This archive report was first published on 15 December 2019.
Breaking Free from the Status Quo ¶
Published on December 15, 2019
Kenya's education system has been criticized for its rigid and outdated approach, which fails to equip students for real life. The system prioritizes traditional certificates and grades over practical skills and life experiences.
As a student, I experienced firsthand the limitations of this approach. The education system functions like an old-fashioned train service, running on fixed tracks and leaving many students behind. This is not just a problem of the past; it remains a challenge for the current generation of students.
Many of you have asked: what can be done to fix this? The answer lies in disrupting the entrenched interests that benefit from the current system. Those who have benefited from this approach are the ones who take over its running, and they have every interest in maintaining the status quo.
It will take guts and determination from educators, parents, and children to try something different. Employers must also question what they really get when they ask for traditional certificates and grades.
Here are some principles that could guide a new education system:
- Everyone should be entitled to a decent education, not an expensive or elite one.
- The education system should provide essential tools for students to make the most of their lives.
- There should be enough 'trains' for everyone, and the system should accept that this is an investment worth making.
Another principle concerns pedagogy. Why do we teach the way we do? In classrooms and lecture halls, students are taught as though they need to master all the intricacies of a subject, as though the point is to know it well enough to teach it. But how much of what is being taught is relevant to the many, not just the gifted few?
A more enlightened way of teaching would be to understand the diversity of the classroom and create tailored experiences for everyone. We would understand the innate wiring of each individual and create learning experiences accordingly.
The final principle concerns measurement and grading. Having been graded all our lives, it seems obvious that this is necessary and inevitable. But is it? We have to stop the brutal categorization of humans into 'bright' and 'thick' based on antiquated thinking from a century ago.
Let's equip children for real life, and let real life be their test. Picture this: children not coming to school until later in life, so that they can enjoy their childhoods. No mandatory standardized testing. No Darwinian competition in the schoolroom. Shorter school days, and very little homework. An emphasis on learning rather than passing.
Many professional paths and options. Lifelong learning. It's not too utopian, and it's not impossible. Think Finland, and you will see that much of this is already being done, with great success.
