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Jun 30
2008
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Why Stereotypes Can Be Good and What we are Taught about Formalized Education Sucks?Posted by Displaced African in Untagged   |
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Prelude
One of the most interesting aspects of being a blogger is that you never ever truly know how people will react to
It's also pretty surprising how people react. Like for example, I recently wrote this post about 7 Unique Things that Africa and Africans Have Taught Me. Never would I have thought, that I would end up arguing about the merits, and lack thereof, of stereotyping and generalizing after writing such a light article. But here we are. And though I did talk about my disattisfaction with what we were promised education would give us, I have written about that many times before and not even caused an eyelash bat. So here we are and my position as it stands:
Stereotypes can be used for good and our relationship as African people to formalized education is unhealthy -Mwangi
And now I will refer you to the debate that I had with one of the pillars of the blogging community, Acolyte and later on,PS. Enjoy!
Mwangi from the Displaced African
Nice post, other then that fact that you just wonderfully type cast Africans the same way Westerners do. - You do realise the bulk of the Africans you have met while in OZ are from the middle and upper class of their countries and most likely urban to boot. Its like you saying someone you meet in USIU in Nairobi is representitive of the bulk of Kenyans when we know people in Nai are faaaaaaar different from people in the different rural areas of Kenya. The Africans you have met hardly represent the continent, they are just a very small strata of it. You have also not mentioned various African zones such as North African and Central Africa and their various country men. Plus you do realise that Africa has over 50 countries, so merely travelling to 2 countries and professing to be knowledgeable makes you no different from the Western “Experts” who come to Kenya. 2) Education Isn’t What it Promised to Be: Your choice not to pursue a higher education doesn’t mean higher education means nothing. The skilled professionals who are responsible for the everyday amenities you enjoy ranging from electricity, water, good health and other social services WENT TO SCHOOL! Sadly you can’t learn everything from a book or the internet, you have to sit under the tutelage of others who know what you want to know. You also do realise that statistics have shown the more educated a populace is the more likely they are to make informed political decisions since they are aware of the working of government? The uneducated people were the ones who were more likely burning and raping their neighbours in Kenya as opposed to the educated. Education is not an ends in itself but a means to an end. Yes we need to learn as Africans that education in itself doesn’t equal work and prestige but the skills learnt in higher education in themselves can be transformed into work, business, wealth and eventually prestige. Where would those skills come from? EDUCATION! EDUCATION IS WHAT YOU MAKE IT OUT TO BE. -Acolyte
@Acolyte: It’s been a while since I had a debate so here goes…………. Just to slightly go off on a tangent. I for one do not mind the idea of stereotyping or putting people into boxes. And as we all know, nine times out of ten, our stereotypes are confirmed either as a result of self-fulfilling prophecies, the lens through which we see life or the stereotype being true. I think the only time that we mind stereotypes is when they demean us or lessen us as people. If stereotypes work in our favour – e.g. fear of the black man who “might be packing heat” has probably saved me from so much robbery and disrespect. So I for one don’t mind stereotypes. And I think I have already spoken about how apathetic I am to how we are portrayed and cast by the white man when its compared to us focussing on and working on ourselves. Digression over……….. The stereotype keeping it real, definitely lessons the more cosmopolitan and city-raised someone is, so in that particular observation I actually was taking into account folks from rural areas actually slightly more than people born and bred in cities. So, it’s definitely the sum of all my observations from the country to the cities to the diaspora. As for the differences between us in terms of region, sure they exist. But I am willing to bet you probably don’t have any fear of travelling to any English speaking African country on the basis of feeling out of place, I mean I certainly don’t. To a large extent, as a result of the sum of my experiences and observations, I kind of know what to expect and indeed when you take a look and observe there are many similarities between us all, otherwise we wouldn’t keep calling ourselves Africans and instead would always speak in terms of national or city affiliations. As for education. My point is simply this: character counts way more than the degree. Now that I have said that, to a lot of folk that will seem like common sense, but in Africa we definitely do not act like this is the case. Combine with material things, we definitely tend to view people as failures, incomplete and somehow sub-normal if they don’t have degrees or material things, irrespective of their character. In short, all I was saying is that this view of life now that I’m older doesn’t make much sense. Do I love education and universities? Yeah, more than most. I am the only guy I know who would actually go on a date in a University lecture hall BUT is education more important than your character and resourcefulness in determining your success….you tell me man, you tell me? -Mwangi
