The Impact of Culture on Education in Africa: A Resolution from the Aristotelian Perspective

: Africa over the years has been struggling to catch up with other continents in terms of educational advancement. Many theories have been postulated in attempts to fashion out a better course for education in the continent. In spite of these attempts, Africa still lags behind. This work through a critical analysis aims at showing the great part culture has played in the slow growth of education in the continent. The work argues that some aspects of African (Nigeria specifically) culture need to be done away with, if education must thrive well in the continent. The work therefore, advocates the use of ‘force training’ as Aristotle postulated in his Nicomachean Ethics to change these dysfunctional aspects of culture so that the functional one would blossom. It is when this is done that education will blossom in Nigeria as well as in other countries.


Introduction
Every human being is a product of culture; he/she is bred, nourished, and guided by it.Culture influences his/her activities, lifestyle, attitude and thought patterns, and even education.This influence on education has been the root reason why education has lagged behind in some areas and progressed in some.It is the reason why science progresses in some quarters of the world and retrogresses in others.The difference in culture is also the reason why funding of education is higher in some countries of the world and lower in others.It is the reason why much funds are spent in some areas on research and little or nothing is spent in others.
As shall be evident in this work, almost all aspects of culture have a direct bearing on education.This is not to say that, education does not itself exert an influence on culture.Education for instance could change the dressing style of people.It could also change the language of the people as well as their custom, as the stopping of the killing of twins in Nigeria, by Mary Slessor attests to.The relationship between education and culture is therefore, a symmetrical one; they both influence each other in turns.Thus, it could be said that, in every education, there is a mark of culture, and in every culture there is a mark of education.In other words, looking at the contents, quality, goals, etc; of education, one could discern the kind of culture that produces such an education.Also looking at a culture, one could discern the level of education of the people of that culture.The difference between the primitive culture and the civilized culture is in the level of education in each stage.
This paper focuses more on the attempt to unravel the influence of culture on education, with a view to determining the reason why education has taken a snail speed (as captured by Bisong) in the continent (Bisong 2018, 206-225).The understanding of the impact of culture on education would enable stakeholders to devise better means for the provision of quality education to the citizens.This could be better done through the provision and proper implementation of good laws -laws that would force everybody to the right.Culture is the sum total of a given society's way of life as moulded and shaped by prevailing circumstances and environment (Brown 1990, 21).
Culture is a derivative of the Latin term -cultura meaning "cultivation" (Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary).Etymologically therefore, culture denotes a process of cultivation or improvement.According to Mondin (1991, 146) "culture signifies, the totality of custom, techniques, and values that distinguish a social group, a tribe, a people, a nation."It is an integral part of every society, and creates a feeling of belonging and solidarity among the people of that society.Culture encompasses various aspects of communications, attitudes, etiquettes, beliefs, values, customs, norms, foods, arts, jewelleries, clothing styles, dance styles etc.It is culture that distinguishes a French man from a Spaniard, an Igbo from a Yoruba, and an Italian from an American (Chimakonam & Bisong 2013, 11).Culture is therefore, all those learned behaviours that characterise a people of a particular society.It is learned from parents, guardians, relatives, and other peoples in the surrounding environment.
Education is derived from the Latin word "educare", which means "to draw out", or "to unfold".Thus, "etymologically education could be said to be the process of releasing the latent potential that were dormant in an individual" (Ikegbu & Bisong 2015, 258).According to Akinpelu, (1979, 176) "the word education describes what goes on in formal institutions of learning and non-formal agencies."According to R.S. Peters as captured by Uduigwomen, education is the intentional transmission of something worthwhile in a morally acceptable manner (5).For Harris (1981), education "is a distinctively non neutral political mechanism or institutionalized process that largely provides and legitimizes the ways and perspectives by which and from which we come to know the world (2).Education is often divided into formal and informal education.informal education is what comes from social agencies like the home, the family, the peer-group, the society, mass media, religious bodies, and so on (Uduigwomen 2009, 4;Bisong & Ekanem 2019, 22).Formal education is what comes from schools.When considering the formal sense of education according to Okolo (1989, 18), "we usually think of education and educative process in terms of schools and institutions devoted to learning and acquiring worthwhile skills and techniques for life."This paper subscribes to education in the two senses (formal and informal).Thus it defines education as all that is learnt both in schools, at home, through the mass media and all other avenues of learning.We therefore, align our thoughts with that of Dickson (1989, 46), who sees education as the process of acquiring new knowledge and skills necessary for the better functioning of an individual in the society.

