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We need to stop looking for validation from others. Nollywood and Bollywood don't ask white people for representation. We can have our own "Hollywood", award shows too, call them the Leroys
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There has been global applause for a teacher in Ghana who posted photos of himself drawing on a blackboard with multi-colored chalk, the features of a Microsoft Word processing window. The students in his class can also be seen drawing it into their notebooks.
Social media exploded in admiration and wonder at his effort to explain how computers work—without computers.
Richard Appiah Akoto, 33, is the information and communication technology (ICT) teacher at Betenase M/A Junior High School in the town of Sekyedomase, about two and half hours drive north of Ghana’s second city, Kumasi. The school has no computers even though since 2011, 14 and 15-year-olds are expected to write and pass a national exam (without which students cannot progress to high school) with ICT being one of the subjects.
“This is not my first time [of drawing] it. I have been doing it anytime I am in the classroom…I like posting pictures on Facebook so I just felt like [sharing it]. I didn’t know it would get the attention of people like that”, says Akoto, who has been a teacher at the school for six years.
On Facebook, Akoto goes by the nickname “Owura Kwadwo Hottish” which was the name that went viral on both Facebook and Twitter. His photo was seen as both a bit of ironic fun about life in Africa but also as a source of inspiration particularly for Africans in the tech community like the Cameroonian tech entrepreneur Rebecca Enonchong, who tweets as @africatechie.
The photos gained prominence after a popular Ghanaian comedian (who is also a teacher) shared it with his 140,000 Facebook fans and later picked up by international websites and tech enthusiasts on the continent. After Enonchong tweeted about him she reached out to Microsoft on Twitter. This has culminated in a promise by Microsoft to “equip [Akoto] with a device from one of our partners, and access to our MCE program & free professional development resources on.” Akoto, however adds that the school needs about 50 computers in order for his classes to really fulfill its promise.
Although he has a personal laptop, he does not use it because the features differ from what is in the official syllabus which require him to teach his students among other things parts of a system unit and monitor, the steps in connecting them and how to boot a computer with a desktop as their reference. ”[So] if you bring a charged laptop to class and just press the power button, then all of a sudden, everything will be on”, that does not work, he says.
That written exam relies on students’ ability to remember what is in the syllabus, which has not been updated since its introduction. Last year, only one of his students managed to get an A.
“Definitely those in Accra [Ghana’s capital] will pass the exam because you cannot compare someone who is in front of a computer, who knows what he is doing with the mouse to someone who has not had a feel of a computer mouse before”, says Akoto.
While Akoto has been described as an inspiration for teachers in Africa, what he does is symptomatic of an under-resourced dysfunctional public school system. Across the continent, many poor parents are forced to choose private schools over free public primary schools due to this lack of resources in government-owned schools. In Ghana, there have also been calls for a national conversation about a fairer distribution of educational resources as many rural schools like Betenase struggle with infrastructure and teaching logistics challenges.
We need to stop looking for validation from others. Nollywood and Bollywood don't ask white people for representation. We can have our own "Hollywood", award shows too, call them the Leroys. In all seriousness, what would be the difference between an Oscar and a Leroy? Other than the fact that one is validated by white people and the other by yourself? Same goes for representation in Hollywood, create your own #RulingClassMentality.
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Man if all the money, power and influence is across the street, me giving myself a little participation trophy don't mean much.
Being a dead beat dad is ****ed up
BUT
These women having babies
By dudes
Who either from the jump
U know ain’t father material
Or who don’t wanna be a father
Is idiotic
Don’t have a baby by a deadbeat dude
Then get mad
When he actually is a deadbeat dad
U knew what type of dude he was from the beginning
U claim “oh I’m independent I don’t need him”
But quick to call child support
Quick to call that man and ask for money
Quick to tell him
What he can and can’t do with his kid
But expecting him to be there
When he told u from the beginning
He didn’t either want the kid
Or u seen he was a no good piece of ****
Y’all both have responsibility in those situations
And dead beat dads are ***** *** **** boys
So are dead beat moms to
They thing just cause the baby stay with them
They good moms
Nah it’s more to it than just collecting that child support
And food stamps
These facebook quotes really don't mean much. There's few logical steps and influences being skipped.the flaw is not understanding YOU are the money, power, and influence.
These facebook quotes really don't mean much. There's few logical steps and influences being skipped.
This we have the BET awards and soul train awards that are often undervalued or skipped all together by Black celebs. Too many of us want white Validation because our awards, recognition, and platforms ain’t good enough for some Black folk. Stop seeking to be honored by folk who don’t like you.We need to stop looking for validation from others. Nollywood and Bollywood don't ask white people for representation. We can have our own "Hollywood", award shows too, call them the Leroys. In all seriousness, what would be the difference between an Oscar and a Leroy? Other than the fact that one is validated by white people and the other by yourself? Same goes for representation in Hollywood, create your own #RulingClassMentality.
With outside funding.
How was that defeatist?
Good luck with all that hotep **** while the realistic folks actually take the steps to build out the progress for you.
thoughts?
I think its time to draw a line between the bitter entitled and the actual blacks who would rather create and innovate our very own.