tHiNkEr'S rOoM - Latest Comments

Re: Why I Want To Be An MP

MMK — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 08:24:55 -0000

If I can remember well, the aim of KDF was to capture Kisimayu, what happened to that?

Re: Why I Want To Be An MP

E_obange — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 04:38:36 -0000

Just afew months ago, KDF was potrayed by all and sundry know it all middle class as some lazy overpaid good for nothing careerists. When they moved into Somalia they showed the world what that proffessionalism and excellence is not the preserve of the so called first world. It is trendy in this country to redicule certain institutions especially by the media and sissies who went to certain colleges. I have experience in both institutions...military and legislature and can tell you you're making a fool of yourselves like you did on the military. There are quiet patriots in this country.

Re: Hard Truths #1–This World Owes You Nothing

Dave Amri — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 15:02:18 -0000

Classic innovation lives here.... all said and done, gratitude is not a common trait shared by the powers that be...... Unless you are the one exhibiting such stated trait......

Re: Dear Uhuru

Nyokabie — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 07:24:24 -0000

i don'nt like your shallow and jealous way of disliking Uhuru. Tuko Pamoja is kuwa pamoja kipatriotic and kikusaidiana kimawazo na kivitendo to build our country for us and for our children. this way unfortunate people like you will have a better place to improve their lives.

Re: Hard Truths #2–Mobile : The New Frontier. Yaaawn

Adolphuslwova — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 05:18:25 -0000

True .. just because someone can have access to the Internet(innovation of last century) in the second yr of second decade of 21st century doesn't qualify it as a frontier .....the cloud is here and mobile devices internal storage Memory reducing coz everything is going to the cloud ....it will be a frontier when thinkersroom.com will be hosted on one and accessible everywhere ...when mobile becomes part of cloud not only as a client but server

Re: Hard Truths #2–Mobile : The New Frontier. Yaaawn

Jacquie — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 02:48:06 -0000

:-)

Re: The Trouble With School – I

Binti Adam — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 21:58:18 -0000

Lakini its endemic globally (na you see it in stato alot)... While I'm not a fan of the overall book, Kenyatta in facing mt kenya hints at an important dimension of this discussion - yaani the idea of an organic/holistic (and in his sense African) approach to the acquisition of knowledge in contrast to a more sterilized, rigid (European) one.

My guess is that this is worse now secondary to the marriage between the corporate and academic worlds vis a vis capitalism. Its more about the you on your resume as seen through your future employers eyes than it is about pretty much anything else.

check this vid out by Ken Robinson, he kaguas it nicely... http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_r...

Re: The Trouble With School – I

woolie — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 05:15:52 -0000

What a sad state of affairs. And the comments also got it right - all these early starts and long days for such young children is soul destroying. Let me ask though, if the old system was so good why did the powers that be feel the need to change it? Could this competitive thing have anything to do with more and more people chasing ever dwindling resources....We consume more than we produce...that's a fact whether it is in good primary education, high school places , Uni places or finally in rewarding and worthwile careers. That is what is driving this ugly competition

Re: Hard Truths #1–This World Owes You Nothing

Afrowave — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 04:49:12 -0000

Welcome (belatedly) to the real world.:-D Hard truths? For those you have left behind on soft, small cushion salaries, it will soon be gold nuggets. Those are what I'll want from you.

Now you owe me. ;-)

Re: Hard Truths #1–This World Owes You Nothing

Zack Mukewa — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 04:47:24 -0000

I am not from your industry but a few times we have spoken have always affirmed that yours is one of the few sober minds around town. Been itching with a similar post, in different context. This motivates. For now, go on, be and do even greater things. You owe yourself everything.

Re: Hard Truths #1–This World Owes You Nothing

woolie — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 04:39:15 -0000

Well said Captain. It is all too often that we forget to stop and be grateful for what we have. Bon Voyage as you sail off in your new adventure and in keeping with the maritime theme - may the wind always blow on your back. Thank you.....

Re: The Trouble With School – I

James Wamathai — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 12:13:35 -0000

In the greater scheme of things, our education system does more harm than good. It puts emphasis on passing exams and not on gaining knowledge.

Also, the majority of the subjects that they are being taught do nothing for their imagination. How are going to foster innovation if we continue stifling our kids imagination?

There are no two ways about it, we must get rid of this education system if our country is to develop and prosper.

Re: The Trouble With School – I

Prousette — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:15:57 -0000

Hi M *waving*
I have heard a parent or two complaining that their children have closed school and they (the parents) are not sure to what to do with them during this free time. With such a mindset the school serves as a convenient place to leave our children while we are off to other pursuits.
I do not recall that being a problem to my parents as during the school holidays our helper took time off to be with her own family.

Re: The Trouble With School – I

Safariant — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:08:58 -0000

Totally agree. Unfortunately this happens in many places. Very sad that this madness has arrived in sweet Kenya :(

Re: Strategy For Dummies

Jacquie Kariuki — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 01:16:23 -0000

*Grins* This is delicious tongue-in-cheek dessert...may I please have second helpings?

Re: The Trouble With School – I

Jacquie Kariuki — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 01:05:03 -0000

I agree with you; It is about the whole person. My biggest problem is not even lack of the free time. They may still get the free time and not do much with it because their minds have not been developed to view the world around them in 3D.

