SoC01 Thinking, social evolution, and our curriculum

Michael Kambarangwe Festo · 2021-09-30T17:45:33+00:00

Twenty years ago, I started a journey—a journey of searching for truth. I had to. I’d graduated from the university a couple of years earlier and had a “good” job, but I was by no means contented. I was rather shocked to find that my education was laughable and my prospects dire. Then, something, a whisper, hunch—call it anything—was pestering me; pushing me toward a certain course or journey. This course led to a complete shift of my entire life’s trajectory. And what’s more, it was destined to change my family’s as well as society’s trajectory. “The purpose of education,” said Mwalimu Nyerere, “is to [find and] tell the truth.” That’s how I embarked on the pursuit of “TRUTH.” It was costlier than I’d anticipated. But I braced myself for the challenge. “No pain, no gain,” was my motto! Serving as a manager at Celtel at the time, I had to quit and forgo all the perks accompanying such a grand title and organization, notwithstanding. Indeed, my resignation letter stated clearly that I was going to “think” and “to figure out” how to reclaim my true potential—to find meaning in my life—and rekindle a choked spark of genius in our people. As I questioned my old definitions, I stumbled upon the following questions: Who am I? What do I want in life? What is education? What is success? What is society? Why 1% owns more than 99%? (i) What does society, like Tanzania, seek? It may interest you to learn that since independence, we’ve been battling the wrong, albeit famous, enemies: poverty, diseases, and ignorance—a battle long lost. Why? The threesome is just a set of symptoms while we, the people, are the real problem. E.g.: research cite 10 risks that threaten to rout mankind in the next 50 years.[ii] Fine! But who creates these risks? I.e.: Who depletes energy, water, food? Who creates poverty, terrorism, diseases, and "miseducation"? Who rapes the environment, democracy, and population? "Aha!" Eureka! We, the people—our ethos, beliefs, and hence the curriculum—are a problem. Accordingly, I began a close examination of our curriculum: Philosophy, content, methodologies and how we evaluate our graduates. Briefly, our colleges churn about 700,000 grads annually, but only 5.7% join the formal sector.[iii] Moreover, an analysis of the top 10 companies in the world shows that in a gap of only 10 years, 5 energy companies have been displaced by 5 innovation or ideas-centered companies.[iv] This clearly demonstrates the urgency of a newfangled, homegrown, learner-focused, thought-provoking, introspective, transformative, demand-led[v] “Whole Child” curriculum that, yes, hones learners’ skills but more-so, thinking and social-emotional faculties[vi]—instead of chasing alphas. Equally, you’ve heard, "Don’t give fish to a starving person but teach him how to fish." People thrive at things they’re enthusiastic about thus emotionally attached. "Enthusiasm" derives from "En theos," Greek for "In God," a calling, etc. and "Emotion" from "Motere", Latin for "To move," prefix "e" away. Thus, don’t teach a person how to "fish" but help him find in himself why he needs "fish" and he’ll teach himself the best ways to catch the finest "fish" in a manner friendly to the environment. This analysis prompted not only a shift in my trajectory but also a shocking sense of urgency. E.g.: "More mathematics have been created since 1900 than during the entire period of history. Half of what a graduate engineer studies today will be obsolete in ten years…Nearly half of what we’ll need to know to function in … technical jobs by year 2200 is not even known today by anyone, “(Ornstein and Hunkins, 1998). “This changed world in which we live," aptly observed Napoleon Hill, "is demanding new ideas, new ways of doing things …new literature, new books," etc. This realization, (the rapidity of the pace of change in the world today) worked like a flashlight to restore my vision, hence a self-evident conclusion: Unless we change our course—like Paul apostle on the road to Damascus, (Acts 9)—the hope of ever reclaiming our true potential as individuals and society was highly unlikely. Here are eye-opening questions I stumbled upon—questions that make the urgency of change plainer: Which is the fastest animal on the land? At sea? In air? Which animal has the best sight in darkness? Whose animal’s vocal echoes over longer space and time than others’? Here are typical answers: 1) Cheetah; 2) Sail Fish; 3) Falcon; 4) Cat; 5) Lion! These answers are no longer true. Surprisingly, for over 100 years now, no one has thought of capturing and teaching this interesting TRUTH. It may interest you to