Stalactites and stalagmites. Lagoon vs inlets. History of Kanu vs Kadu. Thuku and Devonshire paper. 1982 coup. What’s the use of spending 4 years learning such things. Why not jam such into Std 6 and 7 curriculum completed in 3 semesters. Personally I went to high school in 3 years.
This is the problem of education geared towards a final exam. One exam. Slow pace and repeating themes.
Why not guide high school towards life skills. Yeah you have your core math, English, Swa, science and one art . Then Lessons in Python, Practical agriculture. Technical skills like mechanics, carpentry, electronics, where students can graduate high school with an employable skill. In the first world they graduate with high school diplomas. Not just a grade sheet like someone from patch. Now if a student likes a subject, it’s can be offered as a free elective in high school and cover material up to 2nd year uni. Knowledge of a mortise and tenon joint, mullion and casing of a door, warp weft and selvedge, crop grafting techniques, seems more practical than knowledge of Legco.
Everything has a purpose. That education was designed to give you just a little bit of literacy. Just to ensure you know the proper amount of As and Bs and 1s and 2s to assist the mzungu with clerk duties. But Id rather history ibaki tufunzwe yetu and our culture sio opuss ya mudhungu. Nyika Plateau sasa iko wapi? I have never heard of that place since I did my 844. Pray tell, has parts of a grasshopper ever been relevant ata kwa medicine?? But its good we are asking these questions, means we got the right amount of literacy, so now we are enlightened and can see through the folly that is that curriculum
Japan, China, and South Korea are developed countries with exam oriented curriculum that literally determines your station in life.
As for practical education, technical skills while important, are should not be an end in themselves since they are not the only “marketable courses”.
Huko job kwetu, we failed to fill 5 positions for close to one year because many candidates lacked to meet the most critical requirements of the job which was critical and analytical thinking and just basic knowledge about Central Africa.
FYI. The jobs were for Policy Analysts and Geopolitical Analysts for the Great Lakes Region.
We ended up reaching out to former colleagues to consult on the project since even political science graduates from our own universities don’t know anything leave alone East Africa, but also Kenya.
Geography, ethnographic studies, French, African geopolitics, that you are so willing to dismiss will get you employed in our relatively small industry haraka sana.
Critical thinking can be fostered in core subjects. And note that I implied to compress geography and history current curriculum into primary school. If a student so wishes he can elect to study such into uni level as an elective. I don’t like comparing with Japan or China because they have geared their education towards their economy. Ours was written by a white man, to serve him and with little correction since.
@Simiyu22 from your replies and posts on ktalk you come across as a man/woman of limited intelligence and a very shallow minded individual na hii si matusi labda ungesoma history na philosophy akili ingefunkuka kidogo
With each decade passing… I’ve been here long enough, the conversation on this forum keep getting shallower and shallower. Even sex as a topic was much more sophisticated say in 2015.
In “The Shawshank Redemption”, Andy was able to survive in a desperate situation. After accidentally discovering that the concrete on the prison wall was falling off, he relied on the pickaxe to dig through an escape route, which is inseparable from the Open up his rich knowledge reserve, built into the amazing cognitive ability.
Andy graduated from the Business School of the University of Maine, has a good knowledge of finance, yet it was Geography and History which brought him freedom.
The Shawshank Prison was built in the 1930s. At that time, the concrete technology was average. After decades of wind and rain, the walls had already corroded.
With his knowledge of geology, he dug a passage to the outside world and gained freedom for the rest of his life.
Mjamaa even you know that I studied History and philosophy. Idea is to study the basics of such. Euclid, Socrates, Ptolemy…. I read bout their works. Moonlight sonata, Hungarian rhapsody….I have a ear too. But we need enough time to veer into professional studies. I’m thinking of things that really help Kenya. There’s not enough jobs in the office, a symptom of not creating enough.
Wacha history na geography ziende. CRE and IRE zibaki, religious education is the best instruction on life skills: otherwise where do young minds learn:
Vile makunguru usumbua (Samson and Delilah). Brains vs thorax(David and Goliath),
Uvumilivu(Job).
Traitors(Judas)