Knowledge vs. Education

I watched with sadness the recent expose of Nairobi Aviation College. Seeing the extent to which Kenyans can go in the name of getting “qualifications” was disturbing. It was however not surprising. I believe the practice of buying certificates and good grades is not limited to Nairobi Aviation College, neither is it only to be found in private colleges. I have even heard of an ordained pastor whose theology diploma was acquired through dubious means from a "reputable" bible school. There are many laymen out there with some not so well kept little secrets of “unqualified” qualifications.

In recent years, I was attending business management classes at the Kenya Institute of Management. I took Saturday classes since my work schedule then could not allow me to attend a regular weekday class. Inevitably, most of my classmates were mature learners like me. There was this one particular lady who was apparently quite well off since she and her husband were running a successful business. She was there to acquire knowledge to help her run her business better and so was I. I was under no pressure to get any particular grade or even pass any exam. I assumed this was the case with all of us who were there to improve our business skills but I was wrong. I once found the lady trying to smuggle material into the exam room during a CAT. She got embarrassed when I asked her if she would have the moral authority to reprimand her daughter if she were caught cheating in school.

One of the young men from the area where I live is currently attending the same management school I went to. He is in the final stage and needs to write his research project. I heard him asking for money from his guardian to pay someone to write his proposal for him. I could not believe it since he is a full time student with no other commitments. Besides, he is studying project management and expects to be employed as a project manager someday soon. How will he be preparing his proposals? On being asked why he wants to pay someone to do his work for him, he replied that this is what everybody is doing. I wonder how he and his classmates will perform at their jobs when they get hired one day.

I was watching news the other day and some apparently accident prone PSV (passenger service vehicle) drivers had been arrested. It was ordered that they be retested on their driving skills. Wonder of wonders! None of them could pass the driving test. And these were people who had driven professionally for more than 10 years! Looking at their faces contorted in concentration as they figured how to legally move the toy cars across the table, I could tell none of them had ever stepped into a driving school in their life.

I recently came across an application letter of a primary school teacher who had just passed her interview. It was interesting to note that she had indicated that she would work real hard to advance her “carrier” (I guess she wanted to say “career”). These are the people who have to impart knowledge on our children and so we have to expect standards to be forever dropping relative to the rest of the world.

I am always hearing the phrase “half-baked graduates”. I think we should introduce a new one of “uncooked graduates” or “salad graduates” (completely raw). The excuse given by people for finding shortcuts to getting educational qualifications is that jobs are few and competition is stiff. The unfortunate thing is that, these unscrupulous techniques of increasing some people’s chances at getting considered for jobs do not increase the number of opportunities. Instead, they keep the genuinely qualified people out of the job market. The fake graduates get the jobs using the same methods they used to get papers and then – they can’t even do the work! I can believe the guy who was being interviewed on the street and said that the genuine graduates are out here tarmacking. But then, you know me. I am no educationist and can’t really tell exactly what our problem is – I am just but a layman!

P.S. The best way to be uneducated and still sound knowledgeable is to blog.