To justify stereotypes and accept them is the root of many of Africans problems. Africans stereotype white people are better than themselves and as a result bow down to anything coming from a white man, white people stereotype Africans as backward and as you said this becomes self fulfilling so they end up having no respect for us and treat us as inferiors. Your packing heat stereotype that you happily embrace is the same one that will have you singled out by white law enforcement and receive a disproportionately high sentence for a minor crime since you are seen to be a threat. Still want to be hard? You do realise that many times Africans internalize the negative stereotypes we hear about from the West so that is why we are so reliant on them for things we can do for ourselves plus it’s even worse for younger folk like your siblings. So to be blissfully dismissive of them is very sad. character counts way more than the degree. This only may apply if you are working in customer service or retail. Any other area where you need a specific skill set like it or not you shall need that degree, diploma or certificate. You talked about having a problem on your site that fought with for a day but someone solved it for you in a few minutes. You do realise that most probably that person knew the web/computer language that solved the problem and they are most likely certified or have a degree/diploma in that area. Even if you are going into business for yourself, having an education can spell the difference between having to go to the school of hard knocks or having an easier ride and possibly success. So for you to think that you can run gung ho into the world and think you can conquer it, tossing any need to acquire knowledge aka education to the side is only setting yourself up for disappointment and failure. -Acolyte
@acolyte: I am neither accepting or rejecting stereotypes, I am merely coming at it from a different angle and suggesting that a stereotype in and off itself is not an emotive thing but is a tool that can have either positive or negative consequences depending on where and when its used. The stereotype that we are rhythmically gifted for example, is a wonderful stereotype that can only work out for the best if embraced and converted into a self-fulfilling prophecy in a positive direction. The “packing heat” stereotype for example is a perfect example: in the USA I would not want to approach that stereotype with a ten foot pole for a plethora of reasons and agree with you that its terrible. But here where police violence and brutality does not affect most of sub-saharan and other Africans, except Somalis, Sudanese and Ethiopians, its a useful tool to avoid being bullied and disturbed by over-exuberant teens. I can’t be hard to save my life, but the fact that this fear exists in the minds of those teens has saved me from many things I wouldn’t have been able to handle on my own. Though I don’t see what white stereotypes have to do with my article now that I think about it. Are you proposing that I shouldn’t view African folks as a group with commonalities? I am sorry, I should have made the distinction between school and education. Education, you and I both agree is a no-brainer (lol, interesting choice of words there), you can’t thrive in this world without education and without being vigilant in its pursuit. That and school, with its degrees, is an entirely different issue. Don’t you think it would be more valuable to teach folks how to be self-teaching (there’s a great word for that) and creative in their pursuit of life as opposed to embracing and encouraging the mindless consumption of facts without prior consideration of the end result of this knowledge consumption or even an attempt to place this knowledge within the context of day to day life? My problem with people looking at education as the be all and end all is that its usually at the expense of people and institutions that attempt to come up with creative solutions or take on creative routes to deal with common problems among other things. Anyway I’m rambling………. -Mwangi
There is nothing like a wonderful or positive stereotype ie Asians are smart intelligent people. A great stereotype right? Wrong because what has happened here as a result is that when it comes to university intakes Asians are held to higher standards, if you are Asian and have an overall B and a black/white person has a B; they shall be admitted before the Asian because Asians are meant to have higher grades. This actually led to a law suit. As for you typecasting stereotypes all I shall say is that Africans are so diverse that you cant confine them to a few paragraphs and characteristics. We both agree that education is not an end in itself but a means to an end. It is a tool and a weapon. To eschew it would be to run into battle armed with a wooden sword as opposed to one made of steel, you may still suceed but you will have a harder battle. I also don’t agree with the wholesale acceptance of education, one must be wise about what they choose to study and where since education is a business too. By the way what do you mean by self teaching? You can’t teach yourself something that you don’t know. Anyway here is something you should look at http://www.businessfacilities.com/SecondRankingPR2007.pdf A report that shows the positive correlation between education and quality of life. There are similar studies that also show the correlation between education and income. You need knowledge gathered by an education to make it easier to make the right choices in your life, financial and otherwise. -Acolyte
@acolyte: Not to be pendantic but if you look up the word “stereotype” in the dictionary, within the definiton there is no link to either positive or negative emotions: A conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image. And whether you want to admit it or not man, stereotypes can have both positive and negative consequences. As a mental exercise, simply ask the question is it possible to exploit any stereotypes for my personal benefit and the answer is of course yes, Asians have higher standards, so they live up to them and achieve. So, I stand by my statement that stereotypes are tools, just like words, and you can use them to your benefit if you know how. The education system tends to have an agenda and as far as I can tell, the agenda tends to be to educate middle management for the captains of industry. I think what set me off on this whole protest against this widespread unequivocal belief in University was when I looked at the Forbe 500 list and realized most of those cats were either dropouts or studied nothing that resembled business. I have never been interested in studying people who were good, I always wanted to learn about the best and it surprised me how few of those best got the keys to the kingdom in Universities. I was disappointed I guess……… -Mwangi
