University Education or Football: Choose One

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William Hanson 12 years ago

This is not 1980s. You can still play football and earn your degree by online.

This is not 1980s. You can still play football and earn your degree by online.
Kojo T 12 years ago

Whatever the initial plan, has theJHS/SHS system succeeded in transforming education and teaching for our children This is the heart of your post . We cannot all be UNIVERSITY graduates so where can we be employed Agricultur ...
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Whatever the initial plan, has theJHS/SHS system succeeded in transforming education and teaching for our children This is the heart of your post . We cannot all be UNIVERSITY graduates so where can we be employed Agriculture is the bigesst employer but we all runaway from it. It has a potential of $1trillion in income . Then we have vocational and technical skills adding to ICT . What about the industrialisation we talk about . Let us make use of them . I have always said the apostles of free enterprise have let us down as they only talk about " enabling environment" What environment? Then they talk about Free SHS . Where will the quality, and relevance be ?
Papa Kwesi Koomson 12 years ago

This a very good article. The writer has a good understanding of the Ghanaian educational system and has clearly shown that you must follow your heart to do what you love best!

This a very good article. The writer has a good understanding of the Ghanaian educational system and has clearly shown that you must follow your heart to do what you love best!
princewilly@ymail.com 12 years ago

A married man was having an affair with his secretary who is a student at the University of Cape Coast.
One day they went to her place and made love all afternoon.
Exhausted, they fell asleep and woke up at 8 PM.
The man h ...
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A married man was having an affair with his secretary who is a student at the University of Cape Coast.
One day they went to her place and made love all afternoon.
Exhausted, they fell asleep and woke up at 8 PM.
The man hurriedly dressed and told his lover to take his shoes outside and rub them in the grass and dirt.
He put on his shoes and drove home.
"Where have you been?" his wife demanded.
"I can't lie to you," he replied,"I'm having an affair with my secretary. We had sex all afternoon."
She looked down at his shoes and said: "You lying bastard! You've been playing football!"
kay 12 years ago

The JHS, Primary and even Early Childhood Centers are filled with Graduate Teachers. All teachers from training colleges are warded Diploma. About 98% of pupil teachers as you may see them have been upgraded through distance ...
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The JHS, Primary and even Early Childhood Centers are filled with Graduate Teachers. All teachers from training colleges are warded Diploma. About 98% of pupil teachers as you may see them have been upgraded through distance education and sandwich programs. The issue is that teachers are not evenly distributed because most of them refuse to accept postings to the rural areas.
kay 12 years ago

The JHS, Primary and even Early Childhood Centers are filled with Graduate Teachers. All teachers from training colleges are warded Diploma. About 98% of pupil teachers as you may see them have been upgraded through distance ...
read full comment

The JHS, Primary and even Early Childhood Centers are filled with Graduate Teachers. All teachers from training colleges are warded Diploma. About 98% of pupil teachers as you may see them have been upgraded through distance education and sandwich programs. The issue is that teachers are not evenly distributed because most of them refuse to accept postings to the rural areas.
Gawuga 12 years ago

Education is meant for job market and self-development too. Whatever decision one takes there is good side and dark side of one's decision making. If I have the football talent to play international level, I would choose foot ...
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Education is meant for job market and self-development too. Whatever decision one takes there is good side and dark side of one's decision making. If I have the football talent to play international level, I would choose football but I would never ever forget education. I'll use football money to study online - call it e-learning. By so doing I can be able to understand the world better.
Gawuga 12 years ago

