African Humanities and the Paradox of Western Education in Ghana

Philip Kwadwo Okyere

doi:10.38159/ehass.20212102

Abstract

The pre-colonial era of Africa was characterized, among other things, by a traditional or informal system of education. Some of the emphases of traditional education were (and still are) Africans’ delight, expression and appropriation of their beliefs, values, precepts and ideals. Despite these laudable emphases, the traditional system of education is characterized by some scholars as lacking a formal or systemized structure of knowledge production. Moreover, the post-colonial debates on the influence of Western education in Africa in general and Ghana, in particular, are conspicuously silent on Western education’s role in gradually altering the economic ideology of Ghana from a mixed and socialist economy to a capitalist mode of production. Using secondary data sources, this paper argues that the traditional system of education was (and still is) somehow structured or systemized almost as the formal or Western education. It also contends that Western education is gradually spearheading a paradigmatic shift in Ghana’s economic system from mixed economy to capitalism. It further maintains that recourse to African humanities would mitigate the unbridled effects of capitalism in Ghana. Keywords: African humanities, Western education, traditional education, economic system.

Highlights

There is no scarcity or dearth of scholarly discourse on African humanities and Western education in Africa or Ghana
This paper argues that the traditional system of education was somehow structured or systemized almost as the formal or Western education
It contends that Western education is gradually spearheading a paradigmatic shift in Ghana’s economic system from mixed economy to capitalism

Summary

Introduction

There is no scarcity or dearth of scholarly discourse on African humanities (the values of respect, godliness, honour, hospitality, gratitude, national pride, aesthetics, hard work, etc.) and Western education in Africa or Ghana. Definitions of education have not escaped the intellectual gaze of J.S. Farrant and Nancino-Brown and Oke Brown.. These scholars generally agree that education is a process through which an individual develops an understanding of a wide range of subject areas and the ability to think critically. Education promotes the development of the individual and his or her community. The viability of education in promoting development in sub-Saharan Africa has engaged the scholarly attention of Rose B. It is insightful to point out that transported and adopted paradigms of Ghana’s second cycle school system and their ramifications with respect to progress have been scholarly articulated in Folson. it is insightful to point out that transported and adopted paradigms of Ghana’s second cycle school system and their ramifications with respect to progress have been scholarly articulated in

Methods

Conclusion