Is 'common sense' better than a Ph.D? - Part 2

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• ADJOA WANGARA 9 years ago

  THE “STIFF-NECKED & NAKED" STUPID FOOL francis kwarteng
  
  kwarteng, you Stiff-necked and naked fools, you think you are cool to cut and paste any crap to deny your fucking self for simplicity...
  
  Yes, kwarteng, you have ...
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  THE “STIFF-NECKED & NAKED" STUPID FOOL francis kwarteng
  
  kwarteng, you Stiff-necked and naked fools, you think you are cool to cut and paste any crap to deny your fucking self for simplicity...
  
  Yes, kwarteng, you have gone for so long and far with your stupidity and useless "cut and paste" nonsense for now...
  
  Yes! again you bloody idiot have got the wrong interpretation of everything mixed up with vain and silly imagination...that will forever, yes, erase your stupid fantasy...
  
  And yes! of course, the lips of the righteous teach many, but fools like you francis kwarteng will die for want of wisdom...

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• WAR AGAINST NPP BULLYING 9 years ago

  I FEEL SORRY FOR YOU BCOS REGARDLESS OF YOUR PARTY AFFILIATION, IT IS YOUR PARENTS WHO ARE FUCKING USELESS VAIN SILLY AND FRANKLY, CURSED BY GOD!!!! TO HAVE A RELATIVE LIKE YOU - IF YOUR FAMILY DIES AND GOES TO HEAVEN, THEY W ...
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  I FEEL SORRY FOR YOU BCOS REGARDLESS OF YOUR PARTY AFFILIATION, IT IS YOUR PARENTS WHO ARE FUCKING USELESS VAIN SILLY AND FRANKLY, CURSED BY GOD!!!! TO HAVE A RELATIVE LIKE YOU - IF YOUR FAMILY DIES AND GOES TO HEAVEN, THEY WILL BE YANKED OUT BCOS OF YOUR PUNGENT AND VITRIOLIC EVIL!!!!

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• WAR AGAINST NPP BULLYING 9 years ago

  HEY BITCH, ANYONE HWO SAYS FUCK TO SOMEONE ELSE FOR SHALLOW POLITICAL REASONS, WILL BE FUCKED SPIRITUALLY UNTIL ETERNITY...AND YOUR KIDS TOO...FUCK YOU OOOOOO FOREVER..BITCH, ASSHOLE VOMITOUS MASS!!!!!!

  HEY BITCH, ANYONE HWO SAYS FUCK TO SOMEONE ELSE FOR SHALLOW POLITICAL REASONS, WILL BE FUCKED SPIRITUALLY UNTIL ETERNITY...AND YOUR KIDS TOO...FUCK YOU OOOOOO FOREVER..BITCH, ASSHOLE VOMITOUS MASS!!!!!!

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• Aponkye 9 years ago

  Kwarteng is trying to make a mountain out of an anthill. Common sense, just as nativity wit, can be seen as an usufruct made available to any individual under the the sun by the divine providence of His holy name, the presume ...
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  Kwarteng is trying to make a mountain out of an anthill. Common sense, just as nativity wit, can be seen as an usufruct made available to any individual under the the sun by the divine providence of His holy name, the presumed creator of the universe. It therefore does not require PhD, a book smart, or an ethnically confused weed-head like Kwarteng to tape into the abundance of its flow. Failure to make proper use of common sense, which is endowed by nature, is what makes one an idiot, a fool -- and on the part of the so called PhDs - a reprobate or a clinical buffoon. For a example, everybody with his brain not touched, very sound in Ghana knows that Mahama and his lieutenants are committing gargantuan crime against the nation through his create-loot-and-share policy. So if the know Hows, like Trokosi Dr. Javis Bokor and Prof. Kwarteng, with all their booklong outfits, cannot see the need to have these jerks axed from the corridors of power, it then behooves us to put them in the right side of the Isle with the Clinical Buffoon label boldly printed on the back of their shirts

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• Kwame Addo 9 years ago

  ADJOA WANGARA is none other but FRANCIS KWARTENG himself. He uses the moniker ADJOA WANGARA to stimulate or rather jump start the discussion of his article. Don't buy his trick guys. Why is Adjoa Wangara always the first t ...
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  ADJOA WANGARA is none other but FRANCIS KWARTENG himself. He uses the moniker ADJOA WANGARA to stimulate or rather jump start the discussion of his article. Don't buy his trick guys. Why is Adjoa Wangara always the first to shoot her mouth, with her cut and paste attacks? I challenge the two to prove me wrong.

