THE African school? Some Westerners may be surprised to know that such an arrangement actually existed in times past. Sad to say, the Hollywood image of the African as a menacing savage clutching a spear has been slow to vanish from the minds of people. Many simply cannot imagine how the African of days gone by could in any way have been considered educated.
It is indeed true that Africans raised in traditional societies did not receive book learning and formal classroom training. However, long before the European brand of formal education was brought to this continent, many African societies had effective educational systems that helped children become well equipped to function and thrive in their local culture. Consider, for example, the schooling of the Akan, the Twi-speaking people of Ghana.
Home Schooling
Among the Akan, the home served as the primary classroom. The child’s education began as he learned speech from his parents. At the same time, he also received his first lessons in proper manners. For instance, when a visitor to the house would say a greeting to a child, the child would be taught the proper, polite response. Later, when the child was sent out on errands, he would be told the polite way to deliver any messages being conveyed.
The educational philosophy of the Akan was thus not unlike that expressed in the Bible at Train up a boy according to the way for him; even when he grows old he will not turn aside from it. Parents, especially the father, took an interest in child-rearing. Said an Akan proverb: “If a child does not take after his mother, he takes after his father.
As the child grew, so did the depth of his education. Lessons about life were conveyed, not through books, but through imaginative stories, such as those about the mythical spider called Kwaku Ananse. How children loved these tales! In the early evening breeze, or on a moonlit chilly night, they would sit around a fire and heartily enjoy these stories of triumph and failure.
One famous story tells that Ananse traveled the length and breadth of the earth to put all the world’s wisdom in a pot. His mission seemingly accomplished, he decided to hang the pot high up in a tree, so that no one else could access this wisdom. He began the difficult climb up the tree, the wisdom-laden pot attached to a string and dangling from his belly. As he struggled, his firstborn son, Ntikuma, appeared and called out to Ananse: “Ah, bah, Father! Whoever climbs a tree with a pot on his belly? Why not put it on your back and have room to operate? Ananse looked down at his son and shouted: “How dare you teach me?
But now it was apparent that some wisdom still remained outside his pot! Angered by this realization, Ananse hurled down the pot, shattering it and scattering all the wisdom about. Those who were the first to get there became the wisest ones.
Portuguese
Spanish
French