Education and National Integration in Africa

A Case Study of Nigeria

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2594441
AutoresN K Onuoha Chukunta (autor correspondente)
Ano1978
Volume21
Fascículo2
Páginas67
Data de publicação1978-09-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoAfrican Studies Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0002-0206 • E-ISSN: 1555-2462
EditoraJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/523662
OpenAlexW1988827851
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas2
Referências citadas15

Although philosophers do not accept that education has intrinsic values or that it serves instrumental ends (Dewey, 1966; Peters, 1967; Gribble, 1969), most people would readily agree that it can be put to several uses and that it fulfills diverse functions. If by education we mean the aggregate of skills, values, knowledge, and attitudes necessary for the self-perpetuation of a society, it is easy to see its instrumental extensions, philosophers notwithstanding. Hence in every society that we know of today—under whatever form of government—much faith is placed on education as a panacea of all social evils. One of the tasks that education has been assigned in Africa is to forge national consciousness out of a myriad of ethnic particularities. From all indications, it has not been a success. Statistical studies of the relationship between formal education and political integration in Africa have generally painted a grim picture. In their study of six nations—involving university students from Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda, and Zaire (then the Congo)—Klineberg and Zavalloni (1965) found that national consciousness was very low, particularly in Nigeria. To the question “What are you?” 56 percent of the Igbos and 60 percent of the Yorubas replied in terms of ethnic references. The Yorubas disliked the Igbos more than the Igbos disliked them (74 percent Yorubas as opposed to 59 percent Igbos), and a Yoruba in Nigeria felt closer to a Yoruba in Benin (then Dahomey) than to a non-Yoruba in Nigeria

Consciousness · Ethnic group · Faith · Government (linguistics · Igbo · National consciousness · Nigerians · Panacea (medicine · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Theology · Yoruba · African Education and Politics · Anthropology · Educational Challenges and Innovations · Gender Studies · Law · Psychology · Religious Education and Schools