Education = civilisation

Education = civilisation
GHFUO, change ur thinking 12 years ago

WE HAVE TONS OF NATURAL RESOURCES IN GH THAT THE WORLD NEEDS. THE KIDS OF GH SHOULD BE OUR NUMBER 1 PRIORITY FOR A BETTER GH TOMORROW. FREDERICO MAYOR, UNESCO SEC. GENERAL ONCE SAID.THAT THE "LEVEL OF EDUCATION OF THE OVERALL ...
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WE HAVE TONS OF NATURAL RESOURCES IN GH THAT THE WORLD NEEDS. THE KIDS OF GH SHOULD BE OUR NUMBER 1 PRIORITY FOR A BETTER GH TOMORROW. FREDERICO MAYOR, UNESCO SEC. GENERAL ONCE SAID.THAT THE "LEVEL OF EDUCATION OF THE OVERALL POPULAION OF A PARTICULAR
COUNTRY DETERMINES THAT COUNTRY'S ABILITY TO SHARE IN WORLD DEVELOPMENT, TO BENEFIT FROM THE
ADVANCEMENT OF KNOWLEDGE AND TO MAKE PROGRESS ITSELF WHILE CONTRIBUTING TO THE EDUCATION OF OTHERS. IF THIS STATEMENT ISNT
SELF EVIDENT TRUTH, THEN I DONT KNOW WHAT IS FOLKS!.....THIS IS WHY TE REGIONS ALONG WITH THE MIN OF EDUCATION SHOULD MAKE PRIMARY, JSS N SSS EDUCATION FREE AND A PRIORITY FOR ALL. THOSE WITH BETTER GRADES OR THOSE WHO EXCELL ATHLETICALLY CAN AND SHOULD GAIN SCHOLARSHIPS TO POLY/UNIV. SEVERAL WESTERN NATIONS ARE DOING THIS N REAPING THE BENEFITS. CURRENTLY, UNIV STUDENTS IN THE US ARE DEBATING THE ISSUE OF PLAYER SALARIES FOR UNIV. STUDENTS. WHICH, IM TOTALLY AGAINST.
Pelicles 12 years ago

The whole thing boils down to "bad leadership and hard choice". People are forced to make hard and uncompromising choice due to the current situation in Ghana. We have leaders who are absolutely, clueless and crass idiots. ...
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The whole thing boils down to "bad leadership and hard choice". People are forced to make hard and uncompromising choice due to the current situation in Ghana. We have leaders who are absolutely, clueless and crass idiots. They are destroying the nation than they think.

One can pursue his university education while at the same time, playing professional football. Some of well known soccer players are doctors etc so, there is nothing wrong in doing that. A Ghanaian will be forced to abandoned his educational career due to bad leadership and go for the easy meal if that is the right word. The current situation in Ghana is a desperate one and who knows when things will be alright. Our schools are producing graduates who have lost any hope for themselves because there are no jobs and if you are not tied to any political party, leaving school will be like going on a wild goose chase.

T'pau 12 years ago

Primary and Junior High schools must be taught by university graduates. This will significantly improve the quality of education and at the same time reduce graduate unemployment.

It's about time current primary school tea ...
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Primary and Junior High schools must be taught by university graduates. This will significantly improve the quality of education and at the same time reduce graduate unemployment.

It's about time current primary school teachers also upgraded themselves to diploma or degree status.

You'll be surprised some JHS teachers cannot even solve basic mathematics question let alone teach.
Nii 12 years ago

Unfortunately most of the graduates are not willing to teach that is why some of them are still unemployed.

Unfortunately most of the graduates are not willing to teach that is why some of them are still unemployed.
Wahabu 12 years ago

It is sad that people always try to point figures at the new educational system as the cause of the falling standards of education in Ghana today. Sweet stories are told about the old educational system as if the said old sys ...
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It is sad that people always try to point figures at the new educational system as the cause of the falling standards of education in Ghana today. Sweet stories are told about the old educational system as if the said old system is now too faraway from us and that there were no challenges, but I still remember what our history Prof. Addo-Fenn once told us in a lecture room in 1998 after teaching the first three sets of SSS pionneers "he was certained despite his initial doubts, that the SSS system was a good system" and yet people who can bearly assess our educational system are quick to make faulty comparisons and all they do is to lie about what they have experienced and because we were not there, they assum that we can't cross-check the facts.

