Peace as an Authentic Foundation of Education from the Confucian Perspective: A Nigerian Situation
Afen Pius Ohere Department of Philosophy, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria.
*e-mail: [email protected]
ABSTRACT
This paper concerns itself with a discussion on “Peace as an Authentic Foundation of Education from the Confucian and Perspectives: A Nigerian Situation.” Nigerian System of Education values little or no peace. So as a country she had been severally threatened by social vices such as kidnappings, political thuggery, gang robbery, ethnic clashes, militancy, and religious extremism. These social menace had grossly affected the educational activities in the country, thereby caused the students, the teachers/Lecturers and the general society to face suffering ranging from death to ignominy (great dishonor, shame, or humiliation), anxieties, infirmities, miseries and hunger. Man is encompassed with evils and oppressed with anguish of spirit. The human existence is dolorous, plaintive, sorrowful, mournful, melancholic, pathetic, pitiful, sympathetic, doloroso and ponderously sad. These stripped man of his seamless garment of peace and happiness thereby leaving man with bitter tears. However, Confucius’ Five Relationships will be used to attempt solution to the absent of peace in our academic system in Nigeria. Confucius said that Men have innate desire for peace. To be more realistic; for any meaningful development to happen in any society, such society must necessarily experience social stability. When there is cohesion and harmony in the society; achievement and progress become easy. Unless men live in peace, the proper dispositions that determine progress will be illusive, false and mentally misrepresented. Critical and Clarification are the methods used in this paper. The paper advocated the “give peace a chance” to be used as a working tool for educational advancement in Nigeria.
Keywords: Peace, Authentic Foundation, Education, Nigeria.
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INTRODUCTION
Nigerian System of Education values little or no peace. So as a country she had been severally threatened by social vices such as kidnappings, political thuggery, gang robbery, ethnic clashes, militancy, and religious extremism. These social menace had grossly affected the educational activities in the country, thereby caused the students, the teachers/Lecturers and the general society to face suffering ranging from death to ignominy (great dishonor, shame, or humiliation), anxieties, infirmities, miseries and hunger (Essoh et al., 2014; Veronica & Samuel 2017). Man is encompassed with evils and oppressed with anguish of spirit (Sengsri & Agbi 2020). The human existence is dolorous, plaintive, sorrowful, mournful, melancholic, pathetic,
pitiful, sympathetic, doloroso and ponderously sad. These stripped man of his seamless garment of peace and happiness thereby leaving man with bitter tears.
The Judeo-Christian Bible has it that if the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? There is nothing a good person can do when everything falls. Peace is needed for progress to be made possible in Nigeria. The philosophy of give peace a chance is a clarion call to all and sundry to working for a harmonious relationship among the inhabitants of the society (Byrne 199). The absent of peace is often cause by lack of interest for oneself, others and the society. The total decline of peace is the major cause of war, political upheaval and social unrest in Nigeria.
The absent of peace is of no concern to many but few. Education in Nigeria is unsettle and as such is suffering from schizophrenia. Education in Nigeria has lost it pride and value due to poor or no security outfit. Our education is in trouble. Nobody is free in the society any longer especially in the academic environment.
Today, kidnapping has become the other of the day in schools across the country. Little did we know that knowledge without a peaceful environment is unproductive and useless. How long shall we continue in this way? Our land is crying for peace. The custodians of peace should stand to their responsibility and make a better place for our education to thrive. It is unfortunate to see that government residential houses as well as their offices wear peace-belt, but schools especially the ones that poor men’s children attend has no security at all. No wonder the politicians and strong businessmen always send their children outside the shores of African to acquire knowledge in a peaceful environment (British System and European System etc).
The foundation of war zone in Nigeria has its beginning from the family circle. Charity begins at home, they said. There is absent of peace between Kings and subjects, Fathers and children, Husbands and wives, Elder brothers and siblings and even among Friends. The Judeo- Christian Bible urged us to be at peace with all men. Hence, when families practice peaceful co- existence, then the society will find peace. The golden principle is give peace a chance.
VIOLENT AGAINST EDUCATION IN NIGERIA
Education in Nigeria had been threatened unabated and all of us are living witnesses these social vices. We have the history in our palms and on our finger tips and our mouths can profess it any time, any day. To this end Rose N. Uchem* Emmanuel S. Ngwa, and Uche D. Asogwa (2014) write:
In Nigeria, we are all living witnesses to the past and present states of terror and insecurity in Nigeria, characterized by kidnappings, political thuggery, gang robbery, ethnic clashes, militancy, and religious extremism. Clearly, some of the causes of all these violent activities partly lie in illiteracy, unemployment, lack of education, political and economic exclusion, among others. However, there are indications that some of the conflicts in some parts of Nigeria are not just ordinary conflict. They border on a quest for political supremacy, as adduced from the comments of spokespersons of the terrorist groups who have openly admitted that the Christians and the government are their target; that they are on a jihad. Sadly, most of the citizens involved or being used in the perpetration of the violent activities include: street children, school drop-outs, frustrated persons with disabilities, unemployed youths and illiterate youths who have been brainwashed with distorted religious dogmas and philosophies by egotistical political and religious individuals (p. 50).
