Africa,s problem is trusting paper degree over skills and knowledge

[Asiska02]

It is not in Africa alone, I think the same situation is happening in our country as well where unemployment and underemployment are high, because the curriculum in schools is not yet updated with the recent demands worldwide.

We are taught to study so we can find a good job after we graduate, but after experiencing all that myself, I feel there is still something lacking, and I would say 50% of my knowledge was learned outside school. By being active online, especially in the forum, it made me smarter, and now I do not work anymore, I started my own business and created jobs for people, I just got out of the rat race.

So many schools around the world especially in Africa that I know focus more on theory than practicals and this has made the degree you’ve achieved not enough to give you a decent job or have an edge over those that never went through school and are more practical oriented than you are.

After school, you’ll still need to learn practical skills that will give you a chance in the competitive market that’s outside and sort out for experienced people more over what you have in papers as a degree holder. Being able to sort yourself out and be self employed is the best and highest peak of your skill and knowledge you can show that you have.

[abhiseshakana]

One of the disease eating up Africa's development was the brainwashed the European slave masters gave to them about school. They were taught how to read and write what the Europeans wrote,no skills attached,no knowledge just know how to read and write. Today, the world has gone beyond you just acquiring degrees to you acquiring skills and knowledge. The world economy is been revolutionized and Africa lacks the man power to do that . Africans just attend universities to learn  more than what they learnt in primary and secondary schools.

I think your conclusion based on phenomenon faced by many African and  developing countries such as high unemployment rate, many graduates fiddicult find suitable job related with their study, only primary sector developing where middle and advanced industries still lagging behind which cause economy dependence on primary sector which mean no njeed high qualified skilled people. This condition bring brain drain due to limited opportunity, this is exacarbated by mismatch between available study with job market/ mot aliged with industry need, and no place fotr practical. All the condition bring people conclusion (including OP) that education is useless, school only create individuals who are academically intelligent but lack practical experience.

Based on my experiences in my country paper degree and certification not only a sheet of paper, although certification does not guarantee our quality, but it is a proove that ensuring we have gone through the education process and met certain competency standards. Beside that, some of profession cannot be executed by independent learning. Reading and writing are foundation of knowledge, without it world will face generational degradation, and nowdays we have found many of these degradation problem in our kids.

Just try to imagine, engineering, programmmer, researcher or entrepreneur without literacy, they will not have ability to understand information, analysing data and continue learning. Africa may also lack educators who can package and serve knowledge in a delicious way, which will  make student are enthusiast to consume knowledge.

[viljy]

Of course, I am not an expert on Africa, but it seems to me that there are much more serious problems in Africa than the discrepancy between a diploma and an actual qualification... For example, there are outbreaks of dangerous diseases. Low standard of living of the population. Corruption. These are much more important issues than the level of education. In my opinion, the most important indicator of big problems is the outgoing migration flows, which are typical for Africa and Central Asia. So problems in education are hardly the cause of all this.

[davis196]

One of the disease eating up Africa's development was the brainwashed the European slave masters gave to them about school. They were taught how to read and write what the Europeans wrote,no skills attached,no knowledge just know how to read and write. Today, the world has gone beyond you just acquiring degrees to you acquiring skills and knowledge. The world economy is been revolutionized and Africa lacks the man power to do that . Africans just attend universities to learn  more than what they learnt in primary and secondary schools.

Wasn't learning to read and write the first skill, that is necessary for learning other skills? Can you learn programming, if you don't know how to read and write? Using a computer requires proper knowledge of how to read and write.
The "European slave masters" are teaching their own kids about the importance of having good education and learning how to "read and write".
How is this "brainwashing"?
The conventional education systems and paper diplomas are slowly losing value all around the globe, that's not just an African thing. The problem with Africa is the lack of mass education, due to lack of enough government funding.
"Africans attend universities to learn MORE than what they learn in schools" Yes. Isn't that the whole point of attending a university?

[G_Besar]

One of the disease eating up Africa's development was the brainwashed the European slave masters gave to them about school. They were taught how to read and write what the Europeans wrote,no skills attached,no knowledge just know how to read and write. Today, the world has gone beyond you just acquiring degrees to you acquiring skills and knowledge. The world economy is been revolutionized and Africa lacks the man power to do that . Africans just attend universities to learn  more than what they learnt in primary and secondary schools.

Reading and writing are actually important for everyone because they can generate more knowledge, allowing ordinary people to be inspired to act on what they've read and to make plans by writing them down when they want to do something. So, I don't think there's anything wrong with that, as everyone is required to be more discerning about whatever they read and write. On the other hand, there are also situations that require everyone to be able to read well without writing, such as the current economic conditions and the current global world situation.

