Kwasi and Kobby were not friends when
they were in schools,neither did they consider themselves as enemies. For one
and many other things, Kwasi was exactly what Ghana's educational standards
desired -- a conformist, a timid person who would agree with everything and
sheepishly believed whatever his teachers told him were as (or more) right than
the Bible. He believed that he can never
write sonnets as best (or more) as Shakespeare or can he ever be as brilliant
(or more) than Einstein or can he ever sing as perfect as Michael Jackson. He
believes as he is taught- he can never be better than the people he reads
about.
Kobby, on the other hand, was a
notorious boy in school, he was not notorious because he smoked or engaged in
boisterous activities but unlike the Ghanaian educational standards, he was not
a conformist neither was he timid. He didn't believe in conventions and he thus
reasoned that if his ancestors molded laws (which society thought as perfect)
he could vary it to make it more perfect. Everyone laughed at him and thought
him mad because he was just not a conformist. He was at school branded as a
stupid dull child and teachers marked him down not because he was less
intelligent but he was just not a conformist! This was the letter he wrote that
got him sacked:
Dear sir,
Why do you always tell us that we cannot be better than
Shakespeare, Isaac Newton, Beethoven or even you. I have realized that our
education wants people to wear clothes this way not because of 'reason' but
because you are wiser and must obey what you say. We are to believe that by
obeying every law and memorizing every line of the text books you make our
parents buy, we are intelligent student. No sir, this is not intelligence, as
humans, we were created to change the world and everything in it to make life
better for us. What are customs if it destroys us than to liberate us. You beat
us down till we become conformist. We are to wash your clothes, sing good songs
of you and try as much as possible to be in your good books. No sir, we should
be allowed to express every fiber in us rather than trying to fit into
stereotypes.
Your
student
Kobby
Nti.
The next day, he was sacked and was
branded as a bad boy and student. Very
soon, the whole world bought into the label the school had made him wore and
unlike a flower he never bloomed.
Few years down the line, Kwasi and
Kobby grew up to be adults. Kwasi became a doctor while Kobby became nobody but
he still did not want to be a conformist like everyone.
Kwasi became a regular panelist on
radio and instead of talking about how to change Ghana and how we should not
let politicians steal our money because they are, well, politicians, he was
still the conformist the Ghanaian educational standard had made him be . He
preached about we shutting our hears to the truth and making sure the old order
progresses.
'After all, this practice had gone on
for a long time, we have had dumsor for a long time, we should shut up and
'conform' to it because a good citizen is not to have opposing views to what
authorities say. A virtuous citizen is one who always finds way to survive
instead of questioning the status quo,' he spoke through the one of the
microphones at the radio station
Now, Kobby was walking on the streets
of Kumasi with a earpiece on and shouting 'No, we must not let our politicians
take us for a ride. We should not be conformist! We must change the rules to
benefit us. We are our own destiny. We must liberate ourselves! We were born
free!'
Day in and day out, people watch him
and laugh. He is a failure, he failed to master the skills of conformity. He is
lunatic, even his family deserted him because he would not 'conform'.
Kwasi is #TheTruthAboutGhEducation,
we must all be conformist not just to
survive in this turbulent times but to be consider as a normal wise
Ghanaian. Close your eyes to corruption and shut your mouth to dumsor because
after all no matter what you do or say, things are never going to change!
