BRIDGING THE WORLD WIDE LEARNING GAP

One of American’s leading educationalists once said that man must learn to read, write and intelligently communicate with others if he is to escape the poverty of ignorance. These words are as true today as they were then. Throughout the ages man has continued to learn. The very story of civilisation is a story of learning. Man’s achievements in science have definitely been inspired by his desire to live a better life. The more developed a country is, the more it needs highly trained Professional People to maintain the achievements and to make new progress. The more less developed a country is, the more it needs properly trained people to grapple with the problems of advancement.

The gap between the developed and less developed countries in the field of learning is very wide indeed and would require a colossal effort by both the developed and developing countries to bridge it, if at all.

You Americans are privileged to have got to a stage where Education is something which a large majority of you almost take for granted. The learning gap between the United States and the rest of the World is very wide. It becomes one more expression for disparity, alongside the technological gap, the education gap, the management gap, the brain drain and the American Challenge. How can this gap be narrowed? How can the rest of the world catch up? By comparison with the United States, most of the world is hopelessly behind in its attention to education. On the World Scale, Western Europe and the English-speaking countries are of course relatively high up. If the number of University Graduates per unit of population is taken as 100 for the United States, in the United Kingdom it is about 50, in the Netherlands about 60 and in Canada about 50. But on this same scale the figure for Africa overall is about 1. In Africa over 80% of the population is illiterate. And UNESCO statistics show that the total number of illiterate persons is increasing, not decreasing. The number of University Graduates – let alone Dentists – is appallingly low. Each year now the United States graduates from its Universities roughly 700,000 young people or 20 times the number from the whole of Africa. Out of the few graduates Africa produces, only 5% have studied the natural sciences, engineering, medical science or agriculture – the disciplines that are so urgently needed.

In one of the great countries of South America, only one child in three passes the third grade. Only 1% of the young people obtain a University Degree – as against 18% in the United States – and nearly all of this 1% study law, so that they may enter government or Foreign Service. Again using the basis of University Graduates per unit of population as being 100 for the United States, available figures for South America are as follows: – Argentina 20, Brazil 7, Chile 12 and Venezuela 5. Looking at Asia for a moment, the figure for Japan is nearly 70, higher than any nation in the world except the United States. It is interesting that the nation that has the greatest post-war economic success story gives so much attention to Education. But elsewhere in Asia the figure for India is 12, Pakistan 10, Malaysia 10 and Burma 5, Statistics to illustrate the lag of most countries of Africa, Asia and South America are endless and staggering.

And as if numbers relating to the developing world weren’t bad enough, there are problems of quality as well. The Pearson Study of 1969, which was undertaken for the World Bank’s Commission on International Development – observes that too often curricula are in a mould cast over a hundred years ago, that old methods with heavy emphasis on the humanities do not meet today’s needs in the developing world. The supply of engineers, doctors, dentist and scientist is negligible. The Pearson Report concludes that problems of quality are the most urgent that such education as does exist is becoming even less and less relevant to the needs of the economics. And so the sad story of disparity goes on.

You will probably note that I have constantly been relating the level of education to the level of wealth. You might say that this is a casual relationship. I would doubt that very much. Why can one country have a higher standard of living than another? By this measure what makes a country rich? There are a number of possible reasons that come to mind. If, as often claimed, natural resources were the determining criterion, then Japan would be poor, which it is not. If industrialisation is the key to a nation’s wealth, then New Zealand and Denmark where agriculture predominates, would be poor, which they are not. If high population density drags down living standards, the Netherlands and Japan would be poor, which they are not. If availability of capital is the required resource, then Iraq would be rich, which it is not. If military damage and defeat and loss of colonies were the deterrents, then Germany and Japan would be very poor, which they most certainly are not. But what about a high level of education spread widely over the population? If that is the important variable, then the United States should be very rich, which it is; Japan should be rich, which it is; Latin America should be fairly poor, which it is, and Africa should be very poor, which it is. Am I leading you to conclude that education is the one and only prerequisite for an affluent society? The answer has most certainly got to be No, but is most certainly a prime one, for widespread ignorance and prosperity just aren’t found together. You can’t name a nation in poverty which is nevertheless well educated, or one that is rich but ignorant.

