Myths in education: A Kenyan perspective

Abstract

In every culture and generation, hard work and virtue are regarded as passport to material success. African cultures are inherently ingrained with myths about work. The purpose of this article was to establish how curriculum is derived from myths and whether the contents of myths are directly or indirectly related to propensity to work and development of virtue. The article adopted an exploratory/descriptive approach. It attempted to treat the concept of myths and critically examined the role played by the perpetuation of myths; examples given were greatly borrowed from Kenya. It also looked at the relationship of “hard work and virtue leading to material success” and “myths”. The article therefore addressed itself to the questions: Is it right to treat the belief that hard work and virtue lead to material success as a myth? Why would such a belief be imaginative? What myths are identifiable in our school curriculum today – and are they necessarily bad, and are they avoidable? In this paper, attempts were made to provide answers to these questions. The article began by stating the nature of myths. In view of the nature, it looked at the question: Hard work and virtue lead to material success – Is it a myth? It also treated the issue of the role of myths in education and gave examples of myths that have been perpetuated in our schools. Other issues that were also discussed in this paper are the dangers and advantages of using myths. At the end of the discussion on the various specified issues, the authors concluded that myths play an important role in education and if education is to retain its credibility, myths require constant review to reflect changing curriculum contexts. Key words: Myths, virtue, hard work.