THIS IS INFERIORITY COMPLEX MENTALITY

It is said in akan parlance that "nobody uses his left finger in pointing to his or her mother's home town".There is also what preachers particularly in the charismatic circles called "grasshopper mentality". And this is curbed from the Bible the book of Numbers Chapter 13, where Moses sent 12 spies to a land they were contemplating to go and conquer, but sadly, ten of the spies returned from the spying errand with self-dented and defeatist report that the people they met on the land were giants in stature and they in their own eyes look like grasshoppers (their own eyes and not somebody's), hence they could not make it. What a self-destructive assessment? What a self-underrated and undervalued mentality ? But it was Indira Ghandhi who said that "nobody can make you inferior without your own permission"

From what I said from the outset, I would like to throw light on the fact that if you have travelled a little to Europe or the western world. It is regrettable and disenchanting to realise that, its only Africans who have this inglorious and unhealthy tendencies of using their left finger in pointing to their own mother's hometown, in other words, they have the untenable tendency of badmouthing about their own continent, and some times narrowing specifically into one's own country for the whole world to know that he comes from a country with a particular awful and terrible problems. A friend of mine , an African-American, once said there is no need dividing and betraying Africans because they know how to do it best among themselves.

Indeed, one does not need any professor of world or African History to assert a nd corroborate what my friend said. From antiquity to date, history is everybody's teacher that the flourishing of slave trade,the shattering African Unity dream by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, assassinations of African leaders and the looting of African resources by the then so called colonial masters and other raping and emasculation of the African continent could not had been successful without Africans own self-stabbing contribution. I would like to entreat that it was high time that Africans in europe and other western countries need to be invigorating, vibrant, chest out and confident because we have come around and seen with our own eyes that all that glitters is not gold.

I think I have dilated and digressed enough from the main issue I want to talk about. What I want to exercise my opinion on is this SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL, THREE OR FOUR YEAR BATTLE which has gained so much prominence in the news these days. Indeed, I cannot bring myself to believe as to why some section of Ghanians, even some intellectuals dont believe, and have no faith in the fact that a Ghanaian child also can use three years to prepare for his or her future unversity education. This is what I unveiled from the outset as tantamount to grasshopper mentality, steming from fact that a picture is being painted that what other children can do in three years in even war-ravaged neighbouring countries, Ghanaian children are mentally bleak that they cannot achieve the same feat. What made people think like that? And what findings do they base their backward, conservative and self-dented assessmention on? This is what is called basement mentality.

It is said there are two kinds of people in this world. The basement and the balcony people.The balcony, as one can easily get a mental picture of, is a place where is nicely decorated and where household sit for fresh air and relax. So in other words, balcony people are those who sparkle like light, and what exude from them are only encouragement, love, uplifting, inspirations and any virtue you can think of. Howeever, basement is a place where is dark and where dirty and discarded materials are dumped. In other words nothing good comes from basement people, only negative reports like, we cannot do it mentality, we cannot make it mentality, pulling people down attitude. The basement people give wrong perception that as long as you dont have what someone has you cannot achieve what he has achieved, and as long as you were not born in a certain rich part of the world or you dont have certain advanced facilities you cannot mount to anything.

Conversely, studies have piognantly and abundanly revealed that such basement thinking and influence is nothing than a spoke in a wheel and a wet blanket. From archeology to zoology, studies have made it apparently clear that great people and outstanding nations were once nothing and they never waited to get all the sophiscated facilities before achieving what they have. I must emphasize that one cannot agree more with Mr. Kwame Alorvi, chairman of Ghana national graduate teachers. He asked a brain storming question that are Ghanaian children less intellegent ? He cited a revealling example with the neighbouring countries like Liberia and Sieraa Leone that went through years of war and where classrooms were turned into war zones, after the war they never changed their SHS from three to even three and half years. So what good facilities and teachers have these aforementioned countries and other African countries have better than Ghana that their children can use three years and ghanaian children cannot?. I am not an NDC to side with them but four years for SHS is nothing than a sheer waste of time and we should endeavour not to politicise this.

I would like to throw light on the fact, anybody who has travelled to other parts of the world, and has made a meticulous finding will never hesitate to agree with me that there is no senior high school level in the world that the children are better than that of Ghana. Even in the face of seemingly lack of teachers due to exodus of teachers as a result of virtually absence of motivation and lack of facilities. Its refreshing and titillating to realise that African students in general and ghanaian students in particular are doing smashingly well than those from so called advanced countries due to the rugged and intensive foundation we have before travlleing. If you zero in particularly to most so called advanced countries like Britain, USA, France Sweden etc, in spite of all the abundance of their facilities, African students and for that matter Ghanaian students are excelling in classroom than their advanced countries counterparts to their own amazement. I am talking as someone who studied BA and MA in Europe and critically made this observation. I want to drum home that a ghanaian child is capable and industrious to complete the three years SHS like his counterpart everywhere in the world. The unnecessary contention that the three yea rs get the children tired, put much pressure on the children, necessitate too much extra classes on the children, and all other empty excuses are nothing than grasshopper mentality and basement tendercies.

Taking a retrospective view from the good old "O and A" level, was there not any pressure and extra classes even it took good 17 years?. So if 17years entailed extra classes and pressure, why just 12 years with pressure and extra classes sound incomprehensible to some so called intellectuals.? We can make it even ten years and there will still be lapses because no system is perfect regardless of number of years. What needs to be done is improving facilities and motivating teachers as well as parents contributing their quota in any small way to see to it that the child studies when he or she is at home too. The onus does not rest on teachers only. A Ghanaian child is also capable to use three years to achieve that feat like his other counterpart elsewhere. It therefore behoves on us to cure ourselves from this grasshopper mentality and basement thinking.

May God bless our land Ghana

EKOW WILSON-BAIDOO