I am seriously worried that this writer instead of suggesting how to improve the reading habit of the youth as the only way to improve the quality of education in Ghana today, he has decided to talk about who increased the years of SSS to four and who reversed it to three, I must say it is interesting how people want to talk about the number of years spent in school instead of the quality of teaching given, in the first place, did we need to increase the years to four? what was the first recommendation made by the committee President Kufour constituted to look into the educational system? are we saying that the number of years spent in school is more important than the quality of teaching and the infrastructure that is put in place?. If we are honest with ourselves, we must go back to the committee's recommendations and make sure that the said infrastructure they asked government to provide at schools and the motivation to teachers are applied. Lets stop the distortions and make realistic suggestions to improve the system.
Kwesi Atta Sakyi 12 years ago

Owusu must know that money is not everything in life because having plenty of money has its own woes and headaches. I do not buy this useless inference in this useless article that the brother who took to football did a good ...
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Owusu must know that money is not everything in life because having plenty of money has its own woes and headaches. I do not buy this useless inference in this useless article that the brother who took to football did a good thing. If you have talent, use it. We cannot all be footballers. What the elder brothers are doing by imparting knowledge to our kids is priceless. Stephen Owusu, you have failed in your thesis. Please do not by such shallow articles or reasoning pollute the minds of people to take short cuts in life, for money is not the measure of man. We seek enduring and long term values. Have not not heard of people who made millions but later in life became wretched?
Joni 12 years ago

Kwesi, the article lacks purpose but I don't think the writer is advising young people to choose football ahead of education. He talked about the dangers of a career in football.

Kwesi, the article lacks purpose but I don't think the writer is advising young people to choose football ahead of education. He talked about the dangers of a career in football.
The Eye Germany 12 years ago

Money is very,very important to individuals,societies,nations and the world but formal education especially university education will help individuals,society and the entire world. We therefore have to encourage university ed ...
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Money is very,very important to individuals,societies,nations and the world but formal education especially university education will help individuals,society and the entire world. We therefore have to encourage university education. However,we still need proper and effective reforms in sectors of our educational ladder-up to university level. In America most women prefer 1st degree to bringing children. It's a universal truth that book knowledge cum native/natural intelligence will always help develop individuals,community, nations and the entire world.
Stephen-Pipes Afrifa 12 years ago

I totally agree with Edward choosing a football career instead of university education.

The educational system in Ghana is really bad, I stand to be corrected, though.
They always talk but never walk the talk at all.
Let ...
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I totally agree with Edward choosing a football career instead of university education.

The educational system in Ghana is really bad, I stand to be corrected, though.
They always talk but never walk the talk at all.
Let's hope for better things to happen as that is our dream. Fellow reader please follow your heart desire . Afterall " beebia abe beto biara ye mpoyem" .
ROSE YEBOAH 12 years ago

It is always good to take a daring decision. Edward took a good decision and it helped him.

It is always good to take a daring decision. Edward took a good decision and it helped him.
TIKENENKENEN 12 years ago

If I were a gifted footballer, I would choose football.

If I were a gifted footballer, I would choose football.
ROSE YEBOAH 12 years ago

I prophesy that Ghana will revert to the old system again. Why can't our leaders pause and think about the worsening educational system? Lord have mercy.

I prophesy that Ghana will revert to the old system again. Why can't our leaders pause and think about the worsening educational system? Lord have mercy.

Kwaku Adu-Aninkorah (Dr) 12 years ago

Very thought provoking. Education and football can co-exist.
Am of the opinion that we as Ghanaians should decide what system of education we need.
We are now producing more liberal arts students than sciences.
Our politi ...
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Very thought provoking. Education and football can co-exist.
Am of the opinion that we as Ghanaians should decide what system of education we need.
We are now producing more liberal arts students than sciences.
Our politicians have turned our education into their farm where they decide what to grow at any point in time.
We need more non partisan, well researched articles like this
Keep it up Mighty
MR.GOODFACE 12 years ago

