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Decolonization: Does the Teacher Have a Role?

DURING THE past fifteen years the movement for political independence in the former colonial countries has just about been completed. With the achievement of independence, however, has come the gradual realization that political independence is only the first, and in some ways the easiest step along the path to real independence. Recently, interest has begun to focus on the issue of psychological independence; national leaders seek to create distinctive national ideologies and cultures which reflect the traits of their people. The mental processes created by the set of socializing institutions built during fifty or more years of colonial rule are not easily modified, particularly when many of these institutions remain virtually intact, functioning essentially as before. Substantial changes can occur only by ultimately bringing about changes in the major socializing institutions of the society. Of the major institutions, education has a number of characteristics which make it a prime candidate for instrumental use in social change. Particularly in developing countries, education is the major path to the new life styles offered to those who are successful. Education combines the provision of means with the selections system which determines who will get the rewards. In addition, education is often controlled on a national level by an administratively centralized mechanism which provides the means for modifying the goals and content of the system. Yet, changing the educational system is a formidable task. In addition to the conservatism which characterizes educational institutions everywhere, attempts to change education in newly independent countries have their own pitfalls. Educational policy decisions have immediate and extensive political repercussions which even the most idealistic leader cannot ignore. Added to this is the fact that systems in developing countries are typically transplants from the colonial nation and are staffed by large numbers of expatriates whose attitudes and values are firmly rooted in the culture of the colonial power. Change, of necessity, involves modifying the attitudes of those who run the institutions or replacing them with others whose feelings reflect the new goals. This paper will address itself to the question: Of the various kinds of staff typically available for secondary schools, which kinds are the most likely to be willing and able to act as agents of decolonization? The discussion will be based on data collected in Ugandan schools in the late 1960s.' Specifically, the study involved a questionnaire response from approximately 1100 teachers in 31 secondary schools drawn from the population of 72 schools in Uganda.