The Influence of Culture on Education
Different aspects of culture like beliefs, values, customs, dressing styles, techniques, tongues, ideologies etc exert powerful impact on educational standard of a society.This is perhaps the reason, why educational standard is not the same everywhere.It is also the reason why the quality, quantity, content and funding of education differ from place to place.This section therefore, examines the different ways culture impacts on education in Africa.

Culture Impacts on the Direction of Education
The world-view of a people determines how or what kind of education succeeds in that locality.For example, science education has remained stunted in Africa because of its peculiar understanding of causal relations.In Africa, almost all causal events are explained in terms of the transcendental.This view of causality is influenced by the African general perception of the world.Africans conceptualize the world as that of "extraordinary harmony, one of synthetic unity and compatibility among all things (Unah 1995, 107).They see it as a world where everything is "dovetailing into one another" (Ijiomah 2006, 76).In this world therefore, the Africans see events as being "determined by the will of spiritual beings, the operation of automatic forces, and the self-willed actions of men and other animals, which follow in orderly and comprehensive sequence" (Akpan 2014).Sogolo (2004, 182) believes that an African healer may attribute a disease to both a natural and supernatural cause at the same time.He will then go about treating the disease in these two apparently incompatible ways.This means that "an African believes in the empirical (natural) idea of causation following the Western rules of causation and also believes in supernatural causation, which is not analyzable in empirical terms" (Asira & Bisong 2015, 24).Sogolo divided these levels of causation into primary and secondary levels.The primary causes of diseases are ascribed to supernatural entities like the spirits, deities, witches, wizards, ancestors etc and the secondary causes are similar to the empirical causation of the Western type -that is, bacteria, virus, fungi etc.
A typical African therefore, explains causation from the point of view of secondary (empirical) and primary (supernatural) causes.It is thus, not uncommon to see a traditional healer, identify for instance, the secondary cause of an ailment as the consumption of some poisonous food, and also locate the primary cause to a malicious spirit or witch who influenced the individual to eat the poison.
This tendency to explain events in terms of the spirit inhibits the growth of science in Africa.The logic is simple: if the cause of event A is the spirit, and the world of the spirit is accessible only to few gifted people, then it is useless to attempt an empirical investigation of the cause of the event.This tendency to explain events transcendentally is arguably the reason why science is less developed in Africa than the West.This is so because, "ultimate explanation of cause and effect based on mythological-metaphysical approach erects an artificial barrier ab initio between what is empirically demonstrable and what is considered humanly impenetrable areas (Gyekye 1997, 3).When causes are attributed to the spirits, then the mind tends to relax its quest for unravelling the cause, because the world of the spirits is considered humanly impenetrable areas.Africans therefore, rarely make an investigation into the causes of the daily occurrences in the world around them, as a result of their causal world-view that tends to explain almost all happenings in terms of the transcendental.The transcendental world is believed to be accessible only to few people like, the juju priests, sorcerers, fortune tellers and native doctors, who are sadly always unwilling to let others into the means to access this world.Thus, with the cause of an event thrown to the world of the spirits and the means to access that world closed up, and not open to everybody, an average African is scientifically incapacitated.Africa is therefore, not developed scientifically not because she lacks the intellectual capacity to do so; it is rather because of the cultural belief-system it is imbedded in.
The West has made giant strides in science, because its causal world-view gives individuals the encouragement to explore and investigate the world.The world in this cultural world-view is not something that is guided and controlled by the spirits.This world is rather controlled by physical laws that could be investigated and explained (Weston 2014).This kind of world is open for all to explore, since it is controlled and regulated by physical laws which, could be investigated by everybody and not a privileged few as is the case in Africa.This openness in the causal world-view of the West is a powerful encouragement to all to explore their world for themselves and not to wait for juju priests and fortune tellers to do it for them.The result of this has been amazing and hair-raising inventions and discoveries that are rampant in the West.
