Editorial, Fr. Lawrence Muthee, SVD

EDITORIAL
Fr. Lawrence Muthee, SVD
CHANGING MINDSETS – PRACTICAL EDUCATION

Everyone is born into a particular environment. The environment in which a person is raised greatly contributes to their physical, mental, spiritual, and economic growth, as well as their worldview. Let’s look at a few examples:

A person born into a poor family goes through very tough experiences. If they get opportunities and work hard, they may succeed, but slowly. If they miss opportunities or don’t work hard, they often remain poor like their relatives.
A person born into a well-off family gets many opportunities from a young age. If they use those opportunities well, they succeed quickly and may even become richer than their relatives. If they misuse those opportunities, thinking they will inherit from their parents, they may end up poor.

There are many things we inherited from our families or the environment in which we were raised that have significantly contributed to our success, delays in success, or complete failure in life.

EDUCATION

Traditional African societies had various educational systems based on their settings. Colonizers introduced modern education to African countries, but the system greatly delays a person’s ability to use that education for personal and community development. It also doesn’t prepare one to be self-reliant, but rather to be employed in an office. Let’s look at a few examples:

In Tanzania, for instance, it typically takes about 17 years of schooling before one can start working: 1 year of kindergarten, 7 years of primary school, 6 years of secondary school, and 3 years of college. If someone starts school at age 5, they begin working at 22. Some stay at home for years after graduating while looking for a job, and others never get one. Because the system does not prepare them for entrepreneurship, they remain poor after wasting many years in school.

Throughout the school years, the student consumes their family’s resources without contributing or producing anything. We can say they are just consumers. Families with many children go bankrupt paying for their education. If the children fail and don’t reach the level of employment, they return home and face deep poverty.

Many parents educate their children in the hope that when they get jobs, they will help support the family. Therefore, many educated people—especially first-borns—fail to develop themselves in life because of the burden of supporting their families, particularly paying school fees for their younger siblings.

As mentioned earlier, our education system prepares people for employment instead of building their capacity for self-reliance. Many people are content with basic education; that is, when they finish college, they think that’s enough. Very few pursue further education at the master’s or doctoral (Ph.D.) level. Let’s briefly explain these degrees:

Basic Education to College gives a person the ability to do what they were taught—i.e., to repeat what they were taught and what they studied on their own.
A master’s Degree develops a person’s ability to research and find answers and solutions to surrounding challenges (discovery and innovation).
A doctorate (Ph.D.) builds a person’s capacity to contribute new concepts in their field to improve and address new problems.

Note that it’s not always necessary to return to college to further one’s education or get certificates. Anyone can develop their knowledge and skills further by cultivating the habit of researching more about their field. This makes them more competent in performance and productivity. A farmer, livestock keeper, or businessperson cannot succeed if they keep using the same methods every year, even when they incur losses.

For example, many traditional livestock keepers like to keep large numbers of traditional cattle. These animals require large grazing areas but grow slowly and produce little milk, and are bad for the environment. A single modern cow, kept in a small area, can produce more milk than twenty traditional cows.

In China, education is different. Students are given what we might call “Practical Education.” From primary school, they are taught how to make various products such as toys and small-tech items like wristwatches. Through this, students gain not only self-employment skills but also contribute to the national economy while still in school. This is why countries like China and Japan have progressed very rapidly compared to other nations worldwide.

CULTURE

Briefly, we can define Culture as the way of life of a people that is largely built upon their natural setting.

There are two types of culture:

Traditional culture
Environmental culture

Traditional Culture

Traditional culture is nurtured at home and has its specific values and norms. It is maintained by a strict system overseen by elders. For example, in many African societies, men are given more dignity than women. In some communities, a woman has no say even in important matters concerning her life, such as marriage. A girl is married off to a man who has paid the bride price, regardless of whether she loves him or not.

In traditional culture, communities have firm positions, especially on matters of religion, faith, marriage, family, and other processes like how to resolve disputes, etc.

A major challenge in traditional culture is the lack of development and enslavement. The few in power (especially elderly men) enjoy a certain standard of living while everyone else (women, youth, and children) live as slaves. Elders strive to keep everything the way it used to be. They resist change, and anyone who tries to bring even beneficial change is isolated. Harsh penalties are imposed on those who defy traditions. Many communities live under these traditions without seeing their existential harm they do to their people.

In some societies, kinship is very broad—a communal system. This can have benefits and drawbacks. For instance, when someone faces a problem, many relatives help solve it. But if only one person has succeeded economically, their relatives may exploit them or hinder their progress because they believe that person must support them. These relatives simply enjoy life without working. As a result, many distance themselves from their relatives to progress, which leads to resentment among family members. This system of communal living (socialism) discourages progress because people know that once they succeed, they’ll be forced to share their resources with those who didn’t make any effort.

Environmental Culture

Environmental culture constantly changes. It is found especially in urban areas or rural towns where residents come from various places, tribes, or even countries. In one word, we can call this Globalized Culture. This is brought about by institutions, industries, businesses, transportation, etc. People who travel often bring back new things into their environments. For example, clothing styles, languages, food, products, political views, types of relationships, family models, religions, beliefs, worldviews, etc. Many people around the world live under this type of culture. In this culture, a person can progress in life by seizing opportunities wherever they arise.

A major challenge in this culture is misinformation and a lack of firm values. Many drift through life without doing anything meaningful. Short-term pleasures and entertainment dominate their lives. It becomes difficult for people to have long-term relationships because perspectives and goals constantly change. Discipline is minimal, and shame is nonexistent. People do things that may shock you. Some have no religion or firm beliefs, and those who did have them before under traditional culture abandon them when they shift to the globalized culture. Parents and elders lose authority over their children and are often left without support in rural areas.

Hybrid Culture

This is a blend of traditional and environmental cultures. If you blend the two, you get a hybrid culture that can be very helpful in life. By taking the best of both and eliminating their respective challenges, you stand a greater chance of succeeding in life.

A person with strong spiritual and moral values, scientific education, and broad exposure through travel is likely to succeed. Such people are disciplined, respectful, self-respecting, innovative, and capable of facing challenges.

Do not live blindly following any culture without reflecting on whether it helps your personal development. Many highly educated people remain enslaved to harmful traditions of their elders. Others, who never went to school, have abandoned good traditions from their ancestors and gotten lost in negative globalization.

Many educated and uneducated people continue to be spiritually misled by self-appointed prophets. Many have lost their wealth, their families have fallen apart, others have become mad, or even lost their lives at the hands of modern prophets and preachers. These individuals have no particular domicile or offices and do not have any system to regulate their activities. By exploiting the gap in “freedom of worship,” they have misled many. If you reflect deeply on the words of Hosea 4:6—“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge”—you’ll see the truth in them.

Which culture do you belong to?

Reflection

What are your life goals?
Do you like the life you’re currently living?
If you were given the ability to change one thing in your life, what would you change?
What do you believe in?
What do you spend a lot of money on that isn’t essential?
Has your closest friend ever given you meaningful advice since you became friends?
Do you have people who often need your help but have many excuses when you’re in need?
Who has the greatest influence in your life—your parents, relatives, uncle, friend, spouse, fiancé(e), or spiritual leader?