I think it was Plato who once said that “Knowledge is the Food of the Soul”. It is now generally accepted by most nations that to progress – or even to survive – knowledge must be gained and transmitted to more than a privileged few. It is also widely accepted that education is important not only as a matter of spiritual nutrition, but for social progress, and for economic progress and for agricultural and industrial development.

Africa over and above the problem of struggling from the bottom to try and narrow the world wide learning gap has been the victim of the brain drain. Some of the new countries of Africa have suffered bitterly from the brain drain – some have been left with a handful of doctors, engineers, nurses, etc. I think that the gravity of the problem is beyond contest. In the four years between 1962-66, 51.9% of all the graduates of Iran, 41% of the scientists and 10% of the physicians left their country for work abroad. Likewise 35.5% of the Lebanese and 39.3% of Chilean engineers, 15.2% of the Turkish physicians and 19.3% of the Philippino doctors had obtained employment in other lands. The percentage for African engineers, doctors, nurses and natural scientists working outside their native countries is also reported to have reached high proportions. Of the 150 Cameroonians trained as doctors between 1962-66, 100 were reported to be working in France as against only 47 on their native soil. The three remaining had found work outside their country of birth.

Until recently, the United States had been considered the principal culprit in the drain. But further studies have revealed new evidence that indicates a universal culpability. For instance, United Nations statistics show that all the great industrialised nations of the Western world have acted as centres of gravity for the movement. Not only the United States, but Britain, West Germany, France, Canada and Australia have served as the principal magnets for doctors, engineers and scientists from Africa, Asia and South America. Norway and Sweden have lost some of their brightest stars to West Germany. Britain has lost a large proportion to Canada and Australia. The United States has lost a large proportion to Canada and Australia. The United States has attracted from them all. Available figures show that of the 130,000 scientists that came to the United States from abroad since 1945 and 1965, 77,000 originated from Western Europe. It is presently estimated that there are 250,000 foreign students studying in the United States and Western Europe. Roughly 75,000 are in Britain, German has roughly 30,000, France another 30,000 and the United States roughly 100,000. Of the 100,000 foreign students in America, about one fifth remain in America. Many foreign students who come to the United States to train in basic sciences in order to return to their respective countries as science teachers continue in advanced studies in physics, in electronics and in nuclear sciences for which there are no job opportunities in their home countries. Overtraining among doctors from developing countries prohibits repatriation. They specialise in cancer research and heart transplants for which there are no laboratory facilities or proper hospital equipment in their respective countries.

On the brighter side, let me say that on the whole, this circulation of the brainy people has helped in the enrichment of the common culture of mankind. The great talents in the arts, in the sciences and even in philosophy require constant communion with kindred souls. Cross fertilisation is the main catalyst of great thinkers and great art. In order to achieve the positive results which are absolutely essential for the future of the world, we must have a high quality of leadership which is all too rare today. By leadership I mean those qualities of sensitivity to the problems brought about by accelerating change; the imagination to develop solutions and the courage to carry them out. Only by having such leadership in both the developed and developing countries shall we make a positive contribution towards bridging the world wide learning gap and begin the long stairway from ignorance.

I am happy to be here today to address the 1971 Graduating Class from the Tufts School of Dental Medicine, for more reasons than one because my cousin, Temba Mudenda, happens to be one of the 1971 graduates. We in Zambia are very proud of Temba’s achievements here at Tufts, and I am sure that he will perform his professional duties in the best traditions of the high academic reputation of this world famous Dental School. I am proud to announce that Temba is probably the first or second Zambian to qualify as a dentist and I am pleased that he has decided to return to Zambia and make his contribution in the field of nation building. To all the graduating students of 1971 my message is this, if I may be allowed to borrow a famous phrase – as you go out into the world “ask not what society can do for you, ask what you can do for society.” My very best wishes for fruitful and rewarding professional careers.