It is amazing really that some people still criticize Oprah for the Academy. You wonder if they saw the ABC show. Did they see Oprah with a bucket of water on head? She was trying to experience some of the hardships of those brave girls!

Oprah didn’t have to do all that. She could have simply written a check, pat herself on the back and gone on with her life. She put her heart and her hands into it, personally supervising the school’s creation. Give her a break!  A lot of people thankfully have praised Oprah’s efforts. Her philanthropy is providing a much-needed leadership for other helpers. Her example has raised very difficult questions about the state of Africa’s educational systems.

One striking response to part one of this article went thus:

“I think that it is a bit strong. I applaud Oprah and believe that we need to all do our part as well. I also think that many of the African governments have squandered resources and I believe in the power of education. However, I have witnessed persons in Africa who were highly educated and intelligent; however, still destitute for a lack of opportunity. I think that education is critical to the elevation of our people in Africa. However, I believe that this is only half of the battle. We still need to identify and create opportunities for these persons once we are educated.”

The solution lies ironically within the educational system itself. All societies have peculiar needs. Each must provide its citizens with the skills to fulfill those needs. In the process of meeting those needs, they can make a living. In Africa, the needs are many. They include drinkable water, sanitary facilities, decent housing, safe roads and affordable healthcare.

A major African failure has been in organizing people to meet those needs. This failure explains why Nigerian leaders typically go abroad for medical treatment. Nigeria can afford the world’s best medical facilities. So, what is the problem? Organizational (intellectual) capital is scarce.

Our educational systems must confront this scarcity. It must train people to become skilled managers. It must nourish the budding African entrepreneurial spirit. It must train our children to create jobs, more jobs.

So basic is this job-creation imperative, I am alarmed that it is not such a priority. Why train your kids to be philosophers when they cannot feed themselves? This is not to knock philosophy: courses like that have their place. It is however very hard to think straight when you are starving!

Given Africa’s urgent needs, I have some recommendations. These would expand or replace whatever exists now. Regardless of specialty, every student should be required to take these courses:

• Political Rights & Duties: Since governments can destroy or develop a society, we should create the next generation of Africans who are politically astute. In Nigeria for example, that would require that every student know the constitution. Citizens must be aware of their civic rights and responsibilities. They must exercise their power to organize and change governments. Political ignorance accounts a lot for Africa’s plethora of bad governments.

• Entrepreneurship: Each student must learn how to start and sustain a business. I understand that enterprises can be very complicated to run. The more complex concepts and practices can be left to higher level students. Even then, I can see how a teenager who probably already operates an orange stand could gain from formalized instruction. Such training can help build visions for expanding that small stall, one step at a time! Government guaranteed loans would provide start-up cash.

• Skills: What can you do with your hands? Every graduate should be able to answer that concretely. It doesn’t have to be a jack-of-all trade scenario. Each one should learn at least a specific skill useful for setting up small businesses. It could be in carpentry, construction, plumbing, farming, PCs, electronics, mechanics or something else. Science and Technology, of course, would form a huge component of this course-work. In the practicum, the schools can provide goods and services for sale. This would offset some of the educational costs.  

While the skills segment can end in high school, the others, including Science and Technology, can extend to graduate studies. Only schools that implement the mandatory curriculum would be accredited. Think of the benefits: your kid can grow food or build houses while writing the next great works of philosophy!  No need to produce starving philosophers (or writers)!

How do we arrive at the specific skills for the students to pick from? Subject to legislative ratification, a national curriculum commission would decide. Why involve governments in fashioning the curriculum? Answer: it is dangerous to ignore their roles. African governments dominate access to resources. They can make education free or affordable to all.

Many of the governments have been stumbling blocks to the education of their citizens. Educated people are typically the first targets of abusive governments. The educated are enlightened enough to see and oppose the failings of bad governments. They typically form the core of resistance to oppression.

Of course, we should not rely solely on governmental efforts. As Oprah has proven, where governments fail, private citizens can fill the damaging gap.

