Africans & Reading: The Myths & The Truths Lets Disect This Topic

Saturday, 25 May 2024

By: TB Obwoge

I scrolled through reels on Facebook, I couldn't help but notice one on litteracy in America (the United States of America), note many people are taught that there is a continent named America. This so-called continent is North America, Central America and South America, with all the 57 countries in the Americas.

I learned this, from reading, I think this is false and incorrect because if this is true than Europe and Asia should be one, which includes Africa. Because as we see on the news and from reading, Gaza, which is Palestine has a road which connects it to Egypt. Therefore if you want to play, Africa and Asia are connected.

But I digress, this video was telling how the literacy rate in America was the lowest it has ever been in 30-years. This was inpart to the pandemic, a pandemic which should have increaed reading but it didn't. It led to the rise of TikTok and other nonsense social media platforms.

Let us look at the myth or fact that Africans don't read, also there is so many articles that claim Africans have a very low IQ. Much lower than that of African-Americans and this claim is also used to claim African-Americans have low IQs because they have DNA from Africa.

In an old article from The Guardian back in 2006, there was backing behind the claim that Africans and Black people in general have lower IQ's.

Low IQs are Africa's curse, says lecturer

Researcher accused of promoting racist stereotype wins backing from LSE

The London School of Economics is embroiled in a row over academic freedom after one of its lecturers published a paper alleging that African states were poor and suffered chronic ill-health because their populations were less intelligent than people in richer countries.

Satoshi Kanazawa, an evolutionary psychologist, is now accused of reviving the politics of eugenics by publishing the research which concludes that low IQ levels, rather than poverty and disease, are the reason why life expectancy is low and infant mortality high. His paper, published in the British Journal of Health Psychology, compares IQ scores with indicators of ill health in 126 countries and claims that nations at the top of the ill health league also have the lowest intelligence ratings.

Paul Collins, a spokesman for War On Want, the international development charity, said the research ‘runs the risk of resurrecting the racist stereotype that Africans are responsible for their own plight, and may reinforce prejudices that Africans are less intelligent’.

Collins added: ‘The notion that people in poor countries have inferior intelligence has been disproved by much research in the past. This is another example, which other academics will shoot down.’

Philippa Atkinson, who chairs the LSE student union’s 85-strong Africa Forum and teaches in the school’s Department of Government, said the paper ‘reflects the now discredited theories of eugenics, which should have been left behind’.

‘Eugenics was a very influential discourse for centuries,’ she said. ‘It’s the discourse that colonialism and racism in America until the Sixties were based on, and was part of the basis of apartheid too. Nobody could prove that there are racial or national differences in IQ. It’s very, very controversial to say

Source TheGuadian.Com

Collins added: ‘The notion that people in poor countries have inferior intelligence has been disproved by much research in the past. This is another example, which other academics will shoot down.’

Let us take this portion here and use my lived experience from Ghana and Kenya, as well as my experience from reading and writing about much of the news I read and watch from African countries.

Some countries in Africa refuse to invest in their citizens, Ghana is a perfect example. Akufo-Addo applauds his free SHS program. SHS meaning Senior High School, where children don't have to pay for. high school, public high school. However there are still many fees needed for a student to attend school.

Getting to the poorly funded public schools are difficult, they are not well stocked, built or even equipped. I have outlined that in a prior article about religion and science education in some African schools.

Some schools in Ghana have not had texbooks for 4-years or more, not only textbooks any reading books. I have never been in an American classroom without textbooks or reading materials and books. Most even have laptops, in my daughter's school every student was given a laptop to use and even take home for the entire year.

In many countries in Africa there aren't even libraries, books and reading material should always be around children. I have seen and met hundreds of children that are not even given a toy to play with, something as simple and basic as a doll, a car or a ball. So it would be easy to see how these same children aren't given books to read.

Zimbabwe, Seychelles, São Tomé and Príncipe, South Africa are some of the countries that have extremely high litteracy rates. These are also the countries that seem to invest more on their educational ministries as well.

In an article written about IQs in the United States, it shows that the average American IQ is dropping. They are attribute this to a decline in education quality.

Historic decline in IQ could stem from poor education, study shows

A recent study suggests that, for the first time in nearly 100 years, Americans’ average intelligence quotient (IQ) is declining.

The professors who authored the study theorize that the quality of education could play a role in reversing the IQ gains enjoyed by previous generations.

The study, published in a spring 2023 edition of Intelligence, measures IQ test results among 18- to 60-year-olds to examine the phenomenon first observed by philosopher James Flynn.

Professors from Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., and the University of Oregon in Eugene explain the Flynn effect: starting in 1932, average IQ scores increased roughly three to five points per decade. In other words, “younger generations are expected to have higher IQ scores than the previous cohort.”

Data from the sample of U.S. adults, however, imply that there is a reverse Flynn effect. From 2006 to 2018, the age groups measured generally saw declines in the IQ test used by the study, the International Cognitive Ability Resource (ICAR).

Source Campus Reform

[Intelligence] involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience. It is not merely book learning, a narrow academic skill, or test-taking smarts. Rather, it reflects a broader and deeper capability for comprehending our surroundings—"catching on," "making sense" of things, or "figuring out" what to do.

Source AFT.Org

While IQ and education are one thing, reading is one of the only forms that challenges the mind to use several skills at once, while increasing knowledge. Reading is the cheapest way of findiing out more about the world around you. While it costs to pay for wifi, which they call data or bundles in African countries, is too expensive.

Perfect expample of this, IQ, education and reading debate, there is a news outlet in Africa, they're Nations News Africa. Though for some reasons I beleive are under-handed, they operate from several different names or handles. You can't help but notice the writers don't read, watch or follow world news or even news from other African countries.

Today there are more and more NGOs (non-governmental agencies) trying to promote reading in African countries. The culture of reading is declining around the world. However in countries where they're poorly paid, large amounts of people unemployed, people are less likely to read books.

This author has been trying for over 2-years to get several Africans to read several books. I would actually buy and several that I have downloaded and sent via WhatsApp, one chapter at a time. However all the people I tried to engage with refused to read, I posted a video on several of my social media accounts with my contact information and no one wants to read the books I am willing to provide.

No, this isn't any scienctific research, but the Americans I offered the same too, have taken me up on the offer.

African countries need to promote reading and invest more money into their education, where books and libraries are available to all their citizens.

Thank you for reading 🙏🏽 Please consider buying a coffee for Lacey’s House efforts in Gender Equality & Children’s Rights.

©️TB Obwoge 2024 All Rights Reserved