Samson Ayenini takes on Havard University

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KIA 8 years ago

Samson's problem is typified by a contradiction I have observed among people with limited education in Ghana. On the one hand, they pretend to disdain high academic qualifications and those who hold them. On the other, they'r ...
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Samson's problem is typified by a contradiction I have observed among people with limited education in Ghana. On the one hand, they pretend to disdain high academic qualifications and those who hold them. On the other, they're more than willing to pay for fake degrees and certificates, including PhDs.

We should understand the psychology here. If you don't or can't have something, pretend it doesn't matter.

I'm proud of my Legon education. Indeed, as Samson stated on Newsfile (which is ironic), my Legon education equipped me enough to compete with, sometimes outcompete, classmates from around the world in world class universities. But further education in those world class universities also gave me a certain way of thinking, global networks, and a multicultural sensitivity.

There is no reason for me to prefer my Legon education over my overseas education and vice versa. They all gave me something unique and important. Surprisingly, these world class universities gave me humility, too! I was far less humble when I was at Legon and immediately after I completed with a First Class than I am now. Then, I thought I knew everything. Now, I am less obstinate in my opinions and more receptive to opposing views, knowing there is more we still don't (and probably can't) know.

Perhaps, Samson, as brilliant a lawyer as he is, should think of adding a little humility to his Legon/GLS education! Having said that, I admire the man!
MANTSE 8 years ago

Justice Akufo only has an LLM from Harvard. Most LLM programs are one year programs in a specialized area of the law.

Majority of her education was in Ghanaian classrooms, we therefore cannot attribute her brilliance in th ...
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Justice Akufo only has an LLM from Harvard. Most LLM programs are one year programs in a specialized area of the law.

Majority of her education was in Ghanaian classrooms, we therefore cannot attribute her brilliance in the law to the one year or in some instances two years spent at Harvard.

In as much as an Ivy league education adds some prestige to an individual, it's what you do with the education obtained that's more important.

The last 5 American Presidents are all graduates of Ivy League schools, but you could not possibly say they're all equal in terms of intelligence and performance.

Let's stop idolizing institutions and place more value on competence.
KIA 8 years ago

"Let's stop idolizing institutions and place more value on competence."

I agree, except for two things. Firstly, Samson is not saying "[l]et's stop idolizing institutions". He is saying let's idolise only institutions in ...
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"Let's stop idolizing institutions and place more value on competence."

I agree, except for two things. Firstly, Samson is not saying "[l]et's stop idolizing institutions". He is saying let's idolise only institutions in Ghana. Secondly, you also ignore, are probably unaware of, what an Ivy League education, even in just a year, can do to your competence and thinking.

Moreover, it may be a mistake to use the likes of Trump and Bush as your yardstick to measure the competence of an Ivy League graduate. The typical Ivy League grad got admission on the basis of superior grades (e.g. Obama and Clinton). The likes of Trump and Bush got in because they're the scions of famous grads or big donors of those schools. They're, that is, outliers.

Another way to think about this is to ask why most parents in Ghana want their daughters to go to Wesley Girls, Holy Child or Aburi Girls. It's because over time these schools have produced women who have proved competent in various endeavours of life in our society. It doesn't mean everyone who graduates from these schools will become successful or influential. But most, especially the serious ones, do!

Believe it or not, a year at Wesley Girls can make a lot of difference. So can Harvard! That doesn't mean all one's previous education, whether at whatever college or high school, doesn't matter. It does! But to say the latter matters should not lead us to say the former doesn't. That's faulty logic!
Ken Ntiamoa 8 years ago

In the country of the blind, the one-eyed person is the King. Allow Sampson Ayenini wish for whatever he decides to wish for; but, I can tell you frankly that one year at Harvard is equivalent to 4 years at Legon. And, you ca ...
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In the country of the blind, the one-eyed person is the King. Allow Sampson Ayenini wish for whatever he decides to wish for; but, I can tell you frankly that one year at Harvard is equivalent to 4 years at Legon. And, you can quote me anywhere.

