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However, neither party can claim to be entirely correct because our heredity and environment are so closely intertwined. Genetics play a vital role in our individual makeup, from the color of our hair, to the shape of our noses, to our athletic ability. But this is only part of the picture. The question is, did Wole Odegbami become a soccer superstar because mastering the sport was encoded in his family’s DNA? Or did he achieve stardom because his brother Segun Odegbami created a suitable environment for learning the strategy involved in being a soccer prodigy? From this example, it is clear that the nature-versus-nurture debate is really about how much the environment can affect inborn characteristics.
Regardless of our philosophical stance on the issue, it is clear that natural characteristics and environment play important role in children’s education. The English philosopher John Locke theorized that when a man is born, his mind is empty; he referred to it as a “tabula rasa,” which is Latin for a “blank slate.” Based on this theory, a person’s conduct and belief system are functions of his environment. If this is true, we must ask ourselves if we are providing the kind of milieu that promotes the academic success of our students. Creating the right environment for learning has always been a challenge for educators, and even more so for school administrators and governments. In the Western world, innovation and creativity are the order of the day. Universities in the United States and other Western countries spend billions of dollars on research, developing new disease-fighti ng drugs, electric cars, and renewable wind and solar energy sources. Within the last twenty years, what have we invented in our universities and polytechnics? How much is earmarked for research in science and development within our education system. Without being overly critical, these are honest questions we should ask ourselves – in the words of Winston Churchill “Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body; it calls attention to the development of an unhealthy state of things. If it is heeded in time, danger may be averted; if it is suppressed, a fatal distemper may develop.” Forward looking nations are always at the cutting edge of development, and thus, are able to create opportunities for generation to come.
Basic economics warns against a trade imbalance, whether in goods or services. The trend in our continent’s economies is towards the importation of foreign goods and the h iring of expatriates, especially in our oil sector. If all foreign oil companies withdrew from our countries, crude oil would become useless because we lack the technology to refine it. We can use our universities to research such technologies and thus repair our economic vulnerabilities. We have an abundance of natural and human resources. But just as a diamond in the rough needs to be polished, the minds of students need to be awakened. Without cultivation, a diamond can remain an undistinguished stone, and likewise potential of our students can be wasted. Nature may be fixed, but nurture is something we can change.