The Cost of Education

The education of one’s child holds a special kind of pride for the Nigerian parent. It matters a great deal, this education, to the extent that parents will often stop at nothing, including turning occasional villain in the eyes of their children, to achieve this. The grander the credentials, the happier the parent—and this fact is as true today, as it will be tomorrow, and has been for a while, and the determined single-mindedness that fuels it will possibly never change either. I am by no means looking to shake the foundations of these truths, but perhaps query the effect it can have on the relationship between parent and child.

Part of what education promises is its ability to fully change one’s sensibilities. The child that schools away from the direct influence of home benefits most; for as until then, the child’s make up is a kind of mishmash of their parents habits and the habits of those around them. It can be quite the thing to see a child grow into adulthood with full authority over their selfhood. The parent wants this for their child, and wagers that the best education they can afford will get them there. Often it does. What is not considered though is the potential dark side to education: that which encourages the growth of the most hideous superiority complex in the mind of the educated, separating them from others they deem primitive or stupid or both.