You see you too have a stereotype of Asians that you think they are all hardworking and smart. Go look up education statistics for the Hmong and Vietnamese in the US. This stereotype can only be applied slightly to one group the Japanese/Chinese/Koreans but Asia is larger than that so to stereotype anyone is to do them a disservice. I would appreciate seeing a list of those Fortune 500 chaps without degrees. Like I said a degree isnt needed to suceed but it gives one a good set of tools to do so. You also do know for every one Bill Gates or Richard Branson who made it without a degree there are 100 who did not and since they had no education they had nothing to fall back on when their plans for greatness failed because in the quest for greatness there shall be a whole lot of failure before you succeed. The agenda of education ie university maybe to make people employees but you do know you can take what you have learnt ie in your business degree and use it to start your own business as you were educated to work in one and what you can do is simply use that knowledge and grow it into the ability to run one.While someone with no education on the other hand may have no idea on how even to balance a ledger book and get a business license. Education at the end of the day is like being given a tool box, what you build with it is up to you. To eschew education is to refuse tools and choose to make your own. -Acolyte
@acolyte: On stereotypes, I think you and I have reached a point of agree-to-disagee because simply put I think stereotypes can be exploited for good if one is willing to investigate how. So what would you propose you do Aco? And before you answe that question, I would ask do you do it? For example, if your proposition is that we should take every single person as an 100% unique individual whose culture, background, looks and race have no bearing upon his personality or character (not potential, there as always its infinite) do you do that? Do you look at everyone as you walk down the street and not assume that they have a proclivity to act a certain way on the basis of where they are from and how they look? Whereas I do agree that education is a toolbox, every university and University course teaches a “school of thought” i.e. they may give you the tools but they also teach you how to use the tools to achieve a pre-set agenda which as far as I can tell is to work for captains of industry. And by the way thank you for reinforcing my point, education is indeed just a toolbox….just a toolbox, they didn’t teach us that growing up….it’s just a toolbox. And again, I make the distinction between education and University: education is a given, University and attending school is not. Or do you actually have expectations, even subconsciously, that you may or may not accept that more often than not come true. How many Asian millionaires can we say have been created by this self-fulfilling prophecy of Asian dilligence and intelligence. I can tell you, I live in basically a suburb that is a sub-section of the Orient and Indian sub-continent: guess which public school has some of the highest performers in the State and sent a spider to space……….not my comspolitan high school. Look through this list and tell me it isn’t suspect how many of them dropped out or did Bachelor of Arts and Science while ending up captains of industry: http://www.forbes.com/2008/03/05/richest-people-billionaires-billionaires08-cx_lk_0305billie_land.html -Mwangi
Okay since you are willing to stereotype away, you do realise that India and China have vast amounts of poor people, more than the rich so it seems that those are not real Asians but imposters. You are a kikuyu but you are poor? You must be a luo in disguise or something. Africans are not one big monolith to whom you can attribute the same features but anyway stereotype away my good lad. Sadly the link that you gave me doesnt have biographies but one thing I will tell you is that what I do know about many of those billionares is that they apprenticed, worked hard and by doing that received an education. You also do realise that most of them are over 40 and lived in a time where one could make it with enough hard work and desire. But we live in a time where people work smart instead of working hard. Let me ask you something, suppose you work at making the uber blog for 5 years and you don’t make it (knock on wood). What next? What do you have to fall on? At least if you have some sort of schooling you could join the workforce as you rebuild and you know how employers seem to love degrees and certification in this day and age. Education is not only a good tool box it is also a good parachute. Even big time athletes who prosper after their brief careers say that an education be it a certificate/diploma/degree has often helped them prosper and not go bankrupt. A University education in your eyes may not be of much use but in the world there is still plenty of use for one and it does offer many positive benefits as evinced by the link to the report I gave you. -Acolyte
And at this juncture, we had a new entry late in the game, from PS:
I have read the exchange this weekend between Messrs Acolyte and Mwangi with no small amount of discomfort. Many people strive to teach the next generation that school based education is the way to upward mobility, and reading M’s views that education in school is not for everyone is a difficult perspective to understand. I say difficult because the people who make the job and employment and salary rules still read the gospel of degree and certificate.Whether the actual economy where you live supports entry into any job is another case, but the people running the world of work are operating under the same mentality, and unless there has suddenly been a boom in the number of people starting businesses, there is still a good number of people joining the workforce. Stereotypes: I do not think it is useful at all to stereotype people. Positive stereotypes always exclude, and we know the effects of negative stereotypes. I see your point M, as an attempt to justify stereotypes, an example being the Asian stereotype. Just because many Asians are enterprising, bright, high achieving etc does not permit us to classify Asians as the ‘model minority’. Even in families where the family is Asian, there is absolutely no guarantee that the children will be high achievers. In fact, because of the Asian stereotype there are many studies on the high suicide rate in some Asian countries where they have been held to an uncompromisingly high standard to the detriment of some students, and citizens. If you look at the same dictionary on the now-less-used terms to describe black people, the word ‘coloured’ probably sounds quite benign, but if you look at the roots of the word, and the connotations of many of these terms, they have been cleaned up from the muddy beginnings and made their way into modern language. Stereotypes may lead us to put you, M, in a ‘perceptual frameworks which simplify people and put them into categories and place expectations upon them on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity, background etc etc’ and decide that your choice about education means you are X type of person, and to accept that generalization no matter how well you present a case to the contrary. See what I mean? -PS
@PS: However, people should have told us that not everyone gets to success by the formalized education road and that many who are in the minority that sits atop society either dropped out or skipped around formalized education all together. I am not saying formalized education is all bad, but I am saying, I wasn’t told the whole truth about it growing up: it isn’t the only way, it might be the majority way, but not the only way. As for stereotypes: they exist at this present moment in time irrespective of our opinions of them and they don’t seem to be on their way out soon. My question is: can the current stereotypes that exist be exploited for good by the people being stereotyped? I believe the answer is yes. Stereotyping and simplifying things on the basis of history and experience appears to be one of the fundamental ways that our brain works that keeps us from having to re-experience and re-understand everyone and everything: my question I repeat again: can this system that we people use to organize information be used for our benefit if we are willing to investigate how? I believe the answer is yes. This article could not have been written had I not at least taken the time to stereotype and make generalizations and simplify: a lot of articles could not get written if we did not do this ( relationship books that say men are x, women are y, books on politics that propose that people of this country all have this shared culture, history, language, way of life, interests etc etc). And I ask you what I asked Acolyte (though as I said, i now want to hear what aco has to say, I don’t want to argue anymore, I want to completely understand his side of the fence before I next respond): What alternative do you propose? More importantly do you live it? Do you take each and every human being as a unique individual without making any assumptions or pre-judgements ( good or bad) based on how they walk, talk, dress, act, where they are from etc etc? Do you do that in relationships, with bank tellers, when you watch movies? Take a moment to answer that question and chances are you’ll realize how much we stereotype already and how perhaps my line of questioning: How to exploit what’s already there while its there? may perhaps serve as better NOW while many of us work towards creating a world where everyone re-learns and re-experiences every single person they meet. -Mwangi
So what do you think? Feel free to share in the comments section below.
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Wanyama, I don't know if Leakey has been to uni.
Mwangi, Aco's point is that education is important-- certainly not the only thing as Wanyama has stipulated above, but it without a doubt important. There are certain skills that can only be learned in the classroom.
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Mwangi, Aco's point is that education is important-- certainly not the only thing as Wanyama has stipulated above, but it without a doubt important. There are certain skills that can only be learned in the classroom.
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written by jaya wardene , July 02, 2008
Is there any realtionship between generalisations and stereotypes.
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written by Mwangi - the Displaced African , July 03, 2008
I think I made a very huge mistake when I initially wrote the article in not specifying that I wasn't referring to education i.e. the accumulation of useful knowledge about the world around us,but rather formal institutions responsible for educating us i.e. Universities, high schools etc etc. As I said, I love education and cannot live without education and am constantly educating myself.
However, what I do have a problem with is the widely help belief that formal educational institutions are THE ONLY way for someone to become a fully recognized human being in society. As Stephen pointed out, a lot of our MPs are educated and a lot of them aren't, doesn't seem to make much difference? Moi and Kenyatta didn't study political science in University and from what I hear for all the years that Kibaki studied and lectured in economics, isn't it strange that we are still a nation where resources are far from equally distributed......