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• Dessie 9 years ago

  Oh mine;Do these so-Ghanaian intellectuals really educated in civilized society..i don't think so,

  Oh mine;Do these so-Ghanaian intellectuals really educated in civilized society..i don't think so,

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• C.Y. ANDY-K 9 years ago

  If you look at someone like Dr. J.K. Bokor, then one can easily and surely conclude that "common sense" is really far better than a Ph.D.

  If you look at someone like Dr. J.K. Bokor, then one can easily and surely conclude that "common sense" is really far better than a Ph.D.

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• THE REAL C.Y. ANDY-K 9 years ago

  You moron! I'd never write something like that about Dr Bokor, a soul-mate. He nails it hard without fear or favour, just as Nyebro Yaw has been doing. Just a sign of things to come, you NPP scoundrel.
  
  Of course, Nyebro ...
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  You moron! I'd never write something like that about Dr Bokor, a soul-mate. He nails it hard without fear or favour, just as Nyebro Yaw has been doing. Just a sign of things to come, you NPP scoundrel.
  
  Of course, Nyebro Yaw is simply hammering here what I had started in the Intellectual Bankruptcy in Ghana, Part I & II. Got III and IV to release though. I am so glad Nyebro decided to weigh in and tell these comical Gulliverian, book and research allowances chasing savants that they are hollow and naked! It is not a laughing matter but I couldn't help laughing. Most of them no get sense at all 'cos sense is not common!
  
  Andy-K

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• C.Y. ANDY-K 9 years ago

  Oh! yes! you are 100% right most of you primitive Ewes have no sense. "No common sense!"

  Oh! yes! you are 100% right most of you primitive Ewes have no sense. "No common sense!"

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• Kwame Joe 9 years ago

  Yet you have the effrontery of using the moniker C.Y. ANDY-K, the real one, not befitting ur derogatory description of "primitive Ewes that have no sense. No common sense!"
  
  Cease the self deception, because friends & ...
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  Yet you have the effrontery of using the moniker C.Y. ANDY-K, the real one, not befitting ur derogatory description of "primitive Ewes that have no sense. No common sense!"
  
  Cease the self deception, because friends & foes alike can tell the Real C. Y. ANDY-K from the fake one with no common sense whatsoever.

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• Francis kwarteng 9 years ago

  Nyebro Yao,
  
  I look forward to reading your pieces.
  
  Thanks.

  Nyebro Yao,
  
  I look forward to reading your pieces.
  
  Thanks.

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• PRINCEWILLY@YMAIL.COM 9 years ago

  A Ph.D graduate and an ordinary
  man went on a camping trip, set
  up their tent and fell asleep.
  Some hours later, the ordinary
  man woke up his PhD friend:
  "Look up at the sky and tell me
  what you see?"
  The PhD man repli ...
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  A Ph.D graduate and an ordinary
  man went on a camping trip, set
  up their tent and fell asleep.
  Some hours later, the ordinary
  man woke up his PhD friend:
  "Look up at the sky and tell me
  what you see?"
  The PhD man replies: "I see
  millions of stars."
  The ordinary man asks: "What
  does that tell you?"
  The PhD guy ponders for a
  minute: "Astronomically
  speaking, it tells me that there
  are millions of galaxies and
  potentially billions of planets.
  Astrologically, it tells me that
  Satan is in Leo. Time wise, it
  appears to be approximately a
  quarter past three. Theologically,
  it's evident the Lord is all-
  powerful and we are small and
  insignificant. Meteorologically, it
  seems we will have a beautiful
  day tomorrow. What does it tell
  you?"
  The ordinary man is silent for a
  moment, and then speaks:
  "Practically, it tells me that our
  tent has been stolen".
  N.B: With all your getting, GET
  COMMON SENSE!