Africa used her hands to close the windows and doors to scientific investigations, making her to suffer the ignominy of being a dependent continent -a continent full of scientific dwarfs.This lays credence to our thesis that, a cultural world-view of a set of people determines how education progresses in that area.Education and scientific education in particular has been slow in Africa, because it inhabitants lack the encouragement that ought to put curiosity into practical actions.It is amazing to know that, most Africans even the educated today, still believe that aeroplanes, computers, telephones et cetera are productions that are made possible through the knowledge that is gotten from the spiritual world.Thus, it is not uncommon to hear an African, laments in disgust: "the whites use their witchcrafts to produce aeroplanes, ships and the likes, why we Africans use our own to suck blood".An average African still believes that the advancement in science in the West is connected to the powers of the supra-sensible world.This explains vividly why most Africans would never contemplate inventing anything, because they believe that this must be aided by the spirits.
This mind-set that has been corrupted by the cultural beliefs of the people must be corrected if Africans must take the giants steps that are taken by the Westerners in science -steps that have made science and technology to tower above every other disciplines.This correction of the mind-set must begin with the underlying basis -the culture of the people.

Culture impacts on Educational Distribution
As has been alluded to already, education too has an influence on culture.One way in which education has in the past shaped culture is in the area of distribution of education.In the past females were seen as good only for the kitchen and bed.Today they are in schools.Thus, the quantity of education has increased today, thanks to the influence of education.However, this aspect of culture has not totally died out.Though women today are not restricted to the home, but their education is still restricted by a culture that holds that too much education for a woman, would make marriage for the woman difficult.Thus, it is common to see women stopping at the Bachelor's Degree level.For example, out of the twenty students who were my classmates in my Master's Degree Programme, only one (Willie Yotakekeyu) was a woman.In my Doctorate Degree Programme, all the seven students were male.This trend cut across almost all departments of Universities in Nigeria and Africa.
Educational distribution in Nigeria, therefore, is still lopsided.The male gets more access to it than the female, because of cultural constraints.This lopsided nature of educational distribution in the country has made the female folks to fail to compete economically, politically and socially with their male counterparts.This is dysfunctional to the society, because women play an essential role in the economy of the country; if the full benefit of education is not allowed them, then their contribution to the society would not be effective.This culture that tends to limit the educational potentials of women needs to be substituted with the one that would liberate them to soar to great heights academically.

Culture and Funding of Education
The spending culture of a society greatly impacts on the amount of funds that is made available for education.Some societies especially the consumerist minded ones, see billions of dollars spent on research as abhorrent and waste of money.Funding of research is a form of risk-taking and only a society that is tilted towards risk-taking would sponsor scientific research.Nigeria and Africa as a whole, because of the supreme value attached to life, are not attuned to the taking of risks.Thus, it is almost unheard of in Africa, that a private investor or group of investors invested in or sponsored a scientific or educational research.It is too much risk for them to take; after all some researches come out barren with no useful outcome.Even the governments in these countries do not take delight in funding and sponsoring of researches.
It is the people who help determine how their money is spent.Thus, if the people are not interested in research and educational advancement, the government would not be moved to fund educational researches.The influence of the society on the government is clearly spelt in the recurrent strikes action of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in Nigeria.ASUU has been able to twist the arms of the government on several occasions to improve funding of education.If the larger society has this interest and faith in research, they would be able to influence the government to fund researches, for it is only through researches that education would be advanced.It is rather unfortunate that the society is not interested in researches.A culture that is not interested in researches no matter the number and quality of infrastructures their educational system may have, would still be dwarfs, educationally.
Societal interest therefore, helps determine how their money is spent and only research that they like would be sponsored.Educational research and advancement largely hinge on the cultural values and interest of the people.For example, a culture that largely approves of stem cell research will sponsor it or encourage government support and thereby, stimulating advances in the field.However, a society that largely disapproves of stem cell research is unlikely to undertake such a venture and will discourage politicians who provide funding for that research.In this case, research on stem cells will not be done and thereby inhibiting growth of this scientific field.Education therefore, advances as it is led by the society.It is unfortunate that in Africa, no research seems to be supported; she has almost totally depended on the researches done in the West and other parts of the world.