Peace is the absent of war common sensically (Diehl 2016). However, in a society were there is genuine peace and harmony there will be no discussion on banditry, kidnappings, political
thuggery, gang robbery, ethnic clashes, militancy, and religious and extremism. Others are illiteracy, unemployment, haramic education, political and economic exclusion and other anti education activities. Today, people make uninformed and inhuman choices because our educational system teaches us poor or no peace. We have blatantly refused to place value on peace as the ultimate foundation of education. Against this backwardness, Adeola (2009) helpfully points out, education has both a quantitative and a qualitative side. While the quantitative side of education refers to the economic dividends that ultimately accrue from it to both individuals and their country as a result of increased earnings, the qualitative aspect has to do with “values, culture and needs.” Education is therefore indispensable in nation building (6). Thus education empowers its beneficiaries and equips them with the necessary skills and confidence to find crucial information and make informed choices that have a direct impact on their families, communities and the nations. It is so unfortunate that, the negative impact of education is what the families, communities and the nation (Nigeria) are perceiving today.
Nelson Mandela, believed that the way forward is education. Education was described him as the “highest [tool] that can be used to change the world” (n. d.). However, before Nelson Mandela, Confucius said: “If a ruler desires to transform the people and perfect their customs, the ruler can only do so through education!” (Xueji I) – which goes to say that education is the way forward. But the question are How old is education in the world? How old is education in Nigeria?
How many people are educated in a given families? Am I educated? If positive approaches are given to all these questions; the reply question will be Why is our society still backward.
Education will never be the way-forward if we neglect peace: peace in writing, peace in teaching, peace in the office, peace among the administrators, peace between the Ministers of education and the schools, peace between the government and Institutional Unions especially ASUU and ASUP.
According to Nevin (2008), “Education is both a right and a foundation for sustainable social and politico- economic transformation of any society. It can then be said that education consists of “all human activities geared toward enabling a person to develop into a well matured, fully-functioning human being in his society; a full development of personality intellectually, physically, socially, emotionally, and spiritually” (n.p). It is through that education is both a right and a foundation for a society that is ready for development but peace is more foundational to education than education to a society. No matter the level of education any society practices;
without peace, the social and politico- economic transformation of such society will remain an illusive and a monumental predicator. Today, the system of education we are practicing cannot barely develop an individual into a matured, fully-functioning human being because of the absent of peace. Nigerians are intelligent people. The development of these giant African people into a high personality, intellectually, physically, socially, emotionally, and spiritually is a dwindling process because of rare peace. For this country to advance through development; she needs peace in all sectors of the government.
Nonetheless, contemporary knowledge-driven economies rely on opportunities for life- long learning which imparts to people the ability to adapt to rapidly changing situations and respond to unforeseen crisis in the world. On the one hand, education empowers people with requisite knowledge and skills to improve their lives, and with the values and attitudes, to live together amicably. On the other hand, certain kinds of education, or rather indoctrination, are also been known to instigate conflicts and other negative issues and trigger violent conflicts in some societies (Luzincourt, K. and Gulbrandson, J. (2010). How can a country like ours respond to unforeseen crisis in the world when what we practice is violent? Our educational system and the Instructors as well as the government must stand firm and provide peace education for this God- giving-country. We should learn to be our brothers keepers. Amicable living should form a very stronghold in our educational system. It is true that indoctrination in our educational system is
also been known to instigate conflicts and other negative issues, thereby, triggering violent conflicts among the beneficiaries of education.
CONFUCIUS’ FIVE RELATIONSHIPS AND ITS RELEVANCE TO PEACE EDUCATION IN NIGERIA
Confucius emerged at the time of social turmoil and chaos and imminent anarchy in China.
His social philosophy was a reaction to the above situation. To him man has an innate capacity for goodness and perfectibility that can manifest through diligent and conscious learning (Wang 2010). He does not look at human and societal disorder and distresses as product of innate wickedness but the absent of social cohesion and harmony. The question is; how can social harmony and cohesion be achieved? Confucius answered this question by saying that “proper attention needs to be paid to the right form of social life.” Men have innate desire for peace. In order to realize the impact of human relation he was very paradoxical in matters of virtue.
Confucius loved virtues and desires them for man but he said, “The Master said, Enough! I have yet to see a man who loved virtue as much as sex” (Hunter & Kern 2018, p. 75).
However, the truth is that, in the 21st century, the practice of virtues is more difficult than sex indulgence. Today the circular society is busy talking about contraception, abortion, prostitution, lust, incest, infidelity, and adultery, fornication and rape among others. With good human relationships all these anti-virtue practices can be reduced or eliminated. Confucius speaks on the five relationships as shown below:
1. King to subject 2. Father to son 3. Husband to wife
4. Elder brother to younger brother
5. Friend to friend (Hunter & Kern 2018, p. 79).
The relationships can be interpreted to be a chain that binds individuals in a society. The range of these relationships connects all men in one single unit. Confucius teaches that “the latter of each pair is inferior in status to the former.” The inferiors are: subject, son, wife, younger brother, and friend.
