Discipline and Education in Ghana

The photograph to the right is from Nipaba-Brew Primary School in Sampa, Ghana, one of Yo Ghana's bright, new partner schools.

A casual observer might think that the photograph is posed.  But if one enlarges it, you will see that the young student is in fact making lots and lots of small marks on the page, striving to get them on the line.  I have observed children aged two or three devote a great deal of time to getting their letters just right--and having to start the line or page over again if their work did not meet their teachers' standards.

This is of course much different from the far less structured learning activities that youngsters in the U.S. engage in at this age, activities that seem more related to play than to education, at least in its classic sense.

I find myself in agreement with education reformers inside and outside of Africa who argue that the traditional "chew and spew" method of rote memorization has not served the continent's students well.  But I also believe that a disciplined learner can learn to think for her or himself much more readily than a lazy one can learn to work hard.

How do we nurture and train learners who are both disciplined and creative?  I do not know.  But I do know that it will require Africans and Americans to learn from each other.