ELOQUENCE OF THE SCRIBES, EXCERPT

"The lack of training in writing was just an extension of a general policy designed to produce relatively few African university graduates, and to guarantee that those few would in the main form a technically unskilled educated class, a sort of lumpen intelligentsia . "How well the policy worked we can judge from the actual skill levels of the continent's intellectual classes today. We all agree that Africa faces challenges requiring the determined application of technical skills at all levels. We intellectuals, however, have been trained to discuss problems, not to solve them... In effect , we have made it our profession to alert other people to the existence of problems needing solutions. It would be more sensible if we cut out the consciousness-raising seminars and conferences and actually meet to solve problems, hands-on. "We would not be breaking new ground. Before European colonialism overwhelmed the feudal order of Africa, and before European, Persian and Arab invaders destroyed the civilization of Egypt, systematic professional training systems and apprenticeships were normal aspects of work and study on the continent. The literate cadres of ancient Egypt got their training in temple institutions called 'per ankh,' and those specializing in the verbal arts could belong to a section within the larger institution of the house of scribes, or 'per sesh.' The feudal griots of Mali trained young aspirants in villages of traditionalists. In short, for practicing professionals,systematic training in theory and practice was the rule ." P. 275-276, "PER SESH--Freeing Social Oxygen," THE ELOQUENCE OF THE SCRIBES by Ayi Kwei Armah (2006)