Pragmatism or crude utility? A critique of the education with production movement in contemporary Africa

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Periodical article

Title:	Pragmatism or crude utility? A critique of the education with production movement in contemporary Africa
Author:	Lungu, Gatian F.
Year:	1991
Periodical:	Quest: An International African Journal of Philosophy
Volume:	5
Issue:	2
Period:	December
Pages:	75-89
Language:	English
Notes:	biblio. refs.
Geographic term:	Africa
Subjects:	educational policy vocational education education educational systems Education and state Education--Philosophy
Abstract:	This article describes some major ideals and operational modes of the education with production movement in contemporary Africa and provides a critique of the philosophical soundness of the movement within the African context. Productionists have argued that learning is most effective when it is directly related to practice. This assertion is supported by the writings of pragmatic philosophers, except that the latter emphasize the critical role of ideas in interpreting and transforming practice, and not the primary role of doing or action as an end of learning. The author concludes that to the extent that schools in Africa are currently being coerced to assume production as their primary role, and the basis for all learning, then the education with production movement is essentially a campaign for crude utility. Bibliogr., sum. in French (p. 74).