Fate Of A Misguided Scholar 4

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bbc 10 years ago

hallelujah no mention of danquah and busia but nlm though

hallelujah no mention of danquah and busia but nlm though
C.Y. ANDY-K 10 years ago

You have written already, ... thank you!"

I have been battling time to put some beef on the short rejoinder I posted in response to the ongoing POTAG and UTAG farcical strike over book allowances: Intellectual Bankruptcy I ...
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You have written already, ... thank you!"

I have been battling time to put some beef on the short rejoinder I posted in response to the ongoing POTAG and UTAG farcical strike over book allowances: Intellectual Bankruptcy In Ghana.... Now, you have forestalled me and said everything and more I had written and was going to write. So I recalled the story which was still live when I went to Sixth Form at Mawuli in 1976.

When D.K. Poison won the world featherweight title, Kutu Acheampong arranged for him regional tours. At Ho, after his "Secretary" had finished speaking and it was his turn to speak, he stood up to say:

"Everyday I want to say, my Secretary has talked already, so thank you all". And sat down. Deafening uproar greeted his 1st round knock-out speech!

I felt like throwing in the towel too, but for the sake of those half educated people who are not ready to learn anymore and are complaining of big English instead of using this opportunity to increase their word power and command of the English Language by using the available online dictionaries, I shall continue my series and try to explain some of the things you had written here. Below is the piece I am adding some flesh to.

INTELLECTUAL BANKRUPTCY IN GHANA

Since writing the piece on the book and research allowances brouhaha in Ghana, the Polytechnic lecturers have been on a strike lasting two months now. The govt’s mishandling of the abrogation of the gross system has allowed a judge to rule POTAG’s strike as “legal”. Legal, however, doesn’t make their demands right, btw. Or, even morally tenable, not to mention it is a verdict that they were entitled to their demands. So far as I see it, what is happening is symptomatic of the general intellectual bankruptcy of our academics, whose failures are mirrored in the continual backwardness of Ghanaians in general.
As Ken Kuranchie blurted it out when he was released from prison, “Ghanaians are not civilized”. Let’s be constantly reminded of this.

I have put a few quotes from previous articles together to draw attention to these "astigmatised" lecturers and focus on their ideational bankruptcy.

Prof. George Ayittey wrote in his Moon Shines Brightly piece:

From: George Ayittey x@american.edu
To: okyeame@AfricaOnline.com, africa_think_tank@databack.com,
Subject: THE MOON SHINES BRIGHTLY .......
At 19:07 25.06.97 -0700

THE MOON SHINES BRIGHTLY . . .
Sierra Leoneans have a proverb which goes like this: "The moon shines brightly but it is still dark in some places." A village elder might use this proverb in a situation like this. After scrounging under their mattresses, pots and pans for enough of their life savings to send a child to school, he returns to the village a disaster. He can't do anything right, making a mess of everything he touches. Whereupon an elder may look steely at him, shake his head and say, "The moon shines brightly but it is still dark in some places."

Indeed, for these lecturers, in spite of the fact that they "went to school plenty, plenty", there is darkness and cobwebs covering their faces and brains!

I wrote in response to Prof. Ayittey:

Anyway, his post sent me back to something I had then been raising for quite some time on Okyeame. It touches the type of education which the young man in the Prof's story receives which makes him "mess" things up. In the Prof's own word in his presentation at NAROG 1 in Washington, become "astigmatised intellectual".

This problem was well captured in the response given by some “Red Indians” to the invitation sent to them by the white colonisers of America who requested for some young Indians to be "educated" in their new colleges. The Indians, of course, recognised the problem but their way of dealing with it saw them ending up in the squalid reservations they live in today, forerunners to the Bantustans those geniis of Apartheid were creating in South Africa.

The story is told of how by 1744 the colonisers of America had established the three colleges (Harvard, William and Mary, and Yale). Of course, they were all built according to the then British model; to teach young men in Greek, Latin, grammar, rhetoric, mathematics, and philosophy. The colonies of Maryland and Virginia entered into agreement with the Indians of the Six Nations, and in June 1744, invited them to send some of their young men to be educated at William and Mary. The Indians politely turned down the offer. I quote in full their response I have, courtesy of the infamous Flatin Committee's Report, "Grenselos Læring" (Borderless Learning) (NOU 1989: 24), which I have the enforced honour of being associated with as the then Chairperson of the Foreign Students Union of Trondheim (FSUT).