Good article

Good article
Natural Mystic 12 years ago

Massa, I also thought initially that the article was useless since the main body of the article had little to do with the Introduction. It is the conclusion that reminded me of what the writer was all about. Soccer/football i ...
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Massa, I also thought initially that the article was useless since the main body of the article had little to do with the Introduction. It is the conclusion that reminded me of what the writer was all about. Soccer/football is a short-term career so it is always important to have something to fall back on when one's playing days are over. The late great Socrates (not the philosopher but the Brazilian footballer) was a dentist. Sunday Olisey now writes on-line sports columns for reputable organisations. On a personal level, I wanted to be a musician - bass guitarist - and my favourist student group in Ghana at the time was MC 5 (Matthews Chapter 5). With my skinny body and natural afro-hair, I saw myself being the next Jimmy Hendrix. Well, an early morning meeting with my late father during one of those X'mas holidays put paid to my musical ambition. Looking back, I thank the old man. A bossom pal who chose the music route is battling in Ghana now through no fault of his.
nsem pii 12 years ago

Ask prominent NBA players going for their doctorate degree.Great decision. Knowledge is power.

Ask prominent NBA players going for their doctorate degree.Great decision. Knowledge is power.
ghanaman 12 years ago

The article exposes the well-known problem of making rational decisions based on information. First, individuals need to be educated in a way that permits effective reasoning and thinking. Next, access to valuable information ...
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The article exposes the well-known problem of making rational decisions based on information. First, individuals need to be educated in a way that permits effective reasoning and thinking. Next, access to valuable information must be guaranteed to citizens. With the aforementioned, individuals will be in a better position to make optimal choices. Naturally, only a better education system can help.

Bravo, akoks!
Seth, USA 12 years ago

This is great!

This is great!
GDK 12 years ago

What are the odds of one landing a lucrative football contract abroad.
1 in ten million perhaps?

What are the odds of one landing a lucrative football contract abroad.
1 in ten million perhaps?
Osagefo 12 years ago

As secondary school attendance became nearly universal over the past century, public controversies regularly erupted about the fundamental purposes of secondary education. The controversies centered on basic issues of what st ...
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As secondary school attendance became nearly universal over the past century, public controversies regularly erupted about the fundamental purposes of secondary education. The controversies centered on basic issues of what students should learn, whether all students should learn the same thing, and who should make decisions about such matters. On one end of this philosophical continuum was the belief that all students—regardless of their academic or occupational futures—should experience intellectually challenging coursework that prepares them equally well for college or work. This more custodial view of curriculum held that students' academic needs were quite similar and that their current aspirations or interests should be a secondary concern to schools. A formal statement of this view was issued in 1893 by the Committee of Ten, a national commission studying high schools that was headed by Charles Eliot, then president of Harvard University.2 The Committee of Ten suggested that students should be permitted little curricular choice and that all high schools should offer a narrow academic curriculum that did not differentiate students heading for work from those bound for college.

Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education, published twenty-five years after the Committee of Ten's report, was perhaps the antithesis of the earlier treatise.3 According to "social efficiency," the philosophy underlying the Cardinal Principles, secondary school students' coursework should be driven by their future occupational and educational plans. Schools should offer a broad and diffuse curriculum, one that included a wide range of academic and vocational offerings that varied not only in content but also in rigor. Supporters of social efficiency argued that offering only traditional academic courses overlooked two essential facts about high school students: they enter high school with different academic skills, and they aspire to disparate occupational futures. Advocates of the Cardinal Principles considered that requiring all students to complete academic courses was inequitable, in that it ignored students' social realities.4 Psychologist Edward L. Thorndike declared that a high school should "have in mind definitely the work in life its students will have to perform and try to fit them for it."5

The social efficiency argument came to dominate the organization of public high schools during the first half of the twentieth century.6 Comprehensive high schools represented the "social machine" through which adolescents' diverse backgrounds and skills would be matched to society's needs. College-bound students completed an academically oriented course of study, whereas students bound for work were directed to courses preparing them for vocations and trades. This "differentiated curriculum" thus contained different courses for different students, whom the schools typically organized into vocational, general, and academic "tracks" that determined their coursework. The prevailing educational philosophy was that "high schools would serve democracy by offering usable studies to everyone, rather than dwelling on academic abstractions that would interest only a few."7 Supporters of this curriculum organization also maintained that a "relevant" curriculum would increase student interest and motivation, leading more students to remain in school until graduation.
Kwesi Atta Sakyi 12 years ago

