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March 29, 2004
Education For Extinction
In a Q&A, I explained that I am a scientist with a passion for history. Science is the search for answers to profound questions, while history is the compass that tells us who we are, where we have been, and where we are going.
Science is the story of ideas, while history is the story of people.
BRITISH EDUCATION IN AFRICA
I was born in 1954 in Nigeria, towards the end of the colonial era in Africa. During that era, it would be somewhat of an understatement to say that the education of my entire generation was greatly influenced by the dominant British culture and by their government under which we had lived for many decades.
In the 1950s, Nigeria belonged to what was then called British West Africa, and so Queen Elizabeth the second of England was officially the nation’s Head of State.
The Union Jack, the colloquial term for the British flag, flew in Nigerian offices, schools and public places. The Union Jack was a symbol of the British Empire and its old world dominance.
I remember my elementary school teacher telling us that “[quote]the sun never sets on the British Empire.[unquote]”
The Union Jack, my teacher explained, flew from India to Hong Kong, from Ireland to the Caribbean islands, from Egypt to South Africa, and in doing so, the Union Jack covered the earth’s time zones, substantiating the idea of British world dominance and control.
From our very formative years, Nigerian schools indoctrinated young Nigerians with the belief that British culture and all it stood for, exemplified the “civilized world,” and was therefore superior to the Nigerian culture.
MISSIONARY EDUCATION IN AFRICA
But British indoctrination went even further than flags and teachers’ comments.
Irish missionaries made sure that in our formative years, the message was impressed upon us that their Christian tradition was superior to our traditional forms of worship.
In missionary schools, daily prayers were compulsory, and Bible study was considered every bit as important as the three R’s: Reading, ‘Riting, & ‘Rithmetic.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
Africans were educated to become citizens of Europe and to hate Africa. A corrupt African leader that hordes his money in a Swiss bank is, in essence, a Swiss citizen. His actions are representative of a kind of self-hatred and a collective lack of self-esteem.
It involves rejecting our past, and denying our roots. Africa’s K-12 schools – which are de facto religious indoctrination centers – are at the very center of it.
It involves turning our backs on our parents and our tribal elders as a valid source of wisdom and judgement. Our religious “indoctrination,” for that is what our school education amounted to, involved a total denial of anything “African” and the need to come, naked, needy and ashamed, to try and embrace the white man’s culture.
SUPERSTITIONS
Christianity and African traditional religions are based on superstitions.
With enforced Christianity in Africa, 100 million were forced to switch over from traditional beliefs to Catholicism. We were forbidden to wear magical amulets but encouraged to wear a saint’s medallion. Magic performed by a traditional priest was disparaged as the work of the devil but magic performed by a Christian priest was hailed as a miracle. We were provided holy water - a mixture of salt and water blessed by a Catholic priest – to ward off witches or protect us from bewitchment.
Posted by emeagwali at March 29, 2004 10:11 AM
