Remember lying on the grass and staring up at the stars when you were a kid, dreaming of becoming an astronaut?
One of the most privileged features of growing up in the Western hemisphere must be the incredible array of options in education and the tools that come with those options. So few children living in the US or EU fully appreciate this though, but growing up in Africa certainly brings this home with a thud. How nice it would be to dream about Space and know that you can actually go there one day, without the need to be a millionaire tourist before being able to? How nice it would be to look at your school’s curriculum and know that through your choices you can open up a kaleidoscope of career choices, instead of the usual African choices limited to national requirements and those all too few corporate bursaries, unless of course you are part of the elite.
The entire system in countries in Africa limit the very imagination of a child. Consider being told at school already what you can and cannot be one day. That is so utterly wrong it should be illegal, but political and commercial forces will continue to limit the many and favor the few in a continent like ours, and for children who wish to reach their dream it all comes down to something akin to a toss of a coin. If you are born of an African tyrant who has syphoned off state funds for friends and family, you’re in luck with the best schools at your disposal; if you are born one of a few that enjoyed absolute favoritism at the expense of the many, like those in the Apartheid years in South Africa, you have the entire world at your feet, as the commercial gains made by your mom or dad in their secured employment from their friends and family in government again made your dreams possible. If you came from a disadvantaged background, and worse, you’re black, the odds are so stacked against you the chance of completing any year in school is about zero.
Worse for you, the world will point at the tiny percentage of those of your generation who actually made it to a professional qualification and say ‘look, you’re not working hard enough. They did it, so can you.’, without an inkling of understanding of what they are asking you to do. Unbelievably those same finger pointers will be able to choose from more than one university, more choice than you will ever have. They will be sitting in air-conditioned environments, access over stocked libraries full of physical and virtual references to anything they wish to learn, you will be lucky to have a single book from which to learn all about the world. They will be wondering if they should study a general degree and then specialise or take a few years to ‘gain’ practical business experience, you would be wondering which of the few degrees your university may offer are recognised as actual degrees outside your home town, city or country, whilst working day and night to pay your way through school.
Miserable future? You bet! There is absolutely NO way Western students can begin to understand what it takes for an African student to make it through life knowing their dreams are limited. It is utterly wrong that we live in 2009 and still have kids around the world wondering why they cannot dare to dream what their friends can dream about in the West. Education should NEVER limit a child’s outlook on their future, but instead it should allow them to dream even bigger dreams, and yet for many here on my continent it does the opposite. Educating them meant teaching them ‘their place’ in the world. Who dares TELL you your place in the world? Your place in the world is what YOU make of it, or at least that is how it should be.
It’s been a massive issue for me for years, and still I cannot offer a glimmer of hope to show some progress to the dreamers here. My posts tend to ramble on every time I try and write about this, and my point that all men are not equal, often gets twisted into rather complex points. Apologies for that. I guess what I can suggest is for those dreaming to go to the stars, make as much money as you can and pay your way for a seat on a Soviet or US rocket ride. Or drop out of everything and focus on kicking around a small round ball until some overpaid European soccer scout sees you and offers you a position within their club team. Getting there any other way today is simply impossible and you do not have ‘choice’ no matter who tries to sell you that. However, if you are one of those miracle kids who against all these odds and prejudices still wants to achieve something of your own dreams, I salute you! No one in the West would fully appreciate your amazing achievement, but those who come after you will have someone to look up to, other than the usual African tyrant, scammer or Western mercenary.
