Since survival and livelihood mechanisms are not static, it is not only good evolutionary practice, but also a moral obligation for humans to ensure that their offsprings are not only more adaptive but also adept.
Subsquently, from the street vendors, pickpockets, boda-boda riders, peasant farmers to the elite, the one commonly-shared desire is for our children to be successful and live a better life than the one we have afforded. To that end, we make several sacrifices, do all manner of embarrassing and risky jobs – some of which the children will never know – to invest in the future of our children.
Yet, while we all know the most lucrative, yet unfortunate harsh realities of Uganda’s survival mechanisms, we continue to teach our children the contrary. This deception implies only two possibilities: we are either preparing our children to work in a different country, or we simply prefer that the children discover the harsh realities on their own, in the same way most of us have.
In addition to providing the best possible formal education, feeding and ensuring they have a roof over their heads, perhaps the other equally important aspect of nurturing children is to teach them some ‘values’ and wisdom gained from our own experiences that can help them stand a better chance of succeeding in Uganda.
Many of you, dear readers, certainly had the unfortunate experience of being misled by the homes that raised you, the religious institutions and formal schools that emphasized hard work, discipline, excellence, integrity, honesty and many other counter-productive values.
It is little wonder that many of the schools still bear mottos such as “Education for service”, “In virtue and wisdom we serve the world” among other closely related values.
For starters, we should revise all mottos in such a way that they reflect the realities in Uganda. For God and my country, for instance, should be officially replaced with ‘For me and those who are most specifically related to me.’
Secondly, we should make it clear to the young ones that schooling is a time filler to help them grow (especially physically) and get through the educational system without necessarily getting anything out of it.
All schools’ rules should be adjusted to allow behaviour such as theft, exam malpractices, incompetence, dishonesty, malice, selfishness, greed, poor time management, rudeness, obscenity, vulgarity and violence to flourish as they are very crucial for competitiveness.
Any deviations from the mentioned behaviours not only make one less competitive but also a minority and a wiseacre at the workplace. Similarly, the lie that the amount of hard work one puts in while in school is commensurate to the rewards they get in the job market should stop.
Instead, we should honestly teach all prospective graduates that competitiveness in the job market implies ability to have access to the aptitude exam questions before the official day of the exams; ability to bribe job interview panellists and willingness to have sexual intercourse with the key people on the interview panel.
With the emergence of online platforms, where anyone has the right to communicate uncensored, unedited, misinformed and uninformed
communications, it is perhaps time to discourage children from pursuing archaic courses such as journalism and mass communication.
We should instead teach children that in the current media industry, the capacity to abuse people, fluency in obscenity and telling lies using any social media handles can easily land one a job in media houses while the very lucky ones can even become presidential advisors and ambassadors.
In all schools, there is a tendency to identify and nurture students who exhibit leadership skills. Through nomination or voting, the students get a glimpse of what it is like to be a good leader. They are taught untransferable ideals such as impartiality and exemplary leadership.
Regardless of the students’ background, teachers sell the illusion to student leaders that they are the future leaders of Uganda. Yet, honesty should entail telling children that any realistic hopes of getting a leadership position are determined by the capacity to tell lies, voter bribery and influence over those who count the votes.
If you are lucky to occupy a high-profile political position, your children don’t even have to do so much to succeed. Teach them that the new order is for children to inherit the political positions of their parents, regardless of whether the children have the relevant acumen for occupying such positions.
The writer is social worker