On Tackling Attitude Problems in Our Schools

Dusty floors. Broken windows. Wooden chairs that have seen far better days. Black paint on the wall in lieu of a blackboard, and a smaller blackboard leaning against the wall that reads, “You cannot change where you’re from but you can change where you’re going by reading.”

In the heart of Kibera is a school called Spurgeon Child Care. The volunteer teacher is revising with them Class 8 material. More evident than the enthusiastic answers they shout is the spark in their eyes when they dream of becoming lawyers, pilots and engineers.

Upon asking a teacher what she thought was the general attitude of secondary school students, the answer she gives is quite discouraging. She speaks of how secondary school students are not engaged anymore. They don’t value education, and keep on giving you examples of all those millionaires who made it without going to school. They also give you examples of relatives who did go to school and are now at home jobless. It can really be very frustrating teaching a group of students that don’t see the value of learning.

Above are two different experiences that I’ve had back-to-back last week, and the contrast made me wonder…

What dims the spark present in the eyes of those students when they jump from primary to secondary education?

When you go through the Ministry of Education’s 2014 Basic Educational Booklet, you’ll read that the transition rate from Standard 8 to Form 1 is 79.6 %. But can we really quantify the general attitude these students transition with?

There are 7 billion people in the world, but there are also 7 billion worldviews because each one of us processes the world differently. It’s hard to imagine a world way beyond your current circumstances, and when all the stories that reach you are of teen pregnancies, unemployment, thieving politicians or other symbols of poverty and violence, it’s easy to get discouraged and imagine you’re destined for the same path.

Add to that the poor quality of education in our schools and it’s not surprising students are disengaged. The only problem is, while students at the tertiary level might have figured out that universities are doing them a disservice and instead they take deliberate steps to build their skills and careers on the side, students at the secondary level are more prone to simply complain and drop out with no real idea of what to do next.

I’ve mentioned in a previous post that a key element to solve the youth unemployment problem is empowering people to believe they can succeed. Stories of success start in the mind, with the belief that you’re able to succeed, with some form of self-confidence. In an interview on Impact Theory, Mel Robbins said, “Confidence is the ability to move from thought to action, because when you’re a confident person you believe enough in yourself and your capabilities that you’re willing to try and share.” She concludes that “confidence isn’t the assurance that it turns out, but the willingness to try.”

To be honest, I have no idea how to conclude this post, but I feel people in professional environments have a sense of responsibility to start talking more often to students – especially at the secondary level – just to inspire them to be productive and do something useful with their lives.

Organizations like Junior Achievement Kenya do a great job at that using their programs; one of which is the Job Shadowing program. At Eneza, in a project that I spearheaded together with our intern Farai Munjoma, we partnered with JAK recently to train Form 4 students on our content creation process so they can understand how products like Shupavu 291 come into being. More details on this program can be found here. 

The point is…

There’s so much that people and organizations can actually do to make a real impact in our societies nowadays and fight back against the wave of negativity (aka #KenyaScandals) that’s threatening to drown us.

Safaricom says it best in their marketing motto, “When we come together, great things happen.”