know that the answer to all these questions is: Man! Clearly, “the human individual lives far within his limits. He possesses powers of various sorts which he habitually fails to use,” Prof. William James of Harvard was right. E.g.: With pitiable natural equipment for running, sight and sound, man surmounted his handicaps by appealing to the 6th Sense thus the Infinite Intelligence (God), thus invention, RENAISSANCE![vii] This clue led me to the bona-fide meaning of education, genius and success. Unless you know where you are going, you’ll never get there. Education derives from EDUCO, Latin for: To Educe, to draw out, to develop from within. Thus, no one gets educated unless they create new ideas or solutions. That’s how a "genius" is born. "Genius" derives from a Latin verb, "Genui," "to bring into being, create..." Sadly, throughout human history, ill-informed leaders of men have worked quite cleverly and brutally whenever necessary to choke the thinking faculties of men. Social evolution is a natural process. It can be delayed but not stopped. Its synonym is FRUITION. Its antonym is REGRESSION. It is an EXODUS of God’s people from flawed ways—a return to a TRUE PATH. As "heirs to the throne,”[viii] we are born to triumph over life’s challenges. But it takes brains and adherence to the Laws of Nature. E.g.: You don’t have to starve someone to be filled. The greatest motive of life is “more life to all and less to none, (Wattles)” No society ever attains its true potential when it chokes thinking or “agents” of thinking. Until when we redefine the things we hold dear, e.g.: Peace, Health, Wealth, Independence, Education, Success, Leadership, Family etc., we’ll never make it. For a clue, W.H.O. defines health as “not mere absence of physical infirmities but also a state of mental and social well-being.” So, “Minds are like parachutes,” said Thomas Dewar, “They function when open.” Likewise, we cannot say we are successful when we don’t know what it means. E.g.: Paul apostle "fought a good battle and won the race.”[ix] Why? He had neither a penny to his name, nor a rank, nor a single follower on social media. In words of the immortal Emerson, “To…love much…to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to give one’s self; to leave the world a little bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; … [when] even one life has breathed easier because you've lived—this is to have succeeded!” Will the change I long for come to pass in my lifetime? It doesn’t matter at all, for our lives transcend our forms. Besides, it may interest you to learn that when the telephone was introduced, the British parliament rejected it for 15 years. Why? "We have enough messengers here!" Finally, "Education," said Spenser, "is not knowledge but action." Any person or society that shall observe what I’ve chalked out for one and all in this bulletin—in words of Nkrumah on the independence of Ghana—such individuals and societies "shall be free forever:" free from mental slavery, superstition, radicalization, dependence, racial or gender abuse, etc. What’s more, to such a person, the scriptures say, "Here is a man… [who] shall be a ruler,”[x] and society that “Never …will…hunger… or thirst, the sun won’t bit-down on them nor any scorching heat," (Rev. 7:16). This is not a mere religious pap. No sir! It works, madam! I’ve seen it lift the lives of more than 200 persons into a powerful “community,” in the city. I’ve seen it lift the people from a poor village in Kyerwa to City or the States, etc. Does it matter? "There is nothing like a society," said Margaret Thatcher. "There are men and women, and their children.” "Knowledge," said Einstein, "must continually be renewed by ceaseless effort‚ if it is not lost. It resembles a statue of marble standing in the desert…continuously threatened with burial by the shifting sand. The hands of service must always be at work… that the marble continues to shine in the sun, " he added. Like Einstein, "To these serving hands‚ mine shall also belong." Festo Michael Kambarangwe KAMBARANGWE.CO.TZ (i) www.oecd.org/social/wealth-management-global-inequality.htm [ii] https://www3.nd.edu/~pkamat/20204/pdf/lecture1.pdf [iii] Employers need graduates to be taught vital soft skills [iv] [v] [vi] [vii] http://history-world.org/renaissance.htm [viii] Genesis 1:26-28 [ix] 2 Timothy 4:7 [x] 1 Samuel 9:17

Thread starter Michael Kambarangwe Festo
Start date Sep 30, 2021
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Stories of Change - 2021 Competition

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SoC01 Thinking, social evolution, and our curriculum

Michael Kambarangwe Festo

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