Their imagination has not been nurtured, Creativity is not encouraged, nor is critial thinking tested or participating in community service which I think should start at a young age. Subjects like Art & crafts, Music, wood work are no longer taught. I do not know if the mandatory P.E classes are there anymore. So you end up with kids who may be book smart, but can't apply the knowledge they have acquired...

Re: The Trouble With School – I

SK — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 05:10:07 -0000

I have been pondering about the same issue of lack of free time even after the Kenyan education system narrowed down the number of subjects that our kids go through.
The other day I had a chat with my nieces about their learning methods & I was quite shocked to say the least. Right from the top, school administrators have it that schools are their little fiefdoms for them to rack in money at whatever cost. That explains the extra-coaching every evening & during the holidays, unnecessary field trips to Nairobi, Nakuru & Mombasa mostly.

The number of books they buy within their time in first 8 years (for primary schools) to 4 years (for high school) is appalling! And mind you by the time one changes classes, the curriculum is 'conveniently revised' and parents forced to buy new books. For instance, my nieces are two classes apart, but the younger one can't use the elder's ones books due to such changes. If my memory serves me well, in our family I learnt with almost the same books that my bro who was 5 classes ahead of me started with.

Another issue is the lack of involvement by most parents. They are usually called for PTA ( Parents Teachers Association) meetings to rubber stamp what the management and school administrators have thought would serve the institution better. By coercing a few cheerleaders a lot of underlying issues are usually overlooked and parents end up paying through their noses for such oversights. Good example, how does an institution have over 50 acres of free range land yet the institution will insist on buying food supplies wholly from middlemen in the local towns? Why not utilise the pieces of land to supplement some of the feeding even if it is for fun? Whatever happened to the 4K clubs in schools?

Since I can't put all the issues in this space, it's nice you've touched on this issue to pick our conscience and hope the Education officials are READING this. Being a parent and in 2-3 years the little one joining school, I'm sure whichever school/institution she joins will have one noxious parent! I'll QUESTION EVERYTHING & keep them on toes!

Re: The Trouble With School – I

Skyhieghts101 — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:29:06 -0000

M, Good post,
I have a few niggling questions:
Why do we go to school? to get a job? (why do other animals educate their progeny? for a job?) there is something very wrong with this picture in that should I sacrifice my kids childhood so that they can get a job? does the best education gaurantee social mobility? (me thinks not) who provides these jobs?
Where did this type of schooling / education system come / originate from? what was its purpose. It does not matter whether it is 7,6,3 or 8.4.4 the results seem to be the same in terms of what it produces?
what are the origins of the National shools in Kenya, what was their purpose and who benefited from recruiting the'brightest' from these schools? what happened to the rest.

Re: The Trouble With School – I

MMK — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:47:01 -0000

- One thing I do not understand is: We did more subjects than the current students, and they are in school longer? How is that?
- From class 1 to class 3, school ended at 12.45pm for us. I was home by 12.55pm. Play started at 1.30pm and ended when parents came home.
- We played video games, soccer, basketball, shake, roundus (sp!), snakes and ladders. Read books and comics. Socialized. And still passed KCPE
- The public playground next to where I grew up is now a church. So where do kids play?

Re: The Trouble With School – I

catherine gathoni — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 10:36:18 -0000

are the kids not sleep deprived???? someone should cover this like in a documentary ama the news like seriously when your in nursery, why would you ever need weekend classes. too sad

Re: The Trouble With School – I

Ruth — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 05:35:13 -0000

My daughter will not grow up like this.She will learn things old school.

Re: The Trouble With School – I

Mwirigi — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:19:40 -0000

The lack of free time is worrying. It cultivates a culture of being always on!
Even now, years later, some time off the daily grind is necessary for one to sit down and reflect on what you've been doing, plan for what you need to do next.

Re: The Trouble With School – I

Yipe.org — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:48:39 -0000

If a business was making child workers get up at 5am, and work for very long hours carrying heavy stuff that would be called child abuse. However when its school, somehow we say that it is different. Then the child grows up, the most insignificant trigger can cause them to go on the rampage as our university students often do. The first thing that should go is our over reliance on exams (http://bit.ly/ytkDTf) as a measure of future success for our kids.

Re: The Trouble With School – I

Kui Njoroge — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 02:11:00 -0000

I can't begin to imagine that life.

I remember reading Sweet Valley Kids/Twins/High/University like I was going to be tested on them.

Yes we had Saturday classes but I remember having fun in those classes. I'd finish my homework so that I could have the weekend free; and even then, the homework was not a lot.

I've had friends pull their children out of the 8-4-4 system because the children stopped having time to be kids and just be.

Was I competitive then? Very. But it was not the only thing that mattered and that was drilled into me. Now it seems to be the only thing that matters and it's being advocated on all levels...from the teachers, the parents, society.....what changed?

Re: The Trouble With School – I

Josiah — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 01:18:56 -0000

I love the Finnish school system.

Some choice comments from this article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/860...

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In 2006, Finland's pupils scored the highest average results in science and reading in the whole of the developed world. In the OECD's exams for 15 year-olds, known as PISA, they also came second in maths, beaten only by teenagers in South Korea.

This isn't a one-off: in previous PISA tests Finland also came out top.

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According to the OECD, Finnish children spend the fewest number of hours in the classroom in the developed world.