"The assumption that there are no alternatives between following ready-made rules and trusting to native gifts is contradicted by the procedures of every art." (Dewey, 1916). yet this assumption persists in nearly every education debate I see on twitter.

Incidentally, I wrote a thread about the Zimbabwe education system just yesterday.

I understand the desire withhold credit from the Mugabe administration, given what he did not only later but concurrently (eg Gukurahundi). But the education system they created in the 80s and 90s is a stunning achievement. And Dzingai Mutumbuka is a giant in the field. /🧵.

I had the pleasure of meeting Speaker Babgin a couple of weeks ago at @ASG_Africa . This is what true leadership looks like.

A good friend of mine graduated from a govt school in one of the poorest parts of Harare in 2006. He got a scholarship to attend Wesleyan in CT, one of America's best colleges. On arrival, he was ahead of his rich prep-school trained classmates in math and science knowledge.

The results were astounding. By 2004, Zimbabwe's literacy rate was over 90%. And the overall quality of the teachers and the graduates was without equal in the region. Some claim that this was only true of the privileged graduates of missionary and private schools. Not true.

Instead of moving to the whims of donors, they set their strategy and stuck to it. Once, when a donor nation offered to build them 40 schools, Mutumbuka said, "no thank you, I need a university," and sent them away. They were mad, but eventually they contributed to his university.

And it wasn't just buildings. They were also focused on quality. Realizing they didn't have teaching skill at home, they set up a teachers college *in Cuba* and sent 400 teachers per year there, then used those to train others.

But they didn't sit around and whine. What Mutumbuka doesn't say in this clip is that his government was building more than 50 schools *per week* during this time, according to official World Bank figures.

This is the situation the Zimbabwe government inherited. And, contrary to what Ian Smith said, it was not at all due to popular disinterest. Quite the opposite. In fact, Mutumbuka repeatedly insists, "This is what we fought the war for!".

Was this school unusual? Did most children have better opportunities?. No. The interviewer even asks what happens to the majority of the children, who don't have any school. Mutumbuka, his anger palpable, replies "I suppose they just rot away.".

Note the attitude and the leadership from Mutmbuka in this clip. Most ed. officials would call this school "fly by night" and pass responsibility. He doesn't. "Illegal, government, what does it matter? It's the child who suffers.". Then he takes personal responsibility.

Now here's Edu. Minister Dzingai Mutumbuka in 1983, soon after the war. Do these teachers (working without pay, the Minister admits) and students (enthusiastic learners despite having no school building) resemble Ian Smith's description?.

This is nonsense. It stems from his argument against Democracy. It's not about race, you see, it's education. (A bad-faith argument familiar Americans, and even supported by Buckley in this interview!). So their political incentives were not to educate Africans.

Here is Ian Smith, in 1974, saying, "A lot of our African black people have had a very scanty education. We have got the tremendous problem that the majority of these people were not interested in education, in fact you could not drag them to a school.".

I was told recently by a well-known scholar that "the Rhodesian government, unlike South Africa's, believed in educating Africans, so they had a great system upon independence, which the Mugabe govt. maintained and even expanded a bit.". This is a commonly held belief.

Ever wonder how Zimbabwe developed and maintained the best education system in the region, to the point where even today it is considered among the top on the continent despite nearly 20 years of complete economic collapse? There are a lot of misconceptions. 🧵.

This post must be trolling.

Congratulations Kennedy!.

Important to note that the separation of African into "North African" and "Sub-Saharan" is ahistorical.

RT @MoghaluKingsley: @JayKloppenberg , our Executive Education Lead, and @GigiNjemanze , Director of Strategic Planning and Chief of Staff….