Ken
nana kofi 8 years ago

I support u 100%. I went to legon and currently living in the states . I have not done my masters yet but decided to settle with some courses at a community collge and what ive learned is a lot.
don't even talk of Harvard se ...
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I support u 100%. I went to legon and currently living in the states . I have not done my masters yet but decided to settle with some courses at a community collge and what ive learned is a lot.
don't even talk of Harvard sef koraa.
ST. GHFUO, BLACK EXCELLENCE! 8 years ago

IF YOU WANT YOUR SCHOOL TO BE RESPECTED, REGARDLESS OF ITS ENDOWMENT SIZE. U NEED TO RECRUIT PROFESSORS WHO HAS STUDIED AT IVY LG SCHOOLS OR VARSITIES WITH MAJOR REPUTATIONS. HARVARD, OXFORD, MCGILL ARE OLDER INSTITUTIONS AND ...
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IF YOU WANT YOUR SCHOOL TO BE RESPECTED, REGARDLESS OF ITS ENDOWMENT SIZE. U NEED TO RECRUIT PROFESSORS WHO HAS STUDIED AT IVY LG SCHOOLS OR VARSITIES WITH MAJOR REPUTATIONS. HARVARD, OXFORD, MCGILL ARE OLDER INSTITUTIONS AND HAVE LARGE ENDOWMENT FUNDS. PREVIOUS GRADS AHVE PASSED THRU THE SCHHOL. MANY WERE SLAVE OWNERS AND BENEFITTED FROM OLD MONEY AND HAVE GIVEN MOST OF THEIR RICHES TO THESE SCHOOLS. THESE SCHOOLS DIDNT JUST LAY DOWN BUT KEPT INVESTING THER ENDOWMENTS IN OTHER AREAS LIKE RESEARCH, EQUITIES, REAL ESTATE, BANKING ETC TO ACCUMULATE INFLUENCE AND DATS WHY THEY ARE WHERE THEY ARE TODAY. SO MANY PPL HAVE ONE THRU LEGON AND IM SURE PAST ALUMNI HAVE MADE DONATIONS TO THE SCHOOL. ASK LEGON IF THEY EVEN HAVE AN ENDOWMENT OFFICE? YALE'S ENDOWMENT OFFICE HEADED BY SORENSEN IS THE MOST PROFITABLE SCHOOL IN TERMS OF REVENUE. THEY PUT THEIR MONEY TO WORK, INVESTMENTS ETC. HOW MANY IVY LG GRADS/PROFS TEACH AT LEGON OR ANY VARSITY IN GH FOR THAT MATTER? STUDENTS ARE AS GOOD AS THE PPL WHO TEACH THEM
Nana Oduro Numapaw 8 years ago

I like Sampson. I listen to him and follow his analysis but this time I disagree with him.
Harvard is even too much to compare legon with.American schools are heavily funded. just look at Harvard.it is the single largest and ...
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I like Sampson. I listen to him and follow his analysis but this time I disagree with him.
Harvard is even too much to compare legon with.American schools are heavily funded. just look at Harvard.it is the single largest and the richest college in the world with an endowment fund of over $36 billion;a figure that is more than half the entire gdp of a country with over 27million population-Ghana.
Consider their alumni globally. they are the face of almost every generation. two Harvard billionaires from hongkong have donated about $350 million dollars to their alma mater for making them rich. this is the single largest donation ever made to a college at without instalment payment.
look at the great great inventions going on around the world. majority of them are from American colleges like Princeton, yale, ucla,mit, Caltech,columbia,....just to mention a few and Harvard is leading all these rich and powerful schools by most indeces. if nothing at all just look at the young billionaire mark kofi zaggerberg, bill gate,j.f. kennedy, barrack Obama et al. I mean Harvard cannot be compared with any school in terms of invention, creativity and innovation, wealth and prestige in the world.
Yaw Botah 8 years ago

Sampson thinks his New File substandard program measures up to the intelligible programs like Rachel Maddows Show on MSNBC or Jon Lemon of CNN. I had my bachelors and masters in for UST, Ghana, but trust me, I saw that my he ...
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Sampson thinks his New File substandard program measures up to the intelligible programs like Rachel Maddows Show on MSNBC or Jon Lemon of CNN. I had my bachelors and masters in for UST, Ghana, but trust me, I saw that my head was empty when I came the States. Sampson should travel and see. Education in Harvard is not for dummies. Yes you can have your cheap one-year masters in the U k, but not here in the US.
Nkrumah 8 years ago

There is no way UG can be compared to Harvard. What is the basis for the comparison?
At its worst, Harvard does not train a bunch of incompetents,corruption-induced dummies and absolute nonentities. Attempting to compare As ...
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There is no way UG can be compared to Harvard. What is the basis for the comparison?
At its worst, Harvard does not train a bunch of incompetents,corruption-induced dummies and absolute nonentities. Attempting to compare Asawase SSS to Mfantsipim is an exercise in futility.
Master 8 years ago

Well said bro, a high school education in the US is more than or at least equivalent to a BS from Ghana.

