Let me start with a confession. In some of my previous contributions on education, I made some assumptions on the basis of my own experience as a child, a student, a teacher, and a parent and grandparent. Sadly, for me, I now realize that those assumptions may not be universally true. Indeed, it does appear that the cultural ethos of the moment has effectively invalidated those assumptions for many stakeholders in the educational enterprise. It is tragic!
First, as a child, I was aware that my parents invested heavily both morally and financially in my education and left no ethically sound stone unturned for my success. My father was an activist parent in PTA meetings, serving as officers in several of them even after I had left those schools. With the little he had, he ensured that I had all school materials throughout the school year. He befriended the parents of my schoolmates to ensure that he knew what was going on. He was also in good relation with all my teachers and headmasters. At home, I had no other assignments during school days than to study. His watchful eyes followed my footsteps such that I had no place to hide for any juvenile mischief.
Second, as a student, I just knew that the task that I needed to accomplish was to get a good education and that there must be no distraction. Therefore, I approached the task with all the energy that my little frame could muster during and after school hours. I knew that infractions such as cheating came with dire consequences; therefore, I avoided them like plague. In this, the community and its social and religious institutions deserve a lot of credit for reinforcing the message of hard work and moral norms that saw my generation through. It really takes a village.
Third, I had teachers who dedicated their entire working life to the success of their students. They were well-prepared and well-motivated. Remarkably, many of my early education teachers had no formal teacher training. Yet they performed extremely well and instilled discipline and moral rectitude in their students. Sure, we thought that some of them were quite harsh. It was only later that we gave them the credit they deserved.
Fourth, as a teacher, following the example of those who taught me, I knew well to take my job seriously. Having an excellent knowledge of the subject-matter, preparing good lesson notes, teaching with passion, and motivating children to learnare key to good learning outcomes. I did (and still do) all at the various levels that I taughtfrom elementary to university. Having satisfied myself of my input, I let the output take care of itself, believing that if my students did their part, they cannot fail any internal or external examination that was based on what I taught them. I have never been disappointed.
Fifth, all loving parents and grandparents naturally want the best for their wards. Like our parents, we try to invest emotionally and materially in the future of our children both for selfish and altruistic reasons. After all, our destinies are linked with theirs. My assumption, born out of my own experience, is that to achieve their desire, parents seek to instill in their children the habit of hard work and discipline that they need to succeed in their studies and in their lives.
In a previous piece on family involvement in education, I argued for the need to bet on our innocent children who we voluntarily bring into the world. I submitted that we bet on them when we create a future that is worthy of them and the country which they in turn can be proud to call theirs.
I observed that we create that future by investing in their education from the cradle so that from the first time they open their eyes, they see a nation that cares and educates, just as they behold the love of an extended family of mother, father, siblings, uncles, aunties and grandparents who first welcome them with loving hands and cheerful faces.
I reasoned that parents had to take effective ownership of family responsibility in the education of their children. And this has always been our tradition even in the pre-colonial days when our focus was on practical education for skills that were considered essential for a successful life—farming, trading, crafts, and family professions.
The literature on parental involvement in education is convincing. There is copious evidence that when the family is actively involved in the education of their children, it has a positive influence on the achievement of the children not only in school but throughout life because it enables them not only to do well in examinations and earn good grades, but also to develop better social skills.
Initiating and nurturing family involvement in the education of children is a double-lane approach by parents and schools because there is a lot at stake for both but certainly more for the parents. A school where accountability is taken seriously and where there are consequences for failure would leave no stone unturned in getting all hands on the deck for successful student outcomes.
On the other hand, parents know that the future of their kids, and their own happiness and peace of mind are at stake. They therefore have a lot more reason to get involved. Careers are important, but as the elders remind us, the probability is very high that a child that is inadvertently left untrained and unskilled may end up destroying whatever legacy an illustrious career has succeeded in building. This is just as true of children that are spoilt on account of parental negligence.
I still believe in all the foregoing and in the assumptions that have been the motivating force of my educational philosophy. The reader may then imagine my shock when it appears that my assumptions are not acceptable to many contemporary parents and teachers. Surely, they share the dream of successful children and students respectively. But they have a different approach to the realization of this dream.
I have just got to know that the approach that many now favor, including parents and teachers, is the short-cut approach that has perilously impacted our development in all facets of our national life. It is the approach of cheating, also known as examination malpractice.
Why is this appalling? Assume that,on their own, some students engage in examination malpractice.We would expect teachers and parents to rise up to the challenge, inflict serious punishment on the culprits to reform them and to serve as deterrent to others. But now, when parents and teachers are the culprits-in-chief, what is the hope?
Parents and teachers are naturally seen as role models. Children look up to their parents and teachers as models or examples of decent character and moral values to be emulated. They are the closest to the child growing up. But instead of serving as positive models of character and moral values, many teachers and parents now not only just look aside in the face of immoral behavior on the part of their wards, they are alleged to actively encourage and sanction such behavior.
In the matter of the unfortunate incidents of examination malpractice that bedevils our school system, principals and teachers are alleged to be in cahoots with parents who voluntarily pay the required fees for the purpose.Are these still role models?
There is nothing mysterious regarding the consequence of examination malpractice for the future of the students, parents, and the nation. Many students with straight “A’s” in GCE are not able to move higher in the educational leader because they are unable to cope with the rigor of higher education. Those who make it also fraudulently through higher education end up back as teachers in the same school system that encouraged examination malpractice and the cycle continues. What you don’t have, you cannot give. And where knowledge is lacking, teachers and students resort to the easy way out. Meanwhile, the nation is the ultimate victim of these ethically challenged role models.