I've never been against education, as it's necessary and important for everyone to pursue. However, if some people only view education as a means to a degree, perhaps their understanding of education is too limited. All the intelligent people we see today also experienced basic education, allowing them to pursue their thinking in a more diverse direction today.

[Cheema02]

One of the disease eating up Africa's development was the brainwashed the European slave masters gave to them about school. They were taught how to read and write what the Europeans wrote,no skills attached,no knowledge just know how to read and write. Today, the world has gone beyond you just acquiring degrees to you acquiring skills and knowledge. The world economy is been revolutionized and Africa lacks the man power to do that . Africans just attend universities to learn  more than what they learnt in primary and secondary schools.

Its totally wrong and unfair to say Africans are less educated and they need just read and write because they just some extra skill based education. But the actual problem is not the education and just a misunderstanding about how modern economies can be run. There are lot of African's who currently serving to health, education and economy and if give them extra attention more people can be seen. Colonial education is the old method and currently not have a great impact because reforming education method is now used and it's actually the updated form of old methods. Many developed countries investing more than more economies on research and technical studies so through this process they generate more opportunities and ultimately they becomes the strong economies of the world. Digrees are still useful but when it meet with practical and Africans are very intelligent guy but they don't have resources to chase invest in innovations and research.

[juttsab@]

Its totally wrong and unfair to say Africans are less educated and they need just read and write because they just some extra skill based education. But the actual problem is not the education and just a misunderstanding about how modern economies can be run. There are lot of African's who currently serving to health, education and economy and if give them extra attention more people can be seen. Colonial education is the old method and currently not have a great impact because reforming education method is now used and it's actually the updated form of old methods. Many developed countries investing more than more economies on research and technical studies so through this process they generate more opportunities and ultimately they becomes the strong economies of the world. Digrees are still useful but when it meet with practical and Africans are very intelligent guy but they don't have resources to chase invest in innovations and research.

I completely understand your concern and your point that skills are very important in today's technological world as compared to just paper degrees, practical skills, experience having problem solving ability is very valuable in different industries, businesses freelancing but it is not fully fair to just say that degrees are having no value, degrees still give basic knowledge discipline in  different fields like engineering and law.The real problem is not degree versus skills but it is that gap between education and the job requirement skills in some places. In many countries around the globe including Africa the mostly education system is focusing too much on theory rather than the practical training, in ideal situation both theory and practical should go with each other and a person who have a degree should have strong skills to get the best jobs and be successful in changing global economy.

[Callido]

One of the disease eating up Africa's development was the brainwashed the European slave masters gave to them about school. They were taught how to read and write what the Europeans wrote,no skills attached,no knowledge just know how to read and write. Today, the world has gone beyond you just acquiring degrees to you acquiring skills and knowledge. The world economy is been revolutionized and Africa lacks the man power to do that . Africans just attend universities to learn  more than what they learnt in primary and secondary schools.

There is a very high difference between education and academics, and this difference exist between school knowledge and individual knowledge which has significantly shown its effects in the country's relevance with value. Many people misunderstand these two concepts and some prioritize academics over education which could be seen as misplaced priority.

It is important to note that both education and academics are valued assets but one guarantees individual brilliance over the other. There is no use for a paper degree without a skill or knowledge about what the degree entails.

[Cookdata]

One of the disease eating up Africa's development was the brainwashed the European slave masters gave to them about school. They were taught how to read and write what the Europeans wrote,no skills attached,no knowledge just know how to read and write. Today, the world has gone beyond you just acquiring degrees to you acquiring skills and knowledge. The world economy is been revolutionized and Africa lacks the man power to do that . Africans just attend universities to learn  more than what they learnt in primary and secondary schools.

Better stop this mango tree discussion on world connected forum. What's brainwashed about school? Do you read about colonialism or is it only Africans the west colonized? What about Indians that were colonized by Britain? They have the one of the largest population in Asia and they are very advanced than any other countries. I don't think there is any country that comes close except for South Africa which is 50% dominated by some white, their presence made it better, so what's this you are talking about.

Complained everyday about colonialism system that ended years ago and we can't fix broken Africa for years, we have gotten our independence for years that many things should have been put in place but our political system has put us backward as if we are still in stone age. The problem of Africa isn't the system, it's the people who are in the system and until it's fix, there will be no major development across Africa or some struggling countries Africa with bad leadership, change is needed.