One of the responses to part one of this article asked for “ideas”. Another sought for specific roles outside of the government. Here are my suggestions:

• Pray for God’s intervention: There are spiritual dimensions to keeping people ignorant, misinformed and uneducated. In the dark, it is easier to mislead people to their doom! The darkness I speak of is both intellectual and spiritual.

• Support Oprah’s and similar effort: Donate to her Angel’s Network and pray for her and the children. If one million people, for instance, give $1 dollar a month, think of what could be achieved!

• Build consensus, convince others: There are people who still believe education should be for only a select few. The problem with their perspective is something called ‘National IQ’. You can’t pull up a nation by the knowledge of just a few people. The others would tend to pull the rest down!

• Stand against slavery and colonialism: Ignorance permitted the colonization and enslavement of Africans. And as the world reflects on the slave trade, a stark reality remains: the African ignorance that allowed it persists! Providing for the education of Africa’s children could be a starting point in ‘apologizing’ for these twin evils!

• Organize groups to fight for education, to affect its content and affordability. Support the rights of children to be educated. Compel public officials to be more responsive to society’s educational needs.

Let us join hands with Oprah and others to make good things happen in education. Our children are counting on it!

(fredlintaz@yahoo.com)

Click this link for other articles by this writer.

Robot  Villager

# 1 It is amazing really that some people still criticize Oprah for the Academy. You wonder if they s...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 03.04.2007 15:54

Rose  Villager

# 2 Fred, Oprah also garners a lot of criticism for the publicity her projects receives, but the inspiration is immeasurable. I watched her today and the outpouring of support for her guests who are making a difference was quite touching. She's like a lightening rod for legions of "helpers" ready to roll up their sleeves.:) Her philanthropy is providing a much-needed leadership for other helpers. Oprah’s ABC reality show will be produced by The Amazing Race’s creators Bert Van Munster and Elise Doganieri, the creators and co-executive producers of The Amazing Race, will produce Oprah Winfrey’s forthcoming ABC reality show The Big Give. The show “follows a group of 10 people who will be handed money and resources — and then challenged to find dramatic and emotional ways to use the coin to help others,” and it’s “the first competition-based reality show Van Munster and Doganieri have produced since launching ‘Race’ on CBS in 2001,” Variety reports. While “ABC and Harpo are keeping a tight lid on details surrounding the production timetable,” Variety says the eight-episode show “is expected to air sometime this year.” Oprah Opens 2nd School In Africa Seven Fountains Primary School Is Funded By Winfrey's Angel Network March 16, 2007 Oprah Winfrey opened her second school for poor South African youth Friday, an innovative, environmentally friendly institution she hopes will be a model for public education. The Seven Fountains Primary School was funded by Oprah's Angel Network, a public charity that supports organizations and projects focused on education and literacy. "The Seven Fountains School is an example of what schools in South Africa can become," Winfrey said at the formal dedication of the school outside the remote town of Kokstad in eastern KwaZulu-Natal province. Dressed casually in a cream top and white pants, the talk show host danced and sang with teachers and children who lauded her with cries of "Long live Oprah, long live!" Winfrey first visited the school in 2002 when it was located on a farm, bringing gifts, clothing, books and teacher-training materials for its 1,000 students and staff. The school was later forced to move from the farm and relocated to a building with no windows, little electricity and running water, and only four toilets. During a follow-up visit in 2004, the Angel Network committed itself to building a new school. "We thought the school you had before was not good enough, so we wanted to build the best school for you," she told the children Friday. The $1.6 million school, which will be run by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education, has 25 classrooms, three multipurpose rooms, a library, computer center, landscaped playground and two sports fields. The supply of water to the area is irregular, so the school has an innovative system that recycles rain water and uses seesaws and merry-go-rounds to pump water. It also uses solar power and has landscaped gardens that supply vegetables for school meals. "It can be done within the expectations of budgets. We used our imagination and creativity to build not only a good school but a great school," Winfrey said. Winfrey emphasized the importance of education in combating poverty and said every child had a right to succeed. "We are here today to celebrate the transformative power of education," she said. Principal Veliswa Mnukwa praised Winfrey for responding to their plight and called her an "angel." "This is the second time you are visiting us, but now it is a very different school ... Nothing compares with what you have done for us," she said. Nduli Amahle, 11, marveled at the school's transformation. "I want to thank Oprah for giving us this school. It is going to change my life and help me become a doctor," she said. Parent Lindiwe Mbambo said the school is also going to have a lasting affect on the community. "Even as a parent I am going to participate here. There is a night school, a computer center and a library that we can use. I can't express my gratitude for Oprah. The old school was so miserable," she said. Winfrey opened her Leadership Academy for Girls outside Johannesburg to great fanfare on Jan. 2, with celebrities like Tina Turner and Spike Lee in attendance, as well as former President Nelson Mandela. The lavish $40 million school was the fulfillment of a promise she made to Mandela six years ago and aims to give 152 girls from deprived backgrounds a quality education in a country where schools are struggling to overcome the legacy of apartheid. But some parents have complained to local media about academy rules limiting the girls to one family visit a month and restrict their cell phone calls and consumption of junk food. "It was a nightmare," Frances Mans told the News24 Web site. "We had only two hours to see my child. Surely this isn't a prison." John Samuel, chief operating officer for the academy, said parents had raised their concerns with Winfrey by telephone and had been reassured. "They say they are satisfied that the girls are not being treated unfairly," he said, adding that the school had tried to discourage parents from bringing the girls soft drinks or sweets because they were fed a nutritious diet. He said Winfrey had spent time at the academy meeting with staff and students ahead of Friday's event. Samuel also dismissed complaints the school was culturally insensitive and said it was based on the African philosophy of ubuntu, which places an emphasis on the collective. "We are very conscious of how we deal with people and have the community's interest at heart," he said. Built on 52 acres, the 28-building campus resembles a luxury hotel, with state-of-the-art classrooms, computer and science labs and a library, theater and wellness center. Each girl lives in a two-bedroom suite. It will eventually have 450 students. But the school has been called elitist. ActionAid, a global development group, said Winfrey's money could have been better spent improving the quality of education for more children. Posted by Rose| 03.04.2007 20:31

