Education and Development in the Third World

Abstract

John J. Cogan is Professor of Education, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. countries, these systems were preserved in tact to such an extent that many countries find themselves today with a retrospective school system whose perspective begins in the nineteenth century. The host countries chronically seem to lag at leasi one or two reforms behind the colonial powers (Botkin and others, 1979, p. 71) Rural vs. urban schooling. One of the direct outgrowths of the colonial educa tional system is the tremendous imbal ance between schooling in rural and urban areas in less developed countries. Colonial power was established in urban centers; inhabitants of rural areas re ceived little to no schooling but instead were put to work on the plantations of the wealthy colonizers This educational gap remains today. The [rural] school itself, in many cases amounting to no more than a common room inadequate to house all the primary grades, is often too far away from where the people live. The teachers are less qualified if they are qualified at all than those in urban areas. They are frequently unprepared for their job and unfamiliar with the sociocultural environment. As they begin to be come more effective after some experience and practice, they are moved to the cities. The teaching facilities and materials are very rudimentary. The divorce between the cur riculum and the needs of the rural commu nity may be almost total (Botkin and others, 1979, p 62). Access to the system. Another major problem faced by Third World coun tries, and also closely linked with their colonial past, is the highly selective na ture of the educational system (Cogan, 1981). Most children in these nations go only to primary school, if they go to school at all. Admission to secondary schools is reserved for those who do very well at the primary level and is generally determined by external exam inations assessment measures pre pared and graded in the former coloniz ing country. These exams, to a large extent, determine not only what i s to be taught, but to some degree how i t is taught. As a result, children learn little that is relevant to their own cultural, his torical or sociopolitical heritage other than the role of the former power in de termining their present status.