If you want to hide something from an African put it in writing.

The greatest paradox of all is that in Africa homeless people speak fluent English and in South Korea many wealthy actors hardly speak the language. There is a Masters craze in Zimbabwe right now. You may be assured that if you toss a piece of paper in public its likely to land on a Masters degree student. Education is said to be an empowering tool but many Africans remain poverty stricken despite attaining high levels of learning. Are we missing something?

The problem - Reading to pass exams !

There is nothing wrong with reading to pass exams but the problem is we tend to cram information rather than reading to know. Yet in as far as empowerment is concerned knowing is of essence no wonder why the holy writ itself the Bible says “You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free!” John 8vs 32. Why are we still economically strangled when we are educated? Its because though we have education certificates adorning the walls of our living rooms we know nothing!

Education is beyond the certificate

It seems like the only time we seriously read is only when a certificate is attached to a study. So If someone wants to hide a piece of information from you and I he will not need to lock it away. On the contrary he can even make the information public but he will make sure that a certificate isn’t attached to it. Literally hiding something in plain sight! The onus is therefore, upon us to pursue education beyond the certificate through informal endeavours. Iam always inspired by stories of uneducated entrepreneurs who made themselves better through informal studies.

Informal studies

Historically, the greatest motivator of education has been employment. In Zimbabwe there was a great expansion of the education sector (especially between 1980 and 1990) but without corresponding growth of the economy. What this means to graduates is that they are facing the dilemma of a cricket player who is being made to play a game of soccer. What they were taught at school (employability) is not what the economy wants (entrepreneurship). Consequently the competition for employment opportunities is a cut throat.

Formal education never equipped us enough to be able to meet the demands of a shrunk economy. Fortunately, great relief can be secured from the vast world wide web. The web will not give you a certificate for its information but its very helpful in plugging the gaps in your education. The search engine is a key tool in this regard because it helps with the provision of the right information at the right time (in seconds). Some of the leading search engines on the world wide web are Google, Yahoo and Bing. Search engines find for you leading websites like social channels which are rich in content.

By social channels I mean websites like You Tube, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, Wordpress to mention only a few that have what is called user generated content. These sites play an important role in education and here are advantages of using social channels in this regard.

1. Your search is not blinkered since information comes from different people.

2. Regular updates. Since provision of information is open to all you are guaranteed that you never run short of the latest.

3. Internal search engines on individual sites are an added aid especially through the use of advanced features like filters .