The extent of funding also reveals the extent of civilization of a culture.Education therefore, cannot rise above the knowledge level of its surrounding community.For instance, it would take an enlightened society to fund scientific research on carbon dioxide mitigation or space craft.The funding of educational research on the mating habit of snails or the migration rate of birds would be greeted with mixed reactions in different societies (especially African societies) depending on their knowledge level.The knowledge level of a community therefore determines the level of growth in that area.Aminu (2001, 5) and many others believe that, quality of education could be attained through much financing.Aminu in particular holds the belief that first class education can only be attained with first class funding.He no doubt has a point here, but finance on a wrong culture yield no functional result.Thus, the recent clamour of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (a clamour that has let to series of strikes) for more funding of the Universities, though commendable, is nevertheless not the most potent solution to educational decay in Nigeria and Africa as a whole.It is the underlying culture of Africa that a stronger campaign ought to be directed at.For when a culture that defines personhood in terms of the amount of money, the individual has in his/her possession continues, education in Nigeria and Africa at large would continue to be detestable.

Culture impacts on the Quality of Education
In Africa, and Nigeria in particular, a person is implicitly defined as one who has lots of money.This explains why Nigerians worship money.It explains why there is a mad rush for wealth.It also explains why corruption has plagued the country.What matters to Nigerians is money, the means to this wealth is not important.Money is social existence in Nigeria, thus everybody craves after it to exist (Bisong & Ekanem 56).Ekwuru (1999, 100) supports this view thus: Nigerians equiparates 'being' with 'having.'In this way, a man is not simply what he 'seems to be,' but what he 'seems to possess.' Being then is measured by the degrees of having, the more one has, the more he becomes, for becoming is manifested in possessing.Therefore, material acquisition and wealth are the two essential characteristic features that create the sociocultural worth of the human person in the society.Obiechina (1983, 31) corroborates the above view with his description of the Nigerian society as that where "mammon rules with unrestrained power.His flag floats from every public building; his breath blows through every public institution and fires every private passion."Inoka (2003, 55) confirm this when he asserts This quest for wealth and luxury has become the matching order for most Nigerians.And like cancer, this quest has infected all aspects of our social lives.From public service, the police, the judiciary, the school system to the mass media, the traders on the streets and even the family which forms the nucleus of the larger society, the effect of this inordinate lust for vanity is seen to reverberate.In fact it has come to a point today in Nigeria that, it is not the work one does but the money one gets for it which is important.All the observations above, made by Nigerian philosophers, point to one thing -that Nigerians see money as the greatest good.One, who has much of it, is the one who is conferred with the status of existence -he is recognized, exalted and honoured in all strata of the society including the churches.
As long as money remains the highest value of Nigerians, the quality of education would remain poor.This is because, people will tend to see education not as an ideal but as a subtle means to get to the ideal (money).Education itself is not important for its sake but important in as much as it leads to the summum bonum.This explains why Nigerians merely pass through universities just to arm themselves with the certificates to reach their lofty dreams of a lucrative job (dreams that many times do not manifest).
It is not poor funding but societal attitudes towards education that is at the root of the poor quality of education in the country.It is rather the societal attitudes towards education that has dragged education backward.This attitude has clouded the minds of teachers as well as students.The teachers teach not because they value the knowledge they impact but because of the money they hope to get.Most of the teachers would employ illegitimate means in order to match faster towards the societal definition of a person (wealth).Lecturers on a daily basis extort money from students through various means.Some would demand that assignment be submitted with money.And some openly sell grades for money.The students on their part, label a lecturer who is not ready to sell grades as wicked.They are ready to do anything for grades, including sleeping with their lecturers.The question is, why would a student go to school (a learning ground) to buy grades and certificates?Does this student value this education?No! He/she only values the certificate, because of the hope that this certificate holds for him/her (wealth).This is clearly where the societal ideals lies, certificates for money creation and not education for certificates.It is not education in actual fact that the people want but certificate and are ready to buy it.The lecturers are on their part ready to sell this certificate, because it is not education they value but money.According to Ikegbu and Bisong (2013, 261) "Nigerians go to school not for what it stands for (centre for learning; for gaining knowledge) but as the easier way to get at money." Unless, this culture that defines a man as a person in terms of the money he has, is changed education would remain retarded.When the culture is shifted to a definition of a person as a person in terms of the quality of education in his head, Nigeria and Africa as a whole would begin to advance educationally.When money ceases to be the supreme value, that is the moment, stakeholders would go to school to get knowledge and not to grasps certificates.That is, the moment teachers would value knowledge and thereby put more effort in research to enrich themselves intellectually.That is the moment, the looting of money that is meant for education into private pockets would cease, as stakeholders would not see money as the ideal but education.When money is no longer the summum bonum, then lootings of all forms would reduce.

