Education is defined as the imparting and acquiring of knowledge through teaching and learning, especially at a school or similar institution (source: Microsoft Encarta 2009). It makes sense then to say that the lack of education is the lack of knowledge which results from lack of teaching and/or learning. "Half-education" would then be part-acquisition of knowledge - incomplete information - and could also be misinformation or disinformation.
Unlike the impression many have, anyone and everyone can be half-educated: perhaps in the middle of the attainment of a new level of knowledge, or sudden fresh discoveries in the line of one's past knowledge. So half-education by itself is a normal, temporary condition. This situation becomes a problem when the party lacking the knowledge refuses to admit their lack. Continuous lack of education is a gradual yet steady path to stagnation!
The half-education syndrome could be a result of being in a less-privileged position when compared with others. The disorder really is in the defeatist attitude the "half-bred" individual displays in reaction to their situation. Another root-cause is sheer refusal to accept the right of others to information.
As blessed as my beloved Nigeria is, many of her citizens suffer from half-education syndrome and this unfortunate trend finds room at all levels: the leadership does not have a good grasp of the country's problem yet it strives to impress the citizenry and the international community that it has arrived; the citizens 'understand' that the system is doomed and can only be overcome by cutting corners; the 'masses' are threatened by their despondency and so they 'get back' at the more-privileged members of society jeering at them and stealing from them; the latter in turn marvels at the half-education of the 'masses' and seek to 'use' them to achieve selfish ambitions.
The twists of the situation are enormous and as a result we are deeply disturbed people: frustrated and under a lot of pressure. So the 'highly successful and educated' business executive who has been slaving at some job for a whole day, drives into traffic completely exhausted and shouts at the not-so-lucky jalopee bus driver whose spot he tries to take; the respectable middle-aged lady has to raise her skirt and climb on okada (for lack of better systems of transportation and funds) being driven by a young lad who has no real aspirations in life ( and his driver's licence is nothing more than the tickets he gets from his daily tips to agbero). The motor-cycle tries to escape being hit by an unfulfilled petrol-tanker driver and makes a somewhat indelible mark on the business executive's car, which also gets scratched by the jalopee bus. The drivers of all four vehicles (plus passengers of the bus) stand in the middle of the road and get in an unfruitful and unnecessary verbal street-fight. Root-cause: frustration out of the pangs of uneducation!
Yet education is readily available if only we would take advantage of the numerous opportunities around us, learn to place our priorities appropriately and genuinely develop an interest to grow. The internet offers information on any and every subject, and certain individuals (reserved and unsung) who have exhibited advanced levels of knowledge in certain fields dwell among us, yet pride keeps us from making use of these avenues.
While we continue to create stop-gap solutions to problems that should not exist in the first instance and get comfortable (or adaptive, as we like to term it), the decay in our system gets deeper, and the half-educated few who are making small-time benefits from the incomplete education of the larger population are getting pottier bellies. If we continue like this, one thing is sure: we shall awake only to become aware that we are truly dead!
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