By Elsie Eyakuze
Innovation. Creativity. Daring. Entrepreneurship. These are words that get thrown at job seekers so often they are starting to lose their shape through repetition.
It is a worldwide phenomenon for good reason: in the age of technology, of course these are qualities that most companies believe would drive them forward.
There is just one problem: public education systems are almost universally designed to discourage precisely these individualistic, chaotic, unpredictable and irrepressible qualities that so often lead to great leaps in science.
TRT Afrika has emphasised the underrated names who pioneered prominent scientific breakthroughs such as Erasto Mpemba who passed away in May.
He is known for the Mpemba Effect, which posits that hot water freezes faster than cold water. Thousands have studied this effect and the TRT Afrika article was a great insight into some of the world of science.
Two things stood out to me: Erasto Mpemba made his discovery at the tender age of 13 years and it took his lifetime for his discovery to continue raising questions in the scientific community.
Untapped talent
Some feel it has been proven, others feel it has been disproven, but the fate of a young boy whose impatience led to a possible discovery and what education has to do with it all, sounds more interesting.
Erasto Mpemba did not become a scientist, in the end. Towards his later years, I had the pleasure of talking with him a little bit for work purposes.
He was retired at the time and quite resigned to the simple life that he was living, in spite of having his name known in the international scientific community.
As a boy in the 1960’s, it must have taken an impressive amount of willpower for him to remain insistent that what he had done and what he had discovered was not a mistake.
All this in the face of an education system that was not friendly to self-directed learners and disruptors.
I say this is a worldwide phenomenon in order to take away the easy answer of the poverty of Tanzania as the only explaining factor for all the Erasto Mpembas who are born and they live and die never having their talents fully tapped and recognised in service of humanity.
But there is no doubt that there are countries whose education systems seem to have cracked the code of bringing out the best of students, letting the vaunted creativity, innovation, daring attitude and entrepreneurship.
Wonderful institutions
The views of renowned educator, Dr. Ken Robinson, can be cited here with regards to the link between the needs of the state to produce dependable, obedient citizen labour force and the suppression of the natural curiosity and diversity of individuals.
It is a rare thing to be able to shut out all the noise and get down to a very basic truth about humanity in general.
While we talk about the infinite capacities of technology, some of us dreaming that it will make that difference so many of us desire in order to end poverty and hunger as well as improve health and well-being, how many of us think of what it takes to make that happen? Wonderful universities, excellent teachers, safe students are components.
However, if we are to refer back to Mpemba who at the tender age of 13 with virtually no help from the education system around him, made a discovery and stuck to his beliefs.
How many Erasto Mpembas are out there? Is your child one of them? Perhaps, yes. If so, maybe we should consider listening to the wisdom of children and non-conformists more often. In Mpemba's name, that is the best gratitude and inspiration I can offer.
The author, Elsie Eyakuze, is an independent media consultant and blogger based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Disclaimer: The viewpoints expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinions, viewpoints and editorial policies of TRT Afrika.