The Way Forward
Any worthwhile solution to the dilapidating educational condition of the continent must begin from the roots for it to be effective.Culture is the root of this problem.Therefore, some dysfunctional aspects of culture must be done away with for Africa to stand a chance of developing educationally.I believe that if Aristotle's advice in his Nicomachean Ethics is taken seriously by African governments, they would achieve their dream for education in their respective countries.
Aristotle just like Plato, sees man as a sort of hybrid between an animal and a god.On one hand, human beings have an animal nature with their actions if uncontrolled; being led by emotions and desires and on the other hand they also have a rational part.The rational part enables man to resist his emotion and desires and to act in accordance with moral virtues.Thus for Aristotle, when reason is in control of the emotions and desires virtue arises.He asserts: Reason and appetite are in agreement in the vicious as well as the virtuous.However, in the vicious the agreement is the passion to reason.The virtuous are those in who reason rules, and rules without opposition (Nicomachean Ethics 1178b20).

He contends further:
Appetite ought by nature to obey reason for reason is what makes human to be human and not just animal … what is decisive for virtue and its development is the subordination of appetite to reason (Nicomachean Ethics 1179a5).
Aristotelian ethics therefore, involves doing what is virtuous, and doing what is virtuous cannot be done without achieving a balance between reason, emotions and desire; with the reason ruling and the passions obeying.
The big question becomes, how does this balance arise in an individual?Do virtuous conducts arise by chance?In his answers to this question, Aristotle argues that virtue does not develop in man through the spontaneous operation of nature, although one by nature may have the capacity to be virtuous (Nicomachean Ethics 1103a30).Virtue for him is ingrained by habituation.Once a man has become virtuous by proper training, he will almost automatically make the correct choice with regards to conduct (Nicomachean Ethics 1103b5).
Aristotle believes virtue can only be gotten through habitation, which is the proper responsibility of the state; and since the state aims at the most supreme of all goods, it follows that the state is instituted to make men virtuous, to make them conform to what is highest in them by nature (Aristotle, Politics 1252a5),.In other words, virtue which is based on nature requires making a choice between alternatives, and making of the right choice depends on habituation; habituation depends on good laws that through pain and pleasure teach the right behaviour (http://www.reasonpapers.com).Thus, for the state or polis to be described as perfect, it has to realize its own true form, which is to provide all the conditions necessary for a complete human life (http://www.reasonpapers.com).That is, it has to provide the conditions necessary for virtue to thrive which is good laws.This is because: The end of community, which is the fundamental justification for its existence, is the good and happy life, in the sense that the fundamental reason individual have for living in communities and for engaging in a wide variety of community relation is to lead good and happy lives, that is to realize themselves and be virtuous (Owens 1994, 70).
Aristotle's teaching that, virtue is a function of the state through the instrumentality of good laws which, through pain and pleasure, teach the right behaviour, brings up an important question: can a man be forced to be virtuous?Aristotle's answer this question in the affirmative, for if parents could force their children to be virtuous; so also the state through strong laws can force men to be virtuous.His argument according to Owens (1994, 75) is that With time, right conduct become easier, through the development of reason and the emergence of the ability to properly see what is right for man by nature.But before then the force of habit, instilled through the laws or parental authority is necessary for the development of virtue.
Aristotle is of the opinion that man cannot be virtuous by chance, he must be forced to be virtuous by proper training.After the successful habitation, virtues will begin to flow from him without force, because then his reasons must have taken charge.This is because Aristotle believes that for the common man, passions rule the intellect.Such a man, he believes, cannot become virtuous by mere teaching; for teaching will not take root in him.Therefore, passions need to be forced by external laws to be subject to reason before the man would be made virtuous.After a considerable time when out of forceful habituation, the passions are made subordinate to reason, the man acts virtuously onward without force.But the passion has to be subdued first.He observes: Arguments and teachings, I am afraid, are not effective in all cases; the soul of the listener must first have been conditioned by habits to the right kind of likes and dislikes, just as the land must be cultivated before it is able to foster the seed.For a man whose life is guided by emotion will not listen to an argument that dissuades him, nor will he understand it (Nicomachean Ethics 1179b5-10).