Well said bro, a high school education in the US is more than or at least equivalent to a BS from Ghana.

Nii Kantinka 8 years ago

I was laughing when I head Sampson's effusions. At least Yaw Botah has replied him well and those chew and pour grads speaking on Television should spare us their complexity when it comes to education outside Ghana. Well like ...
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I was laughing when I head Sampson's effusions. At least Yaw Botah has replied him well and those chew and pour grads speaking on Television should spare us their complexity when it comes to education outside Ghana. Well like Yaw Botah rightly said "Harvard is not for dummies"
Okra 8 years ago

I agree with Yaw Bota except for one comment.....that a UK degree is is inferior to a US degree. In the UK a masters degree is done in 1 year compared to 2 years in the state and the difference is that in the UK the course i ...
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I agree with Yaw Bota except for one comment.....that a UK degree is is inferior to a US degree. In the UK a masters degree is done in 1 year compared to 2 years in the state and the difference is that in the UK the course is intensive. Oxford Law is not inferior to Harvard Law. Neither is Cambridge Maths inferior to MIT or any math incline uni in the states. I have had law professors who completely rubish the practice of law in the America and call certain case ridiculous.....they normally say you can't have any cat in a microwave judgement in the UK. It is amazing to sit and listen to the Law Lords. UK degrees are powerful degrees and can can compete at par with the US degree. You call them ivy league in the US and they call them red bricks
mark 8 years ago

check the global innovations and inventions alone and see who is championing ideologies.
uk schools can only talk about old rag glories but in the 21st centuries they are no where to be found.
Harvard has an endowmnent fund ...
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check the global innovations and inventions alone and see who is championing ideologies.
uk schools can only talk about old rag glories but in the 21st centuries they are no where to be found.
Harvard has an endowmnent fund alone of over $36billion-an amount far larger than the top ten schools in the uk combined. this is an undeniable fact and u can check. what does it tell u? more money for research, scholarships, entrepreneurial incubation et al. usa alone now takes about 70% of international students globally every year and the rest is shared by the uk, Australia, new Zealand and Canada.
follow the trends of the world so u don't make vague analysis and get lost.
Kotey 8 years ago

Perhaps in your attempt to rubbish the nonsensical effusion of Ayenini, you went a bit overboard by denigrating British universities.

For your attention British Universities consistently top the world university rankings. ...
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Perhaps in your attempt to rubbish the nonsensical effusion of Ayenini, you went a bit overboard by denigrating British universities.

For your attention British Universities consistently top the world university rankings. This an example of the 2017 rankings.

1 - University of Oxford

2 - California Tech

3 - Stanford

4 - Cambridge

5 - Massachusetts

6 - Harvard

Yale was 12 behind imperial college and University of London

University of Ghana Legon was 800

This is not to undermine the great Harvard but it was wrong of you to belittle British education which is highly regarded all over the world
kumor 8 years ago

The rankings u have are done by TIME HIGHER EDUCATION which is british owned. it is laughable that they always rank English schools higher and they end up deceiving you and the world.is very biased.
ut Austin alone is richer ...
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The rankings u have are done by TIME HIGHER EDUCATION which is british owned. it is laughable that they always rank English schools higher and they end up deceiving you and the world.is very biased.
ut Austin alone is richer than all the top three schools in England.
how many people in this world know about imperial collge?
in the 21st century don't look at those rankings alone but look at the inventions and innovations they are bringing to the world.
Stanford-steve jobs of apple,google by larry page of Stanford university,nasa managed by Caltech-competing seriously with the almighty mit on world engineering, Microsoft by bill gate of Harvard, facebook by Mark Zuckerberg,mention the rest for yourself.
where are oxford, Cambridge and imperial college grads and what are they doing to change the world?
RETHINK.
mark 8 years ago

u said it all. the kind of questions you will be asked even by a high school student...hmmm.
Rachel maddow has no size in the whole Ghana.

u said it all. the kind of questions you will be asked even by a high school student...hmmm.
Rachel maddow has no size in the whole Ghana.
Souljah Boy 8 years ago

Rubbish this article makes absolutely no sense at all. Is the writer doing his best just to be relevant?