-------------Quote begins------------
"We know that you highly esteem the kind of learning taught in those colleges, and that the Maintenance of our Young Men, while with you, would be very expensive to you. We are convinced, therefore, that you mean to do us good by your Proposal; and we thank you heartily. But you, who are wise, must know different nations have different conceptions of things; and you will therefore not take it amiss, if our ideas of this kind of Education happen not to be same with yours. We have some Experience of it. Several of our Young People were formerly brought up at the colleges of the Northern Provinces; they were instructed in all your Sciences; but when they came back to us, they were bad Runners, ignorant of every means of living in the woods, unable to bear either Cold or Hunger, knew neither how to build a Cabin, take a Deer, or kill an Enemy, spoke our Language imperfectly, were therefore neither fit for Hunters, Warriors nor Councellors; they were totally good for nothing. We are, however, not the less oblig'd by your kind offer, tho' we decline accepting it; and to show our Grateful Sense of it; if the gentlemen of Virginia will send us a Dozen of their sons, we will take care of their Education, instruct them in all we know, and make Men of them."
------------Quote ends--------------

Indeed, hidden in the above quote is the root for explaining what causes "educated" Africans to "mess up", become designated as bankrupt or "astigmatised" intellectuals. I do not intend to delve into the processes here and now, as it is a major issue why the kind of education we have in Africa is failing to deliver development to the continent. I only consider it fit to bring it to the attention of the learned Prof. and sundry, since it appears to me that that realisation seems to lack in his (Prof's) and a great many others' world view of why we Africans are what we are - the chickens are simply coming home to roost!

It is simply a question of whether the "young men" and now young women are receiving the right type of education in the first place – an education largely devoid of any practical training and experience in the skills required to cope with and transform their respective environment and societies.

With some ignorantly calling for the return of former missionary established schools to the churches in order to purportedly instill discipline in pupils and students - which missionary education is at the core of the problem - I’d recommend that such ignoramuses go and read at least the book, “The Missionaries” by Monkhouse as the first step in enlightening themselves. And then we can take a look at the much talked about failure of educated Africans to behave and perform just like their European (and now Asian) counterparts.
Unquote

Yes, some of these Ghanaian Profs had attended those Ivy League insts. in America [and Europe], but they have been proving over the decades that, they are also “totally good for nothing”!

Tweah! We MUST declare war on them too if Ghana is to move from the quagmire it is in.

Andy-K

Here I end for the time being.
IDRIS PACAS 10 years ago

I never regretted the hours spent reading through this piece.

Congrats!

I never regretted the hours spent reading through this piece.

Congrats!
Odoi 10 years ago

This is will never be published anywhere except on Ghanaweb! Thank God we have Ghanaweb that allows is to free our idiocy! Ditto!

This is will never be published anywhere except on Ghanaweb! Thank God we have Ghanaweb that allows is to free our idiocy! Ditto!
C.Y. ANDY-K 10 years ago

You are the only idiot here. This is beyond your comprehension.

Andy-K

You are the only idiot here. This is beyond your comprehension.

Andy-K
Eric Amegashie 10 years ago

You and who ,shall return ? Mr blackman ! All of ur big english words means nothing to me ? Do u have any reall ideas to help mankind than ur bullshit english

You and who ,shall return ? Mr blackman ! All of ur big english words means nothing to me ? Do u have any reall ideas to help mankind than ur bullshit english
YAW 10 years ago

Rolls Royce, the epitome of cars is not meant for everybody.You have no idea how useful Francis Kwarteng is.I don"t know him but i do appreciate his articles.Easy on the insults.Did you read animal farm at school?

Rolls Royce, the epitome of cars is not meant for everybody.You have no idea how useful Francis Kwarteng is.I don"t know him but i do appreciate his articles.Easy on the insults.Did you read animal farm at school?
Mark (UK) 10 years ago

Well done Yaw. Guys who do not get Francis resort to insults. Such articles, which I must admit, can be heavy going at times, intellectually speaking, is not for every one. Instead of admitting to this, guys resort to insults ...
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Well done Yaw. Guys who do not get Francis resort to insults. Such articles, which I must admit, can be heavy going at times, intellectually speaking, is not for every one. Instead of admitting to this, guys resort to insults. I commend guys who have the energy, skills and intellect to produce such work. More so, if such works contribute to our development as a nation. I think Francis' is in the category mentioned above.
Mmo barima Yaw.
Odoi 10 years ago

Yaw aint you Kwarteng: same run on lines and ideas, etc.

