Of Education and Gothic Institutionalism

Quote: If there be a gift modernity esteems more than most, it should be literacy – Bonface Morris.

Quite often, I hear my mind quip: “There is one thing with literacy – aptness; the other one is madness.” I rarely sit down to question it (my mind). Well, I sometimes do. And when I do, I tend to come to a conclusion that the two (aptness and madness) exist in some kind of deranged ambiguity. Such a correlation – my mind always thinks – fails a certain balance of expectations. A balance that society earnestly expects it (literacy) would solve, but that it entirely never solves. No wonder one Malcolm Muggeridge (English journalist and Christian apologist) said, "We have educated ourselves into imbecility," as he bemoaned the many nefarious ideas that are shaping modern beliefs ^(cited).

In any modern society today, education (or learning) always takes the central place. It is placed in such a place of honor – and even somehow worshiped – because it determines modern paradigm shifts and the different steps from one generation or era to another. It may not be a society’s fault to do so, because we all have woken up from our mothers’ wombs and found society changing – mainly due to the increase in the level of literacy. But again, literacy as it is, is a practically relative term. Informal learning is literacy in certain contexts (not all), and it therefore makes legit the advice the “uneducated” passes on to the to the school-goer telling him/her (from time to time) how and why one thing or another is important. In such cases, whenever the less literate is wielding information to the more literate, a degree of relevance is stressed upon that benefits both formal and informal learning. This in itself helps to elevate the importance of education in shaping a society’s beliefs and values.
And here is where the aptness and the madness begin to struggle.
Society expects that learned people should be more responsible, more understanding and considerate. That is its expectation. It expects that they would behave like human beings and build an atmosphere of peace, love and tranquility. It expects to see a change in itself: less violence and more production. It expects a society that is moving forward... Well, the madness in literacy – the attainment of book intelligence - won’t allow that to happen. It seems it changes belief systems for the worse, scrapping off any possibilities of sanity and meekness. “Only a few literate people make sense,” say many. The aptness within literacy now seems to peep from a distance – sipping away sugarless coffee as it wonders why it is not needed anymore yet its friend, madness, is always invited…

I don’t deny the existence and power of beliefs and belief systems that are as a result of education within any society. I don’t even want to seem to deny it. Education is modernity’s altar that gives forth the worshiped adjoins of civilization. Literacy has its ego living amongst us and within us. I can’t deny that. It is true. In fact, most of what we become today is shaped by the presence of these beliefs and value systems. Most of what we become (whether good or bad) is either a folding or an unfolding of what we have learnt – what we have attained from our environment(s). Thus the essence of gaining understanding (wherever and whenever it may deem necessary) lies in the strength of learning. Even if our brains and/or minds may escape the binge of books, society cannot spare us few lessons from the curriculum it offers. Society still wheels us through its own informal education system even before we have known we are learning. Education imprisons us before we even know it, so to say.
However, weird within such contexts is when we come to a point where we want to understand how and why our learning institutions work the way they do. When we (read; students) come to such a place – a place of a deep need to balance the aptness and the madness within our learning institutions – we may be required to apply other informal tools. When we want to understand why our institutions – which should be a source of serenity - are growing madder by the day, formal education never seems to help. This is because the preachers (read, professors, lecturers and other so-forth-and-so-on learned people) are now drinking the wine they preach against, and are therefore another [good] case for study.

The informal tools students use in trying to understand how and why their preachers are now drinking wine may not be the best, but are made to be the best when moments encourage.
Students are found saying, “Yeah, we go to school to learn. Yeah, we all wanna learn. We don’t come here to fight or make appeals. But we just can’t understand why these learned people (read, professors, lecturers and other so-forth-and-so-on learned people) can be so inconsiderate and unthoughtful. We can’t understand why this institution(s) cannot learn from their past experience(s)! Don’t they have common sense? Don’t they know their carrying capacity as far as admissions are concerned? Why should they enroll students into their systems that are higher than their ability to productively manage? Don’t they know that we (students) have time allotted to our studies and don’t have ALL the time to waste? Huh? Why is there no democracy when it comes to leadership in our learning institutions? Have we reached to a point where literacy is for sale in this land, and we either sale it or sale it? Really? Have we reached to a point where University Vice-chancellors care more about how many students are being enrolled into the system, the money they are bringing in and the overall image of the institution(s), than how students are fairing on and if they are benefiting in their studies or not? Really? Is this the extent to which we have come?”
So after the ranting, as always, felony and madness take over; and the cycle of wrangles between institutions’ management and students continues.
When will this ever stop?
Well it may, or it may never stop. It depends on the following;

1. The administration in the learning institutions should be ready, together with students’ representatives, to reach a consensus regarding the issues at hand – a consensus that will benefit both sides; with an understanding that both sides deserve to be listened to, heard and considered in their opinions.
2. The institutions’ administration should only enroll into their system(s) students that their carrying capacity can accommodate. This should be done with infrastructure, school-based services and other learning services being put into consideration.
3. Ensuring that what is being offered to students is quality education with skills that they can apply in their immediate society and that will still make them competitive in the diverse world they are going to be in after their studies.
4. Creating a strong linkage between the school administration and students. Such a linkage should be open and interactive – offering to bring solutions to current and recurrent problems between the two parties or amongst the two.

After all these, then the balance between the aptness and madness in education will be manageable.

Bonface Morris.