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• Kweku Donsuro 9 years ago

  A reverend minister of my church long ago advised that we should not be so heavenly focused as to be earthly forgetful, meaning that looking up and walking sanctimoniously with half-closed eyes can land you in a pit instead o ...
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  A reverend minister of my church long ago advised that we should not be so heavenly focused as to be earthly forgetful, meaning that looking up and walking sanctimoniously with half-closed eyes can land you in a pit instead of in heaven. Someone also observed that it is paradoxical that many people want to go to heaven but no one is prepared to die. Is that common sense? Therefore common sense is not common. How many are prepared to die to save Ghana from political criminals?

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• Landlord, Bolga Zongo 9 years ago

  The moment one hear Ayittey talking about "common sense being better PhD", it look real, exactly because it tells alot about Ayittey himself lacking common sense, and he (Ayittey) knows exactly what he's talking about.
  This ...
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  The moment one hear Ayittey talking about "common sense being better PhD", it look real, exactly because it tells alot about Ayittey himself lacking common sense, and he (Ayittey) knows exactly what he's talking about.
  This is one man who actually lacks common sense, and it could have been better him having "the common sense" rather than his "PhD"

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• Kweku Donsuro 9 years ago

  Francis, what a PhD education does to you is to teach you how to think critically and be able to adapt quickly to different milieu. They say adapt or perish. A PhD education opens you up and humbles you so that you can adapt ...
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  Francis, what a PhD education does to you is to teach you how to think critically and be able to adapt quickly to different milieu. They say adapt or perish. A PhD education opens you up and humbles you so that you can adapt to any situation. All human beings are programmed to adapt but a PhD holder should be able to adapt better but woefully, due to arrogance among some of them, they become dogmatic and rigid, leading to their self effacement and they self-destruct. To gain a PhD is all about persistence, hard work, perseverance, singleness of purpose, self denial, among other traits cultivated.

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• Prof Lungu 9 years ago

  Francis Kwarteng's 2-part essay is important to the extent it addresses the essence of "knowledge" to life generally.
  
  For our part, we would also have wanted to know:
  
  1. A Ph.D. in what?
  
  2. How is “common sense” ...
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  Francis Kwarteng's 2-part essay is important to the extent it addresses the essence of "knowledge" to life generally.
  
  For our part, we would also have wanted to know:
  
  1. A Ph.D. in what?
  
  2. How is “common sense” related to religious knowledge and experience?
  
  3. What is the role and usefulness of data to public policy, governance, and development?
  
  4. What is the importance of data (basic, applied, or experiential)?
  
  Safe to say that we do not quite believe the Professor Ernest Aryeeteys have the "facts and data" on their side, always.
  
  From our vantage position, those kinds of statements do little to inspire intellectuals of any age to question with data, critically.

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• Tekonline.org 9 years ago

  Glad you mentioned 'data'.
  
  What we consider 'common sense' is actually basic logical reasoning in disguise. 'It is raining outside therefore I must step out with an umbrella'. Sounds like common sense, doesn't it.
  
  But b ...
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  Glad you mentioned 'data'.
  
  What we consider 'common sense' is actually basic logical reasoning in disguise. 'It is raining outside therefore I must step out with an umbrella'. Sounds like common sense, doesn't it.
  
  But by that same token, common sense is limited by the available DATA.
  
  For instance humans used to think the earth was flat, simply based on what they could observe with the naked eye. Then came along Galileo's telescope, which provided DATA invalidating common sense. Same with the earth being the center of the solar system (or even the universe). Poor Galileo was in fact jailed for going against common sense!
  
  At times, professional knowledge also invalidates common sense. You are 45 years old and have hypertension. Common sense dictates you should take a blood pressure lowering medication.
  With that common sense, you are inclined to give you 90-year old grandma that medication to "make normal" her hypertension. But the experienced and knowledgeable physician, with professional KNOWLEDGE, would tell you at that age, you grandma's heart probably is already struggling to pump blood. Leave her alone!
  
  Same situation with other disciplines. You want to save money on petrol, so you drive from Kumasi to Tamale with the air-conditioner off, as common sense would advise. The heat inside the car is unbearable so you roll down the windows, again as dictated by commen sense. Air is free indeed. But the engineer with lots of Physics facts in his brain would tell you the drag due to the rolled-down windows would make you waste more petrol than the air-conditioner.
  
