Thread by @wmnjoya

The fundamental justification of CBC is that some people are born deserving everything, and others are not. Of course, nobody in @KICDKenya would say it that way, because it would cause a riot. So they repeat different versions of that ideology, but with different words.

The most common phrasing of this ideology is this:

"Kids do badly in subject X because they are NOT TALENTED, and it is a waste of resources to teach those kids. We should throw them instead to the dustbin of TVET or sports."

In one conversation we had on @ntvkenya on this very CBC, someone even said that some people are meant to be slaves, and that education is for teaching people how unequal they are.

This was in 2017, just after the elections which were contested around that very ideology.

The problem is, many Kenyans believe as much. Even when you scratch under the surface of uthamakism and BBI, there is a fundamental belief that some Kenyans are born to deserve better and that the job of the majority is to beg the chosen few for favors.

The most virulent anti-Kikuyu ideologists are now begging the same demons they attacked for favors in the colonial state. Meaning that they never fundamentally questioned uthamakism, which is really white supremacy in Kenyan mask. They just protested lack of love from uthamakism.

But back to CBC, this ideology of TALENT is evil. In a humane system, you teach every kid in your class as a human being, no matter how they perform in a subject. You do it because the target of education is the human being, not the subject performance.

In my short stint as a high school teacher, I will never forget a class in which a student, who was constantly mocked by my colleagues for her poor performance, had the courage to persist in asking questions in class. I answered all of them.

The other students were shocked. At first they were telling her to tone down, but when they realized I wasn't getting annoyed and that I was answering her questions, they were surprised I treated her fairly.

No matter how kids perform, they should be taught like they matter.

The idea of talent is against that view. "Talent" is shorthand for saying that the only kids we teachers should bother with are those who do well in tests, and for those who don't do well are a waste. What would that mean for hungry kids, poor kids, or kids with special needs?

But the middle class accepts this ideology when they accept the government's version of "parental involvement." They're simply hoping that by helping their kids (more like doing their kids' homework), their kids will escape the dustbin.

That is a fundamental misunderstanding of how humanity works. Fear is not instilled by violating everybody, but by picking a few and making of them a lesson for the rest.

So doing your kid's homework does not protect her from FOMO (fear of missing out). It worsens the fear.

So in fact, kids who will do well in CBC, especially kids of the middle class, may do better financially after the school system, but they will have more anxiety and will be more immature because they spent their childhood being protected from learning and focusing on assessment.

The results of that social pathology are what people are now calling "mental health awareness." That is not to say that there are no mental health issues independent of social system. It's to say that this ideology of prestige and knowing your place is making people ill.

People who have been excelling in the system graduate only to find that the things they were taught about helping people through their work are constantly undermined by GoK and pirate sector.

The fate of doctors in Kenya is a case in point.

You do so well in exams, you do medicine with the dream of treating people, then find Mutahi Kagwe running the show, money for healthcare being stolen, the doctors' union being given a hard time, doctors not being paid and foreign doctors imported and Kenyan ones exported.

But the thing is, your foot in the hierarchy has expired once you're out of the system. The logic that favored you while in school still applies, but has now expired for you. It is now those born to presidents and married to daughters of homeguards who are now the "talented."

So I keep asking this question, and will ask again: do you believe some human beings are born superior to others?

If your answer is NO, you have to ask what you can do to change your mind about education, politics and the economy. Because your NO is incompatible with CBC.

My NO is what propels me to oppose CBC. It is not opposing the president, whom I don't care for, or for opposing the civil service, which is colonial and should be disbanded. I oppose CBC because it is fundamentally madharau against Kenyan children and against humanity.

I oppose seeing kids in class as complete, that if they don't understand what I'm teaching, that is a problem with them. A child's story never stops being written. The content of what I'm teaching may be important later, or never, but HOW I treat them will always matter.

When I teach, I tell my students why what I teach matters in the real world, because not all of them pursue my subject as a career. I start with asking them what their career interests are, and the whole semester, I tell them how what I'm teaching relates to their interests.

That requires MY investment in 1) believing that my students matter, and 2) constantly reading and updating my knowledge. I never tell myself that they are not talented in my area.

So I reject KICD's ideology that only certain people are worth my investment as a human being.

And really, no parent should say the nonsense about talent. Because if you believe that other kids are "not talented," remember that someone else is saying the same about your own kid.

So when do we stop this social discrimination nonsense?

We stop it when we, the adults, see ourselves as human beings, that we deserve dignity, we deserve to be creative, and so we love one and are generous to one another, no matter whether we know them or not. We are accepting CBC because we don't believe in our own humanity.

We have to look in our workplaces, media and church to see how we are being taught not to see ourselves as human beings. Nonsense like CBK telling us that paper cash is being destroyed because we sweat too much should not be acceptable in Kenya.

Being told things like some projects "are unstoppable," or being gaslighted by people who claim no authority when they have it, is abuse to our soul. If we don't stand up for dignity in small things, we wont see why CBC is harmful to children in the long term.

And instead of telling people to go to sports, demand funding and space for sports and arts. Instead of teling people "become fundis," pay fundis properly and demand social services, so that fundis can work freely without worrying about hospital bills and school fees.

Don't pretend you care, while in the same breathe taking comfort in private health insurance and asking whether you should take your kid to IGCSE.

Be committed to ending these contradictions. After all, they are making us have mental health issues.