Sophisticated Human Mind Amidst Turbulent World Economy

BY: EDITH GONGLOE-WEH

The Principal, faculty and support staff of the Sanniquellie Central High School, the graduating class, officials of government present, parents, well wishers, special guests, Clergy and members of the Methodist Church, students, distinguished ladies and gentlemen.

Let me acknowledge the tireless efforts of the school administrators, teachers and support staff, who have worked hard to help our children achieve this milestone in pursuit of their education. You have succeeded thus far by making huge sacrifices.
Let me also hasten to thank the government of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf for its commitment to reviving our broken educational system. It is certainly an enormous task, but the government is making some strides. The enormity of the problem has not discouraged you parents from educating your children. For this I want to say a big thank you to all parents.

Though, we have made many gains since the coming to power of Madam Sirleaf’s government, yet, we cannot delude ourselves of the challenges ahead of us as a Nation. This Country still faces the daunting task of re-building its broken infrastructures in every sector. The issue of commitment and honesty remains a force to reckon with. Dishonesty and lack of commitment plague every institution of our Nation.

My dear graduates, parents, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, our children are a part of a rapidly growing and complicated world. Today, technology has made the world such a small place. We can talk to people all over the world, using our cell phones as though we are sitting with them where they are. This was not possible thirty years ago.

The human mind has grown in highly sophisticated ways. Yet the world economy continues to show signs of trouble. Life is getting harder and harder everywhere. 44 million children in underdeveloped countries, Liberia included, remain deprived of education not by their choice, but by sheer lack of privilege or minimal privilege. Countries are scrambling for survival and are strengthening their academic institutions, regulating their markets and tightening their borders to protect whatever little jobs are there for their citizens and provide them security.
It is in this world of rapid technological growth, insecurities of all types and competing economic interests that our children must compete. Therefore, I want to talk to you about how we can prepare our children to meet the rising challenges in this global village.

We know that the government is still struggling to rebuild our existing but broken institutions and build new ones where necessary. In my mind the greatest emphasis should be placed on education. The educational sector of the Nation needs to be strengthened far more than anything imaginable.

To strengthen the education system, teacher’s salaries must be made competitive with their contemporaries in the region. The Country’s curriculum must be standardized and comparable to regional and international standards. More schools must be built in every part of the Country to cater to the educational needs of the Liberian children. These graduates and the children of Liberia will not rise to the National and global challenge if they are not adequately prepared.

The preparation of our children cannot start in the middle. The preparation starts from the period of 2-5 years. This is the most critical stage of the human cognitive development process. It is at this age that the child’s language and mathematics skills are developed.

Unfortunately, Pre-primary education and early childhood development remain the most neglected and therefore the weakest link of our educational system as a Nation. Government must prioritize this stage of the learning process, strengthen primary and secondary education, and improve tertiary institutions’ capacities. Government must put more money into early childhood development if our children must rise to the growing global competition. Our teachers must be trained in early childhood development and education, primary and secondary education to improve their capacities as they teach our children.

The Nation’s schools need more educational materials and text books. More schools must be built to accommodate our growing population and educational demands, especially in Nimba with nearly a half of the Nation’s population. Liberia cannot continue to neglect building and equipping laboratories and libraries and expect Liberian children to measure up to their peers from other countries in the physical and natural sciences. This neglect is directly responsible for Liberian children pursuit of disciplines in the social science. Because by the time the high school graduates get to college they are so frightened to venture into the sciences since they are not prepared at the primary and secondary levels.

Further, our children cannot rise up to face the world if their self confidence is poor. The confidence of our children will then improve their self esteem. They cannot rise to the challenge if math and science continue to be one of the weakest links in our education system. They certainly cannot rise to the challenge if there are no positive role models to emulate. Nimba County , Liberia , we must create more positive role models for our children. A society without credible statesmen and women to serve as model for their younger generation will grab unto any available icon whether good or bad and quickly degenerate into mediocrity and become subservient to whatever is thrown at them.

The South Africans would not have been freed from Apatheid if Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, and other Freedom fighters were not inspired by the strengths, pride, confidence, intelligence and nationalism of their Zulu and Xhosa kings. The blacks in America today have hundreds of role models from Martin Luther King to Barrack Obama. There has to be a good number of people, men and women that our children can say today, I want to be like John Brown or Mary when I grow up.
.
During the war years, there were plenty of role models, but they were modeling the wrong philosophy of life for our children. As a result, children only wanted to know how to shoot the AK 47 or throw hand grenades, seize properties that were not theirs. Thankfully, that time has changed.

We ourselves must rise to the challenge and know that the children are watching us and they are watching very closely. What kind of citizens and what kinds of leaders are we? What kinds of parents are raising our Country’s future? What kinds of teachers are in our classrooms? Can the good example of a teacher make some kids to aspire to become a professional teacher when they grow up? Are our private and public administrators exercising leadership in ways that inspire many children to dream of being like them? We must be the right role models for our children. The children must find their niche in this society because we as adult population have helped to sway them in positive and competitive directions.

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, Nimba County and its resources remain endangered and risks continuous exploitation with inadequate benefits unless we can prepare our children to play major roles in the exploitation of our resources. We are not freed until we educate ourselves and our children. We are not educated until we can become competitive in contemporary focus of the rest of the world.

Distinguished graduates and sterling young men and women, you have fought a good fight even under difficult circumstances. No libraries, no access to laboratories where scientific experiments are done to juggle your scientific imaginations and curiosities to want to pursue college education and career in biology, physics, chemistry, biochemistry, medicine, engineering and so on so forth. I say to you today, with your tested strengths and resilience, there is no doubt in my mind that you will continue the fight until you achieve your educational dreams. Let the sky be your limit. Pick a role model. Find one in your family or in your community.
Liberia needs your skills to ensure its continual existence among Nations. We are encouraged by the focus of this government on strengthening the educational sector. We hope that government will include building more vocational and Technical institutions in the Counties to create easy and affordable access to building the skills of our children. The Nimba Community College is a great beginning, no doubt, but we need government to fully support it so that its impact can be felt throughout the length and breadth of Nimba County.

Our resources will soon run out at the rate it is being exploited. We need to develop our capacities and increase our human development index from its current low global status to a more comparable state. Unless the skills and knowledge of our youthful population is strategically developed, we run the risk of being diminished to a low status as a Nation state. Time is running out. We cannot and should not falter. We can achieve this because other Countries that were once where we are today did it. Our Country can rise again and be a shinning star as it was meant to be. Liberia can again become the beacon of hope it once was. Let us meet these challenges with valor unpretending. We must keep hope alive and work hard today to gain tomorrow. Congratulations. Long live Nimba County , Long live our strong heritage and indomitable will to thrive and long live Liberia . May God bless Liberia and bless us all. I thank you.

A SPEECH DELIVERED AT CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL 2012 COMMENCEMENT SANNIWUELLIE, NIMBA COUNTY, JUNE 29, 2012