Rubbish this article makes absolutely no sense at all. Is the writer doing his best just to be relevant?
Dave 8 years ago

Despite the hail given to those Ivy League institutions, the Ghanaian attendees have done nothing to make their own institutions better, let alone talking about the change they inspire in Ghanaians. What then is the point?

...
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Despite the hail given to those Ivy League institutions, the Ghanaian attendees have done nothing to make their own institutions better, let alone talking about the change they inspire in Ghanaians. What then is the point?

Our economy is still run by SMEs set up by people who were trained by Ghanaian institutions. Your fees in those Ivy League institutions were paid for by people also trained by the Ghanaian Institutions. We do not envy you guys but we have not seen what we thought we were going to see from you.
AKONTA 8 years ago

Whaty a dope dude. He said"...He went on to disapprove of the references to Justice Akuffo's Harvard education. He implied that an education at Legon is just as good as one from Harvard.....""

NO LEGON EDUCATION IS ...
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Whaty a dope dude. He said"...He went on to disapprove of the references to Justice Akuffo's Harvard education. He implied that an education at Legon is just as good as one from Harvard.....""

NO LEGON EDUCATION IS NEVER EQUAL TO A HARVARD EDUCATION......STUPID.ULTRA STUPID
Kweku trouble 8 years ago

I don't care what Samson or Kennedy says because both of them bring to the fore, the hypocrisy and double standards in this country. Those who went to the so called first class secondary schools in Ghana like to lord it over ...
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I don't care what Samson or Kennedy says because both of them bring to the fore, the hypocrisy and double standards in this country. Those who went to the so called first class secondary schools in Ghana like to lord it over others as if their grandfathers own the schools; when in some cases they gained admission due to 'old boyism and old girlism". Why is Samson complaining now because a foreign institution is being given the same status over a local institution? Ghanaians won't respect other local schools but expect equal respect from others ala animal kingdom. I don't give a toss about both Samson and Kennedy.

Omani 8 years ago

AACRAO-(merican Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers) evaluated my credentials; a DPhil from the University of Sussex in England, an MPhil and a BSc. from Ghana. AACRAO determined that were all at par ...
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AACRAO-(merican Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers) evaluated my credentials; a DPhil from the University of Sussex in England, an MPhil and a BSc. from Ghana. AACRAO determined that were all at par and equivalent to that of USA accredited universities.
AKONTA 8 years ago

Legon you ghat to be kidding

Legon you ghat to be kidding
Knockout 8 years ago

Tsikata wins hands down

Tsikata wins hands down
Earl Jones 8 years ago

Ask those who schooled in university in ghana and abroad and ask them to compare. If the western university is well ranked, it will definitely beat the best African university.

Ask those who schooled in university in ghana and abroad and ask them to compare. If the western university is well ranked, it will definitely beat the best African university.
Alomogyata 8 years ago

Samson must be out of his mind. How can you make this comparison? The problem is his EGO. In the land of the blind, the one eye man rules. If he had been in Europe or North America, he wouldn't have hosted a talent show let a ...
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Samson must be out of his mind. How can you make this comparison? The problem is his EGO. In the land of the blind, the one eye man rules. If he had been in Europe or North America, he wouldn't have hosted a talent show let alone a panel discussion. He is simply jealous.The exposure that someone who goes to Harvard, gets in terms of materials and resources for studies will not be available in Legon. Has he ever been to Harvard? Can he compare the two libraries? Mind your language?
Thomas 8 years ago

I'm doing a certificate course at Oxford university, I think it's better than having a degree course in legon.Hahaha

I'm doing a certificate course at Oxford university, I think it's better than having a degree course in legon.Hahaha
Joe 8 years ago

There are bigger issues comforting this continent.She never said those from Legon have lower IQ or can't perform.Stop this useless debate.Think about what you can do to better the life's of those in your village and please st ...
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There are bigger issues comforting this continent.She never said those from Legon have lower IQ or can't perform.Stop this useless debate.Think about what you can do to better the life's of those in your village and please stop this unhealthy comment.You know better.

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Samson Ayenini takes on Havard University

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