  The doctorate degree, by and large, provides individuals with more knowledge (facts, data, principles, and concepts) to help them fine-tune and validate 'common sense'.

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• Tekonline.org 9 years ago

  By the way, if your 95-year old grandma's BP is sky high, you STILL need a physician to decide what needs to be done. Please don't just go by what I used to illustrate a point.

  By the way, if your 95-year old grandma's BP is sky high, you STILL need a physician to decide what needs to be done. Please don't just go by what I used to illustrate a point.

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• MARCUS AMPADU 9 years ago

  In "Is common sense better than a Ph. D. ? " Part I piece, published on Friday, 20 May 2016, I responded thus:
  "
  Recently, last Saturday, at the Howard University in Washington D. C. , Nigerians that many of us are quick ...
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  In "Is common sense better than a Ph. D. ? " Part I piece, published on Friday, 20 May 2016, I responded thus:
  "
  Recently, last Saturday, at the Howard University in Washington D. C. , Nigerians that many of us are quick to put down as never do wells, made history. Of the 96 graduating Doctors of Pharmacy candidates, 43 of them were Nigerians, and 27 of the awards given, 16 went to Nigerians.
  
  Obviously each of these Nigerian Doctors of Pharmacy had common sense to have stucked it out to earn their terminal degrees.
  
  To receive professional degrees, whether in law, medicine, pharmacy, architecture dentistry, etc. one must have beaucoup de bon sens.
  
  For those who saw my comments to Kwarteng's part I article, forgive the repetition; I was just impressed by these hardworking 43 Nigerian Doctors of Pharmacy. Can you believe "the knowledge (facts, data, principles, concepts, complex concepts to help them fine-tune and validate 'beaucoup de bon sens'?"

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• Prof Lungu 9 years ago

  MARCUS AMPADU,
  Thanks for the observation.
  
  We watched practically all of Obama's speech at that event, at Howard University. It was a good speech, perhaps one of his best -- so much build-up of African-American graduates. ...
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  MARCUS AMPADU,
  Thanks for the observation.
  
  We watched practically all of Obama's speech at that event, at Howard University. It was a good speech, perhaps one of his best -- so much build-up of African-American graduates. We recall he mentioned some students from Nepal. But, that was it. (We were wondering how student from other countries would find Obama's speech useful to themselves).
  
  Our sense is, 43 Nigerians out of a universe of 96 is a remarkable story even by American standards. It ought to have been a talking point, if only to challenge the Donald Trump types, and other Americans.
  
  A couple of hours ago, we received a copy of a program for an up-coming conference in South Africa, "The 6th Africa Unity for Renaissance Annual Conference", on "Indigenous Knowledge, Innovation and the Struggle for Re-Imagining Africa, among others."
  (Prof Ama Biney is scheduled to present at attend one of the sessions).
  
  It informs us we have to be very careful when we attempt to elevate "common sense", above other knowledge forms.
  
  Crucially, one cannot utilize "common sense" to conclude that the study of "common sense" is actually a specialized field of study that awards degrees and honors at the Masters, Ph.D., and post-graduate levels, in Colleges and Universities.
  
  As some people have said it many times, the essence of a Ph.D, besides the knowledge, is the testament that one can actually set their eyes on a goal and see that it comes to fruition before an expiration date, what you summarize as, "one must have beaucoup de bon sens." Needless to say, the road to the Ph.D. is littered with many broke bones, skulls, and blood of those who attempted and could not finish for any number of reasons.
  
  So, for us, the practical question that ought to be of concern to the Professor Ernest Aryeeteys is the extent that type of statement inspires their students to aim higher, to prove themselves with "facts, data, principles, concepts" that allow society to improve in a progressive direction, to evolve with "original thought", using "common sense" as a stepping stone. At a basic level, that student ought to see the linkages between different ideas, phenomena, problems, etc. A Ph.D. degree is typically a testament that one has arrived, terminally, in all those crucial respects.
  
  Unlike a Ph.D, a lot of "common sense" under-girding Ghanaian society and many cultural norms have needed to be banished for progress, since the time of Kwame Nkrumah.
  
  Greetings!

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