where, to make use of their creative powers.

Aristotle the great philosopher said that the difference between  the educated man and the uneducated man is like the difference  between the living and the  dead.  The uneducated is dead.

The educational system in Nigeria has to be edesigned. All those who are teaching must be educated in  the method we call andragogy that is a method that handles human beings in the system of a mind wife. A mid wife is a helper and encourager. A mid wife is not a bully she help a pregnant woman to give birth to a child. A teacher who  is andragogist or facilitator helps the child to give birth to the potentials in the child’s mind. But Nigeria is using pedagogy which is based on baby nurse. The baby –nurse takes decisions for the child and the child w ill only comply this is the type of education we are  using in Nigeria. The school child is  taken as a little child  who does not know. “you don’t know, take the teacher tells the child. But they forget  that the person who opened the  door  to civilization, Einstein was almost a school drop out. He could not sit with  the teachers. They didn’t  like him because his ideas were strange to them  and the  didn’t  listen. Those teachers were using pedagogic system and he  shifted away from  them and gave birth to knowledge that   is the foundation of scientific breakthrough today. But  if h had listed to the teachers, he would have passed exams but wouldn’t be Einstein today. So differences of opinion are not necessarily deviance if you put them in the crucible of creative thinking.

If they read the handouts in the classroom and pass, they fail outside this not encouraging. Rather they aid and abet examination malpractices which are concern worm that has eaten deep into the fabric of our nation. The earlier, the better for us all

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