Confucius teaches that there is a proper disposition that should regulate and govern these five relationships. The son should show piety to the father. The younger brother should show respect to the elder brother. The wife should show obedience to the husband. The younger man should show respect to the elder and the subject should show loyalty to the ruler. Respect they said is a reciprocal. In that regard, the superior should do same in these relationships. The father should show kindness to the son, the elder brother nobility, the husband love, the ruler should show benevolent. This is where true human welfare can be achieved. Confucius further said that, rectification of social affairs does not proceed by imposing regulations upon the individual, but it must rather proceed from the individuals training himself correctly, willingly and sincerely in a socially demanded way. He raised an issue which is contemporary relevance for ethics and philosophy of law: are we made better by legislation? Is social harmony achieved by more and more regulations and laws? Confucius holds that social reform comes from within the individual family. “The Master said, When one’s parents are alive, make no distant journeys; when you travel, have a set destination” (Nylan 2008, p. 53). This calls for mutual care for one’s parents and close relations.
Confucius “five relationships” holds a tremendous moral value and relevance. This teaching is relevance to education. The issue is that no country can afford to have her education run in an atmosphere of disorders, distresses, turmoil, dichotomy, and turbulence chaos, war, and anarchy. To be more realistic; for any meaningful development to happen in any society, such
society must necessarily experience social stability. When there is cohesion and harmony in the society; achievement and progress become easy. Unless men live in peace, the proper dispositions that determine progress will be illusive, false and mentally misrepresented. Confucius “five relationships” holds a tremendous moral value to the society. The truth is that no country can afford to have its education run in an atmosphere of disorders, distresses, turmoil, dichotomy, and turbulence chaos, war, and anarchy. To be more realistic; for any meaningful development to happen in any society, such society must necessarily experience social stability. When there is cohesion and harmony in the society; achievement and progress become easy. Unless men live in peace, the proper dispositions that determine progress will be illusive, phantasmagoria, false and a mental misrepresentation.
Moreover, a sound mind would understand that Confucius was preaching peace, cohesion and harmony. Even the Nigeria National anthem which is one of the things that education is striving to achieve ended with “One nation bound in freedom, peace and unity.” Education cannot thrive successfully without peace and harmony. “Peace education is another source of national unity and global harmony. Akinyemi (n.y) said; “In Nigeria the importance of peace has been underestimated and it’s now time to integrate it into the national educational system as it plays a crucial role in the development of the nation. Indeed, since the youths form the pillars of society, they are theories who will bring about a revolution, whether constructive or destructive. Thus, the teaching of peace education, which will allow them to resolve conflict without resorting to violence, is of very high importance.”
“The students protest against the augmentation of university fees in 2011 in UK, and the Arab spring. Regarding the case of the Arab spring, no one has ever imagined that the people, who seemed to adore and worship the members of the go varmint, could drastically change like they did when they started protest against those in power. Therefore, it is crucial to positively engage with youths at every stages of their development: starting from their childhood, the concept of peace should be explained to them, accompanied by presenting the ways to amicably resolve conflict without resorting to violence, and how such positive behaviour can benefit them”
(Akinyemi, n.y. p. 85-94).
The Nigerian three ethnic groups/tribes: The Hausa in the North, the Ibo in the East and the Yoruba in the West and other ethnic tribes scattered in Diaspora must as a matter of necessity champion the course of peace, unity, freedom and harmony devoid of lip service for the good of all and the country’s education. Peace without good education is lost. Good education without peace is great danger. Charity, they said begins at home, hence, for a better education to be establish with peace and harmony as the foundations, the five relationships teaching of the Great Confucius should be strictly followed. This also means that we must practice socialization to the core through better interaction, showing respect to being, value life, protect what we have, including education. All these and more will promote mutual co-existence and understanding.
CONCLUSION
Taking leave from the above, the following conflicts according to Akinyemi will be surmounted: “(1) Man against man (2) Man against society (3) Man against nature (4) Man against education (5) Man against self-etc.” However, Ngozi in her article “Education for peace and Development: Education Against violence in Nigeria in JOSR Journal of Humanities and social science, said “Education for peace aims at preventing conflict in advance and educating individual and the society for peaceful existence on the basis of non-violence, tolerance, equity, respect for others and social justice. “When people are educated on the importance of resolving conflicts in a peaceful way without resorting to violence with its devastating efforts on the social, economic
education and politics, then there will be rapid development in the country” (2016, p. 22). All this is complement to the five relationships. This is the only way true human welfare can be attained.
Finally, we must give peace a chance showing mutual trust among, mutual understanding, respect, tolerance and dialogue in our education system. It is only through these that the society will see peace. No wonder, Plato’s concept of a Philosopher King says; “There will be no end to the troubles of states, or of humanity itself, till philosophers become kings in this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands” (Godin 2015, p. 23) Peace remain the authentic foundation of education in Nigeria in particular and the whole world in general.
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