"Lazy Intellectual Africans"?


Like some of you, I've been thinking about this post on lazy intellectual Africans. It has been a thought that hasn't left me, especially as I am in the process of choosing another research topic for the next couple of months, and find myself resenting the fact that I cannot really pursue trendy, innovative energy technologies at the expense of 'old skool' technologies that would be better suited for present-day Africa. But Western schools have tailored their schools to meet their environmental/economic/social needs, not the other way round. So I am asking myself the same question the Walter character asked Ruwe:

"...where are the [Nigerian] intellectuals? Are the [Nigerian] engineers so imperceptive they cannot invent a simple stone crusher, or a simple water filter to purify well water for those poor villagers? Are you telling me that after [50-plus] years of independence your university school of engineering has not produced a scientist or an engineer who can make simple small machines for mass use? What is the school there for?”
Yes, yes... I hear you ask me "which educational system has equipped us anyway?? And what of the corrupt governments et al." But, I still feel dissatisfied after passing the blame buck :-(


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