Palamedes  Villager

# 3 My criticism of our beloved Oprah is that she didn’t build the schools in West Africa—where her ancestors came, and that is because as a West African, I am jealous. My hope is that more wealthy African Americans would follow her footsteps and help Africa too. Also, such help from abroad would put wealthy Africans to shame ActionAid criticism of Oprah reveals the organization’s overall objectives in terms of development, that is to say, their idea of “improving the quality of education for more children” is like diluting a bottle of coke so that every child in a children’s party can have some. It would not be the real thing, would it? Posted by Palamedes| 04.04.2007 04:20

yemaya  JJC

# 4 i wonder how much control the government and local administration have in relation to these Oprah schools? how much input do they have? Posted by yemaya| 04.04.2007 12:26

RECK  Villager

# 5 Africa has more than enough resources to build such state of the art schools for her children, without the help of the Oprahs of this world. We simply refuse to, instead our people are either stashing away the stolen resources in the coffers of the West or handing it over in a platter of gold in the name of debt repayments. Africa needs to be redeemed from herself!! Posted by RECK| 08.04.2007 16:51

What?  Villager

# 6 It would not be a bad idea to look at the criterion for judging Oprah's gift. What is it? How it affects our emotions, how many people it will impact, whether it will have a significant impact in the development of South Africa, the consequences between investing in our community, or that of a community we may not have a stake in nor understand? What exactly are these ladies being groomed for: CEO's in a western style economy; or soft talking street brawlers like Dora Akunyili and Wangari Maathai; which would be more neccesary when the girls become effective in society? At the end of the day it is Oprah's money but it would be wise to actually examine the effectiveness of this generous gift. Perhaps we might be able to help the next big donor with good advice to achieve what they say they desire. Posted by What?| 08.04.2007 17:24