Generalizing and stereotyping are similar in that they both involve a complex situation and oversimplifying it so its easier to understand and work with.
@Amina: What skills are these that can only be learned in a classroom?
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However, what I do have a problem with is the widely help belief that formal educational institutions are THE ONLY way for someone to become a fully recognized human being in society. As Stephen pointed out, a lot of our MPs are educated and a lot of them aren't, doesn't seem to make much difference? Moi and Kenyatta didn't study political science in University and from what I hear for all the years that Kibaki studied and lectured in economics, isn't it strange that we are still a nation where resources are far from equally distributed......
Generalizing and stereotyping are similar in that they both involve a complex situation and oversimplifying it so its easier to understand and work with.
@Amina: What skills are these that can only be learned in a classroom?
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@Mwangi-- how about medical school? computer science? how about basic reading for people with no access to books?
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Medical school, the way things currently are, definitely must be confined to a clasroom.
Computer science? I am sure you know of many people who have learned programing and how the net works from experience and books alone so that knowledge doesn't have to be constricted to a classroom at all and a lot of the time it isn't.
Literacy, same thing. Many parents home school their children. Though majority of people do delegate this to the school system, that doesn't neccesarily have to so, in fact from the interviews and discussions I have been having with immigrants of late, I have come to see that:
a) In Australia, never delegate literacy and numeracy skills to the school system because they fall way short of the levels of numerical and language skills in Kenyan schools.
b) In Kenya, do not delegate the process of teaching a child creativity, initiative and self-confidence that isn't dependent on material things or "empty credentialism" because it falls way short of what is being done in other countries.
c) Teaching your child native and national tongues MUST be the parent's responsibility
And I think this little discussion proves my point somewhat, we default to the education system, even when there is proof to the contrary, and without a deep analysis of what the desired outcomes are behind the system itself.
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Computer science? I am sure you know of many people who have learned programing and how the net works from experience and books alone so that knowledge doesn't have to be constricted to a classroom at all and a lot of the time it isn't.
Literacy, same thing. Many parents home school their children. Though majority of people do delegate this to the school system, that doesn't neccesarily have to so, in fact from the interviews and discussions I have been having with immigrants of late, I have come to see that:
a) In Australia, never delegate literacy and numeracy skills to the school system because they fall way short of the levels of numerical and language skills in Kenyan schools.
b) In Kenya, do not delegate the process of teaching a child creativity, initiative and self-confidence that isn't dependent on material things or "empty credentialism" because it falls way short of what is being done in other countries.
c) Teaching your child native and national tongues MUST be the parent's responsibility
And I think this little discussion proves my point somewhat, we default to the education system, even when there is proof to the contrary, and without a deep analysis of what the desired outcomes are behind the system itself.
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However, when a community especially as a result of limiting power structures is so imbued in these stereotypes, it does begin to conform to type, we are then not any more enjoying or suffering from a stereotype, but rather owning it, which development invariably leads to great social stress. I have railed enough against black kids bent towards sports, music and other physical exertions. Much as these make a Tiger Woods here, or a Michael Jordan there, or a Michael Jackson, on the whole this communal effort (1 million young idiots rapping across Nairobi this minute) can only reward a very small number. While such success may be more visible than say that of a shop keeper somewhere, or a potter, is it more durable? Does the society as a whole benefit? The lucky git ( Oliech for example) is very unlikely to do anything for anyone but himself (charity does not count, I am talking of production of wealth, employment, ploughing back in).
As for school, it is important that as Mwangi says, we eschew empty credentialism. What are Prof Ndung'u's credentials doing for Kenya right now? Is there a difference in behaviour or knowledge between the semi-illiterate Livondo and Raila who has two degrees? At the recent crisis, did Anyang' Nyong'o show any erudition above that of the semi-illiterate Balala?
There is a lot we gain from school outside of that certificate. Bill Gates could not have started Microsoft but for what he gained from the education system. There is quite a lot that the upper middle class enjoys, which it takes for granted (upper middle class kids the world over can indeed succeed without any formal education). Access to credit, who's in daddy's rolodex, employment opportunities, business partners, etc. All these are not available to other Kenyans, and for these school and that degree opens many doors and opportunities. P.S. Has Richard Leakey been to university?
That is long enough, in the meantime, check this article from the old site. The quick-fix nation.