Yaw aint you Kwarteng: same run on lines and ideas, etc.
Mark (UK) 10 years ago

That will be academic dishonesty, something you can't accuse my honourable friend of. Of course, unless I am naïve.

That will be academic dishonesty, something you can't accuse my honourable friend of. Of course, unless I am naïve.

YAW 10 years ago

Perhaps George Orwell was hollow.I wish i had the intellectual acumen of Mr Kwarteng.He is as hollow as Odoi has the "wisdom of a wooden fufu pestle",and that is a compliment.

Perhaps George Orwell was hollow.I wish i had the intellectual acumen of Mr Kwarteng.He is as hollow as Odoi has the "wisdom of a wooden fufu pestle",and that is a compliment.
Eric Amegashie 10 years ago

Dont care ,where ur going with all this crap .pls dont waste our time .

Dont care ,where ur going with all this crap .pls dont waste our time .
Auntie Rose 10 years ago

...b4 criticizing. This is such a thought provoking article including the scalet beetle.

...b4 criticizing. This is such a thought provoking article including the scalet beetle.
Kweku Donsuro 10 years ago

Francis' dialogue here is asking and tasking you to find out how much you as scholar has read and know about the authors he mentions. He seems to lament here the heresies of the misogynists and misanthropists who claim racial ...
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Francis' dialogue here is asking and tasking you to find out how much you as scholar has read and know about the authors he mentions. He seems to lament here the heresies of the misogynists and misanthropists who claim racial superiorlty and faults their claim as weird and half truth bcos the truth is like a mirage in the desert which is hard to attain as at best it is relative as Einstein stated and he and Wheeler and know as Unified Theory. Francis is teasing all scholars in this tirade
Mark (UK) 10 years ago

Well my take is rather different. The crux of Francis' write-up is in the sentence below:

'The sick “scholar” is in effect cyclically caught up in an intellectual state of static equilibrium, producing virtually nothi ...
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Well my take is rather different. The crux of Francis' write-up is in the sentence below:

'The sick “scholar” is in effect cyclically caught up in an intellectual state of static equilibrium, producing virtually nothing of value for intellectual consumption.'

In my opinion, Francis wants the so called scholar, who may be misguided, to write and produce things that uplift the soul of his readers and not write for the sake of writing.
Francis please help.
Kweku Donsuro 10 years ago

We need scholars of stamina and sterling to decipher Francis. He is sad about lack of unity of nature between man and animals and will like us to consider the example of the Fon or Dahomean Royal Pythons. Is Francis a Catholi ...
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We need scholars of stamina and sterling to decipher Francis. He is sad about lack of unity of nature between man and animals and will like us to consider the example of the Fon or Dahomean Royal Pythons. Is Francis a Catholic? Is he dreaming of paradise to come when WMD will be made ploughsheds? Franxis laments colonialism, corruption, chicanery, and obstreperous contumacy or obstinacy of pretenders who should seek help if they fail to govern and is calling on the people to demand accountability
Brother 10 years ago

Everybody has something to have a take on. Seen. That is writing. I am waiting for the 'scholars.' The unbaked poetry and literary lame pieces of the 'blue blood' When Joseph Hill(Culture) says 'inferior to non is not super ...
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Everybody has something to have a take on. Seen. That is writing. I am waiting for the 'scholars.' The unbaked poetry and literary lame pieces of the 'blue blood' When Joseph Hill(Culture) says 'inferior to non is not superior to some', no one listens. Read this wonderful piece with Soyinka's take on truth and repent. This goes to everyone of us. How much do you think one stick of a broom can perform? Brother Kwateng has covered all our misguided attitudes stemming from the 'assimilation and association' strategies of our 'good friends'. Our latent and unconscious greed to sell a brother for rum is overpowering.
YAW 10 years ago