Howard Gardner advocated multiple intelligencies as a pedagogical approach which will help different talents to be cultivated in children, such as motor, musical, aesthetics, logic, rhetoric abilities. We need to expose Ghana ...
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Howard Gardner advocated multiple intelligencies as a pedagogical approach which will help different talents to be cultivated in children, such as motor, musical, aesthetics, logic, rhetoric abilities. We need to expose Ghanaian teachers to this approach.
VICKY LEE BENTON 12 years ago

THE STUDENTS FROM THE RURAL AREAS DO VERY WELL AS THOSE IN THE CITIES BUT THEY DO NOT STAND A CHANCE TO BE ADMITTED INTO THE UNIVERSITIES EVEN THOUGH THEY HAVE THE QUALIFIED GRADES TO ENTER.
THOSE PARENTS IN THE CITIES PAY B ...
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THE STUDENTS FROM THE RURAL AREAS DO VERY WELL AS THOSE IN THE CITIES BUT THEY DO NOT STAND A CHANCE TO BE ADMITTED INTO THE UNIVERSITIES EVEN THOUGH THEY HAVE THE QUALIFIED GRADES TO ENTER.
THOSE PARENTS IN THE CITIES PAY BRIBES TO GET ADMISSIONS FOR THEIR CHILDREN AS THEY FAILED THE EXAMS. SO THE POOR CHILD'S CHANCE GET BLOCKED.
IT HAPPEND TO MY OWN CHILD IN KUMASE
SHE RECEIVED AN EMAIL FROM KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, CONGRATULATING HER. THEY TOLD HER THAT SHE WOULD BE HEARING FROM THEM SOON. SHE NEVER DID..SHE WAITED TILL SEPTEMBER AND WENT THERE IN PERSON SHE DID NOT SEE HER NAME ANYWHERE. SHE FINALLY WENT TO THE ADMINISTRATION OFFICE. THE SECRETARY TOLD HER TO PAY .400 CEDIS AND SHE CAN WORK HER WAY IN FOR HER.
HER FRIEND'S MOM PAID 800 CEDIS EVEN THOUGH SHE HAD 27 , AND GOT ADMITTED.
MY DAUGHTER HAD 12 BUT WAS REJECTED SO WHAT KIND OF SOCIETY ARE WE CREATING FOR THE FUTURE OF THE COUNTRY AS THE SMARTER ONES ARE LEFT BEHIND WHILE THE DUMB STUDENTS ARE FILLING INTO THE UNIVERSITIES?

Uncle Ebo 12 years ago

A nail right on the head. Our system of Education really needs a dynamic review. Gifts and talents needs to be harnessed right from the infancy and directed to productive ventures.

A nail right on the head. Our system of Education really needs a dynamic review. Gifts and talents needs to be harnessed right from the infancy and directed to productive ventures.
NanaKofi 12 years ago

I think it's not everyone that can play football and play it well. So the decision of football or university is not a matching concept. If you have football talent shouldn't lead you to drop from school, both can be done conc ...
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I think it's not everyone that can play football and play it well. So the decision of football or university is not a matching concept. If you have football talent shouldn't lead you to drop from school, both can be done concurrently. Is somehow embarrassing to hear our professional players speaking bad English when interviewed after a game.
I think the Ghanaian school system is what we need to restructure it well in order to produce good resources for the economy and beyond.
joseph owusu 12 years ago

Ifgood

If you are both good for school and football,There is no need to stop going to university.Because if some university student dosnt get job, It dosnt mean you will also not get it.

Ifgood

If you are both good for school and football,There is no need to stop going to university.Because if some university student dosnt get job, It dosnt mean you will also not get it.
Oti Akenteng 12 years ago

A good article but i think the university graduates need to be supportive by our leaders to find a job and not to be unemployed.Edward is lucky enough to have too good talents.

A good article but i think the university graduates need to be supportive by our leaders to find a job and not to be unemployed.Edward is lucky enough to have too good talents.
Joanna Owusu (daughter) 12 years ago

Great article! Interesting reading. Sad that as time moves on, system gets worse

Great article! Interesting reading. Sad that as time moves on, system gets worse

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University Education or Football: Choose One

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