Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 1981 W.E.B. Du Bois' Ideas on Education: Implications for Nigerian Education Martin Umachi Okoro Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss Part of the Education Commons Recommended Citation Okoro, Martin Umachi, "W.E.B. Du Bois' Ideas on Education: Implications for Nigerian Education" (1981). Dissertations. 2059. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/2059 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 1981 Martin Umachi Okoro W.E.B. DU BOIS' IDEAS ON EDUCATION: IMPLICATIONS FOR NIGERIAN EDUCATION by ~brtin Umachi Ok9ro A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Loyola University of Chicago in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy November 1981 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to express my sincere thanks and profound gratitude to everyone who has contributed in any small way to make the investiga­ tion possible. Special thanks must first go to my research director, Dr. Gerald L. Gutek, Dean of the Loyola University School of Education, whose warmth and experience in research and writing were of immense value to me in the course of this study. I owe a debt of gratitude to Fr. Krolikowski, S.J., and Dr. John WOzniak who agreed to serve on my committee; their patience, warmth and suggestions inspired me to complete the research. I am also very appreciative of the help rendered to me by Mrs. Katherine Emerson and Mr. Robert DeRusha of the University of Massachusetts Library, Amherst, and to the Harvard University Library staff for allowing me access to primary source materials on IU Bois. I must express admiration for my wife, Mary E. Okoro, who showed a great deal of interest and understanding, while I labored on this project that never seemed to end. Finally, I wish to express my gratitude to Miss Valerie Collier, who took pains to type this dissertation. ii VITA The author, Martin Umachi Okoro is the son of the late Mazi Okoro Okwara and Madam Mgbeke Okwun Okoro. He w'as born on February 25, 1942, in Umuchiakuma, Ihechiowa, Arochukwa-Ohafia Local Council Area, Imo State, Nigeria. He was educated at Catholic Mission Schools at the elementary and post-elementary levels in his home diocese of Calabar, now Umuahia. He attended St. John's and St. Mary's primary schools, both in Ihechiowa, and St. Peter's and St. ~~ry's Colleges, in Ututu and Abak, respectively. In October, 1967, he entered Fourah Bay College, the University of Sierra Leone, having earned the University of London General Certificate of Education at the subsidiary and advanced levels. He graduated in November, 1970 with a Bachelor of Arts degree (History major). The following year he was awarded the Post-Graduate Diploma in Education (Dip Ed.). He began his graduate studies with a Loyola University Scholarship ~ February, 1972, and was awarded the Master of Arts degree in Education on February 9, 1975, majoring in Educational Administration and Super­ vision. In November, 1977, he was accepted for the fuctor of Philosophy degree at Loyola, with a major concentrating in the Historical Founda­ tions of Education, and minor stresses in Philosophy of Education and Documentary Research. Both the Federal Government of Nigeria and Loyola University have iii been generous in awarding h±m a scholarship and a fellowship, respec­ tively, without which, it would have been impossible to complete the doctorate degree program. The author has had considerable experience in the teaching profession at the elementary and secondary school levels in Nigeria, Sierre Leone and the United States. He currently works part-time as a training specialist for the Chicago Urban Skills Institute of the City Colleges of Chicago. He is a member of the Phi Delta Kappa, Loyola University Chapter . • iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDG1ENTS. • • • • • ii LIFE • . • . iii LIST OF TABLES vii CONTENTS OF APPENDICES Olapter I. INTRODUCTION •...•••• 1 Statement of the Problem . • • • • 1 ~~thod of Investigation. • • • • • • • 2 Definition and Clarification of Terms. 3 Review of Literature •••••.••• 4 II. A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETGI OF 1HE LIFE AND WORK OF W.E. B. DU BOIS • •. • • . • • • • 12 III. COMvlENTARY ON 1HE WORKS OF DU BOIS • • . • 30 IV. ANALYSIS OF DUBOIS' IDEAS ON EDUCATION. 53 V. IMPLICATIONS OF DU BOIS' IDEAS FOR NIGERIAN EDUCATION. • • • • . • • . • . • • SO VI. Sffi.'MARY, CONCLUSIONS A.t\ffi RECOMMEI-IDATIONS • • 112 BIBLIOGRAPHY 119 APPENDIX A . 127 APPENDIX B . 130 APPENDIX C . 132 APPENTIIX D . 134 APPENDIX E . 136 .~PENDIX F 138 v Page APPENDIX G •• .. 140 APPENDIX H • 142 APPENDIX I • 144 APPENDIX J .. 146 APPR~IX K •• . 148 APPENDIX L .• . 150 APPENDIX M . 152 APPENDIX N • . 155 .APPENDIX 0 . 157 APPENDIX P • . 159 APPENDIX Q . 