The Brethren"s only aim was to manipulate time in the interest of an eventual fraudulent accord.The Scarab Beetle screamed...NO NO NO..we want freedom now! The Brethren was not champion of justice,but a true parasitic worm.Th ...
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The Brethren"s only aim was to manipulate time in the interest of an eventual fraudulent accord.The Scarab Beetle screamed...NO NO NO..we want freedom now! The Brethren was not champion of justice,but a true parasitic worm.The Scholar is one of those chosen to misinform.We are outraged by The Scholars descent.The Scholar will always play a tenth fiddle to renowned and accomplished intellectuals.His intellectual carelessness is unique. His academic honed brain "is not fit for purpose".Francis own fascinating excursion through our history.
Kweku Donsuro 10 years ago

According to Greek philosopher and war general Xenophon, change is the only constant which never changes bcos it is for ever changing. We can paraphrase by saying truth is the only constant which never changes bcos it is for ...
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According to Greek philosopher and war general Xenophon, change is the only constant which never changes bcos it is for ever changing. We can paraphrase by saying truth is the only constant which never changes bcos it is forever changing since there is no absolute truth, therefore liars are not liars and those who tell the truth are pretenders since the word liar reversed reads rail so truth and lying are bedfellows like parallel rail lines or two sides of a coin which are conjoined.
YAW 10 years ago

Crikey!more than impressive.Easy Kweku,I am not so initiated.You are brilliant!Are you an author? can i buy some of your books on kindle? reply.

Crikey!more than impressive.Easy Kweku,I am not so initiated.You are brilliant!Are you an author? can i buy some of your books on kindle? reply.

C.Y. ANDY-K 10 years ago

Quite right! In the face of change, a wag once remarked a long time ago, it appeared the longer you keep the world ignorant, the more famous you became and become a classic which must feature in the literature review of any r ...
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Quite right! In the face of change, a wag once remarked a long time ago, it appeared the longer you keep the world ignorant, the more famous you became and become a classic which must feature in the literature review of any research effort.

Constant flux with the passage of time is what marks the world. A Chinese sage remarked, you can stand in the same river twice [at the same spot, that is]. That's why I dug the Naturalistic Paradigm of Guba and Guba. If we have the sight of bees, we'd perceive the world in its multi-coloured glory, like through a prism.

Andy-K
Bernard 10 years ago

vOkoampah might have drunk a bottle of Rum after reading this. And like the tortured soul in search of redemption, he will tremble before Kwarteng.

The stupid scholar only choses his weak targets who cannot defend themse ...
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vOkoampah might have drunk a bottle of Rum after reading this. And like the tortured soul in search of redemption, he will tremble before Kwarteng.

The stupid scholar only choses his weak targets who cannot defend themselves but, have a habit of hiding when taken on by a superior brain power. He has no class, very low and stinks. And he is the real specimen of Adolf Hitler.
C.Y. ANDY-K 10 years ago

Yes, it fits Ahoofe just as it fits a whole gamut of degree and PhD wielding Ghanaians who think they have discovered the truth either in the Bible or Qur'an and hence have thrown all other knowledge from Archaelogy to Zoolog ...
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Yes, it fits Ahoofe just as it fits a whole gamut of degree and PhD wielding Ghanaians who think they have discovered the truth either in the Bible or Qur'an and hence have thrown all other knowledge from Archaelogy to Zoology aside, and stopped thinking! Their cosmology and cosmogony have not as yet evolved beyond the primitive substantive rationality of their small-time peasant, animal husbandry, artisanal fishermen, craftsmen, elementary schl/standard 7 educated (if lucky), etc. grandparents and parents.

It fits Prof. Mills just as much as it fits Presidents Kufuor and Mahama! It fits, I bet, over 95% of Ghanaians with degrees!

Andy-K
Kwadwo 10 years ago

If this gibberish written by Kwarteng makes you guys the well informed in Ghana and the black world in general, then I am glad i am not part of this clique. Just remember that though majority of us may not have devoted our t ...
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If this gibberish written by Kwarteng makes you guys the well informed in Ghana and the black world in general, then I am glad i am not part of this clique. Just remember that though majority of us may not have devoted our time reading the works of the great philosophers, we are doing our best for our country, families and our communities. That is all is required of us. We are not ignorant. By the way what is the greatest thing you have ever done in your life that surpasses what Mills, Kuffour and others did for their country?
Captain 10 years ago

Kwarteng is the educated fool.

Kwarteng is the educated fool.

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Fate Of A Misguided Scholar 4

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