According to Aristotle therefore, men when allowed on their own, tend to pursue what is pleasant and pleasurable to them.But in order to become truly human one must be able to moderate the passions and allow reason to be in charge.Although this may be painful, but Aristotle believes that through the function of good laws, good moral habits are developed.Words alone, he says, cannot achieve this.For him: Words only seem effective with those already in love with beauty and the noble.The many remain untouched.Words cannot turn them towards what is beautiful and good … they obey the rule of fear not of shame, and shun what is base not because it is ugly but because it is punished (Nicomachean Ethics 1179b20-30).
He believes that "he who lives as the passions directs will neither hear argument that dissuades him, nor understand it if he does … in general passion seem not to yield to argument but force" (Nicomachean Ethics 1179b30).However, "once habituation under coercive laws has preceded, then words can have their effect and convert law-generated love of beauty into fully fledged virtue" (Nicomachean Ethics 1144a35).Aristotle's denial that the 'many' can become virtuous on their own is owed to his beliefs on the soul and its parts.According to him, Appetite ought by nature, to obey reason, for reason is what makes human to be human and not just animals.In the many, the appetite or passions fails to obey reason, while in the continent or virtuous reason has the upper hand and the desires yield to reason.Clearly what is decisive for virtue and its development is the subordination of appetite to reason.Such appeals to reason could only work if reason were in control, but in such cases reason is 'ex hypothesis', not in control (Nicomachean Ethics 1119a20).
For Aristotle therefore, making men virtuous is not a function of teaching but of forced training.This is plausible because, if words and teachings were to be enough, then the teachings in the various religious houses would have produced unprecedented virtue in Nigerians.If words and teachings were enough then the various campaigns, lectures and symposia against corruption would have yielded fundamental results.Nigeria remains one of the most corrupt nation in spite of the educative efforts to turn her around, thereby proving Aristotle right.This training, Aristotle argues, ought to begin as early in youth as possible, because the passions would dominate reason if nothing is done early in life to correct it.He believes the training must start at home but needs to be backed up by the political power, because political power is less resentful (Nicomachean Ethics 1180a20-25).
Aristotle's understanding of virtue, when applied to Africa is capable of changing the course of education for good.This implies that teaching and preaching would not change this negative aspect of culture that have laid a deadly siege on education in the continent.It is forced habitation through good laws that could change the statuesque.When laws like: for any student to graduate in science, he/she must discover something new is enacted and well enforced.It would build a scientific mind in students, majority of whom would succeed in their researches.These successes in discoveries by their own people would have a way of changing their beliefs that scientific inventions are product of the spirits.When a law is enacted (and duly enforced) that states that, both a lecturer and a student who are involved in buying of grades would be sacked and expelled respectively, then the teachers would be forced to lead better lives and the students would be forced to learn how to school without cutting corners (it should be noted that this laws are in existence but lack adequate enforcement).The laws therefore are capable of forcing an individual to do or not do a thing when properly enforced.This is exactly what Aristotle means by forced training through good laws.Through the functioning of good laws the people could therefore, be led out of their negative beliefs and attitudes.This implies that through strong laws, the spending trend of the country could be adjusted.Through strong laws the buying and selling of grades and certificates could be stopped.Through good and powerful laws the people beliefs could be shifted to the positive ones.
Africa and Nigeria in particular has relatively good laws, (though more need to be enacted and others amended) but the laws do not bite.In Nigeria, justice could be bought.It is thus, only the poor that are caught by the law.The rich buy their way out.The advice of Aristotle is therefore, that, the enforcement of the laws should be stronger, so as out of fear, people would do the right and by so doing habitation will be completed.

Conclusion
This paper has shown that culture exert a strong influence on education, and is at the root of educational stagnation in Africa.It believes that Aristotle's treatment of virtue and how they could be acquired when applied in the continent would be very effective in the lifting up of the level of education.
The paper advises that the aspects of culture that produce dysfunctional effects on education should be looked at, and appropriate laws formulated and implemented to forcefully guide the people out of their unproductive view of reality.This I believe, need to be seriously and urgently done, for funding alone on a negative culture would produce nothing but educated unemployable graduates; graduates that cannot stand tall among other graduates in other parts of the world.