The skepticism that comes from most black people towards the system of formal education is not because that they do not understand the need for formal education, it is solely because of the flaws in the system, which not only scares most blacks people but brings up the skepticism of its existence.
These flaws make it really hard for some of the younger generations of black people to show more enthusiasm in undergoing the procedures under the system of formal education, and thus relying more on “world knowledge” which by far is completely unreliable because of how ambiguous it is in application or usage. So this begs the obvious question of what the flaw is.
Formal education came as a direct replacement of informal education, which was system mostly practiced in many pre-colonial African societies, and was notable as one of the mediums of enlightenment which black people were subjected to. This system came with general knowledge with regards to how to perform various chores; dress code and how to behave properly; teaching of proverbs and how they can be applied in everyday reasoning; human interaction and behaviour within the community; and, various laws and precepts that exist in the land.
The advent of formal education not only overshadowed the informal education but set out to overrule all the various curricula that were being taught under the system of informal education, and replacing them with the culture, orientation and philosophy of the western world. It is this outright removal of the core ingredients of the African society as found under informal education by the curricula of formal education that makes up the flaw in the system, and thus raises a lot of scare within the black community which has led to some people questioning the validity of formal education.
Furthermore, Nigeria has promulgated policies in the education system that saw the removal of History as a subject in various schools. The importance of history cannot be overemphasized as we need to constantly remind ourselves about where we come from to be able to navigate the stormy seas across to where we want to be. Leaving out History as a subject, while allowing other subjects that have foreign philosophies, orientations, and methods of application have become a huge flaw that makes us question the need for formal education.
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