Theory-based learning making our students impractical in the real world – Quiz Mistress

The disturbing and worrying issue of Ghana’s theory-based education system has yet again been brought to the fore by Mistress of the National Science and Maths Quiz, Dr. Elsie Effah Kaufmann

This time, with a vivid example of how the ‘brainiest’ person in a field can seem almost ‘dumb’ if they are merely thought the theories and left quite useless when it comes to application of the gained knowledge in the real life setting.

Dr. Kaufmann who spoke to Kwaku Sintim Misah on the ‘KSM Show’ expressed grave concern about the trend that has been in existence for years; focusing on theory much more than application of the theory, right from the basic levels but particularly in the secondary and tertiary levels.

“I teach engineering students and the engineers are supposed to be the innovators, they are the ones supposed to be doing the wonderful things to see us develop, and year in, year out, I don’t know if we are achieving that objective because too many of our inputs, these are students from the high schools, including those who sit with me on stage, they are the best and the brightest and yet something is wrong because they are not able to translate all those theories, all those wonderful ideas, all that foundation, into useful outcomes. So there’s something not quite right”, she said.

In the science field for instance, it is almost impossible for anyone to succeed if they were clueless as to how to apply what they study theoretically to the world around them, to bring development and drive change. She supported this notion with an event that happened with the 2019 winners of the National Science and Maths Quiz in Ghana.

“Just recently, the winners of the 2018 National Science and Maths Quiz went to see the president and I was there. The young men, one of them spoke eloquently; they had been in a competition in Portugal and they won so they are the best and brightest science students, but they couldn’t do the competition, they couldn’t understand it because they couldn’t understand and recognize how the equipment they were given, worked. So they know all the theories, they can tell you, describe and explain everything but they cannot apply anything”, she narrated.

Dr. Kaufmann called for immediate and significant attention to be channeled in that regard to ensure that the system is alterated and enough focus is given to theory as much as practicals, to ensure a balanced educational system, one which would yield positive effects as far as development and progress of the country and the world is concerned.

“We need to rethink the way we are teaching and educating our young people because they have so much potential but it’s not being translated into useful products, solutions of our real-life problems”.