How Europe Underdeveloped Africa [Education]

"Education is crucial in any type of society for the preservation of the lives of its members and the maintenance of the social structure."

Maybe its because I am going into education but this part seemed to have the biggest impact on me in Rodney's essay. He pointed out that education is needed to move a society forward whether it is from common sense, actual literature and mathmatics or agricultural and labor learning. Which ever one, education is behind it all. Rodney used the example of the Bemba society where a six year old could name off fifty species of trees but when it came to flowers they couldn't name any. This was because it was taught to them early because trees, firewood and other wood by-products were their way of living, where as flowers were not.

Rodney also pointed out that some aspects of education in Africa were formal too, not just taught by elders and other authorities. However, these classes that were taught were restricted to certain areas in life. This could be age related or grade related. The example he used was circumcisions for men coming of age. These were used only on boys that were deemed old enough to be entered into manhood. The other examples of formal education in Africa were taught by the clan as a whole, such as hunting, gathering, religious rituals or medicine practice.

Speicialization came about later in the education of African youth. These often advanced as the technology being used in the clan at the time. Divisions of labor such as iron working, leather making, and pottery were just some examples he used. Emphasis was also put on military force in countries and private clans. However evidence has shown that in cultures where written advancement was made, education was more advanced and was better learned. Also being literate was incorporated with the learning of religion. Priests, monks and other christian beings were trained at secondary and university levels and were in the minority of literate Africans.

Suprisingly, there were even Universities set up in Africa such as the Al-Azhar University, University of Fez etc.

"The colonizers did not introduce education into Africa:"

Obviously all this previous talk was before Europe even came into Africa. When Europe came into Africa they just set up a new formal education institution which supplemented what was already there. But their main purpose of the school systems were to train Africans to help them maintain the local administration. In Things Fall Apart this was made apparent by the Africans who spoke different dialects, the court messengers. They were trained in these schools to act as interpreters between the Europeans and the Africans.

"It was not an educational system designed to give young people confidence and pride as members of African societies, but one which sought to instil a sense of deference towards all that was European and capitalist."