161 APPENDIX R • . 163 APPENDIX S . 165 APPENDIX T . 168 APPENDIX U • . 170 APPENDIX V • . 172 vi LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1. 98 Table 2. 99 Table 3. • 99 Vll CHAPTER I INTRODUCfiON A. Statement of the Problem William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (1868-1963) was a distinguished Afro-American scholar, teacher, historian, sociologist, critic and author, whose ideology was of significance in both the United States and in Africa in this century. The purpose of the research on this fascinating personality and "intellectual giant," is to critically analyze DuBois' ideas on education and the implications of these ideas for Nigerian education. Education is generally regarded as the key to .the economic, political and social progress or development of any country in the 100dem world. Every country places a great deal of emphasis on the education of its young, as well as the middle-aged, and sometimes even the elderly. An industrialized society, for instance cannot be fully effective if its citizens are educated to less than the limit of their potential. The uneducated, it is argued, are unproductive, an economic liability, and therefore a menace to society. If this trend of thought is true for the technologically advanced countries, it is even more so for a developing country like Nigeria. With a population of nearly one hundred million people who speak a variety of native languages, Nigeria has a very high illiteracy rate and has not been politically, economically and socially stable. Since the stability, growth and 1 2 survival of a country depend to a great extent on an educated citizenry, the role of education in the Nigerian context cannot be over-emphasized. It is hoped that Du Bois' educational theory which is intricately linked to the political, economic and social regeneration of a people who were once colonized, exploited, oppressed and de-stabilized, can serve as a guide to Nigerian educational planners. B. Method of Investigation The basic research methodology used in this dissertation was historical, and it involved the examination of primary and secondary sources. Primary Sources: Du Bois wrote more than twenty books, hundreds of articles, editorials, and poems which put forth his political, economic, social, and educational beli~fs. His published and unpublished papers provide a great deal of information about himself, his family, education, and his outlook on human problems at the national and global levels. Both the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Harvard University libraries, which the writer used, contain the bulk of "The DuBois' Papers".* To supplement the findings from the above sources, the author read books and articles that presented opposing views to DuBois' ideas on the one hand, and official Nigerian Government papers on education on the other. My visit to Nigeria, and my informal dis­ cussions with a cross section of Nigerians at home and in Chicago about the educational problems of the country broadened my perspectives *See Appendices A-V. 3 on the research problem. Secondary Sources: The writer examined the related literature to gain insight into the nature of earlier studies on Du Bois, Pan­ Africanism, education, and the theories of social change (m::>demization). The procedures, findings, and the relevant portions of such investiga- tions have been noted in the appropriate section--review of literature. The syntheses of the ideas from the various sources form the basis for the conclusions and recommendations that have been made in the last chapter. C. Definition and Clarification of Terms Ideology: The term "ideology" originates from the words "ideo" or "idea" and "logos", meaning "reason, manner of thinking or science." It is an attempt to explain the past, the present, and to predict the future if a certain course of action is taken, in terms of the political, economic and social welfare of a group. H. Stuart Hughes defines ideology as the general concept of the actual or ideal nature of society that gives meaning and direction to the lives of large groups of people. In one aspect it is a theory of history, charting the "inevitable" course of human affairs and assuring its adherents that the future lies with them. From another standpoint ideology is linked to class, rationalizing and endorsing the aspirations of one social class and attacking those of its enemies. Finally it may be viewed as a secular cult with its own saints and martyrs, its own creed, and its own system of missionary work, propaganda, and indoctrina­ tion. I 1H. Stuart Hughes, Conte~orary Europe: A HistoEt (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1 1), p. 11. Quoted in .1. Gutek, A History of the Western Educational Experience (New York: Random - House, 1972), pp. 169-170.