Discuss the various motivations and shortcomings of African education in the Imperial period. What were and are the consequences of the problem of African education?
...tion system that grew in Africa, but one that was based around capitalism. Other motivations for African education include Christian missionaries who could only spread the faith by the reading of the Bible. This required literacy, which was why missionaries in small tribes and areas of Africa taught education. When religion came into education, it was only the Christian church that was learned by Africans. There were no traces of African tribes already practiced religions being taught within the classroom. Education to those who were rulers of colonies was to provide a multilingual servant to act between the imperial rulers and the ruled. “They would educate them to do sums, keep accounts, and read the English, French, or Portuguese of their rulers. This enhanced the values to their rulers.” (p.198) After the education of Africa during the Imperial period, many people said that not all bad came from educating the African. Abdou Moumoni says that it is “unfair and untrue to see only the negative aspects of colonialism.” Although Moumoni agrees with Rodney that the intention of African education was negative, “education implanted a thirst for more knowledge and desire to understand their situation.” Although it is true that Africans wanted to learn more and gain more knowledge, I believe that the shortcomings of education outweighed this. To start off there was not enough government funding to further enhance the school systems of Africa. After Europe had introduced the monetary system and the market economy in Africa, their government was unstable and of course still today is the same. Africa has yet to find a government structure that can be successful for all parts of the continent. “Government nor missions have sufficient funds to carry out an extensive program,” says Moumoni. Other shortcomings in African education were the fact that disease and poverty prevailed even after education and the imperial period ended. There was no type of market in Africa, since their resources and government were exploited and unstable. Diseases as early as the tste tste fly would impair many people in parts of Africa who were unable to have a successful education. Today the AIDS virus infects millions of people in the continent, which still makes some countries in poverty. Another shortcoming reported by the Phelps-Stokes report was that it “concluded that more education in Africa was both necessary and feasible.”(p.190) There were and are a lack of different kinds of schools. The report viewed Africa in two groups, “the masses” and the “leaders.” This was the first report of its kind and forced the colonial powers to reform their educational programs. The consequences of education, which affected both Colonial Africa and Europe, were detrimental to Africa during the Imperial period and still affect the country today. One consequence was that African Chiefs and leaders were not regarded as important factors in African culture during the colonial period. “Some have been intent on offering education and religion to the masses of the people seemingly with no provision for native leadership”, says Thomas Jesse Jones. Another sub problem of the disregard for chiefs was that Africans were educated by the European standpoint of history and never actually learned their own heritage and were easily influenced by Christian missionaries. This “Some have been intent on offering education and religion to the masses of people with no provision for native leadership”, Rodney states. Because of this, native Africans were taught to shy away from their native values, customs, and beliefs. Their country was turned into a resource in itself, and education was used only as a tool to help create this. Christians, like the Muslims, wanted to spread their religion and the easiest way to do this was to teach the uneducated. Many of the consequences of education in Imperial Africa exist in today’s society. The consequences, like the predominant domination of Europe as well as other powerful countries like the U.S. and Russia have contributed to all problems in Africa today. As we see now there is not enough technology and professionals in Africa. The biggest consequence I beli...