A SOLID BASE TO SUSTAIN AUTHENTIC TEACHER EDUCATION IN NIGERIA (EDUCATION PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS)
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Nigeria needs a better educational system than what we she has at present. There is no gain saying the fact that authenticity has eluded us both individually and collectively as a people. Our environment is polluted with artificiality. We ignore nature’s gifts within and around us in preference to synthetic existence. We prefer to copy the work and life of other people regardless of our own background, nature and nurture. We thrive in sacrificing authenticity at the alter of conventionality. Because of these misgivings and misconceptions, we have persistently witnessed in our societies and communities cultural upheavals and disenchantment, political and democratic imbalances, socio-economic disequilibrium and academic backwardness.
All these individual, social lives and values are immersed in the deep see of deception. The position we find ourselves and the state of affairs of the nation is filled in utter confusion. It has been severally said that the life of any nation depends on the type of education it has. Apparently, no one seems to have any correct answers to the multifarious problems facing the country’s education system. The government is handicapped in finding a lasting solution to the nation’s education problems instead it is contented with the policy of remediation
Lack of authentic education has been the bane of Nigeria’s existence from cradle: There are numerous cases of in authenticity in our society.
There are cases of many schooled persons who are yet to be educated. Engineers who can not fix their cars’ engine problems instead they will be looking for road side mechanics to do it for them. There elites in our society who have acquired the white man’s education based on theory alone without practical application of the technical know-how or depth knowledge and experience of the discipline they have undertaken. This accounts for the reason why we have many lettered but uneducated people certificated but not certified graduates who roam the streets of our urban cities in search of the scarce white-collar jobs instead of being able to generate or create job opportunities for themselves and the less privileged members of the society. What then is the value of education if it lacks authenticity? Where and how does one evaluate such education which does not help its possessor to become self-actualized, self-realized and self-fulfilled? Does the holy book not say that the supremacy of knowledge /wisdom is that it helps the owner to live? Ecclesiastes chapter 7 verses 11 & 12 say” “Everyone who lives ought to be wise; it is as good as receiving an inheritance and will give you much security as money can. Wisdom keeps you safe; this is the advantage of wisdom. Thus the value of good education is reflected in the usefulness of such education in making one self-reliant, self-realized, self-actualized and self- fulfilled.
