EDITORIAL: Beyond classroom education
Formal education, which we are all generally obsessed with, is necessary - but insufficient in the general scheme of things.
Beyond classroom walls lies a world of education that, unfortunately, cannot be acquired through orthodox means. For example, it’s not a school’s responsibility to teach your child values such as honesty, humility, respect and love. That’s on you as a parent.
In South Africa, a man with no iota of formal education was elected president and presided over the continent’s biggest economy for nearly a decade. Perhaps Jacob Zuma did not leave the glossiest of legacies behind, but that has absolutely zero to do with his level of education.
The values he was most adored for, such as being a doting father, adoring husband, anti-apartheid activist and shrewd politician, are not taught in school.
Our society is teeming with deadbeat fathers, drunkard husbands and online bullies – all armed with PhD qualifications. That is because often we leave all teachings to schools, including the courtesy of greeting neighbours in the morning.
Mankind cannot survive, let alone flourish, if we do not cultivate in our communities values that are taught at home around the fire, or in sitting rooms in the leafy suburbs.
Schools must be left to teach us that one plus one is two. However, that stealing public resources is both illegal and a bad idea is a value we must learn elsewhere.
Beyond classroom walls lies a world of education that, unfortunately, cannot be acquired through orthodox means. For example, it’s not a school’s responsibility to teach your child values such as honesty, humility, respect and love. That’s on you as a parent.
In South Africa, a man with no iota of formal education was elected president and presided over the continent’s biggest economy for nearly a decade. Perhaps Jacob Zuma did not leave the glossiest of legacies behind, but that has absolutely zero to do with his level of education.
The values he was most adored for, such as being a doting father, adoring husband, anti-apartheid activist and shrewd politician, are not taught in school.
Our society is teeming with deadbeat fathers, drunkard husbands and online bullies – all armed with PhD qualifications. That is because often we leave all teachings to schools, including the courtesy of greeting neighbours in the morning.
Mankind cannot survive, let alone flourish, if we do not cultivate in our communities values that are taught at home around the fire, or in sitting rooms in the leafy suburbs.
Schools must be left to teach us that one plus one is two. However, that stealing public resources is both illegal and a bad idea is a value we must learn elsewhere.
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Namibian Sun
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