Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Education in the Department of Philosophy of Education at the University of Zululand, 1989. / The area of concern in this study is the impact of indigenous African education in attitudes towards authority. Questions this study seeks to answer are: 1. Why was there respect for authority in African society before the influence of other cultures? 2. Why did attitudes towards authority change in African society after the influence of Western culture? 3. What can be done to improve the situation? Society is in a dilemma. The study tries to investigate the degree of deterioration of order and discipline in African society as a result of negative attitudes towards authority. The youth have gained the upper hand with the old (adults) and parents relegated to the background as they are accused of accepting the status quo. Political organisations have found a fertile milieu in the school arena and pupils are extremely politicised as never before. The school situation in some areas is chaotic with unrest being the order of the day. This situation is aggravated by the apartheid system of South Africa where the Africans are the disadvantaged group politically, educationally and economically. A literature review and interviews will be of great assistance in the investigation. This study falls within the scope of philosophy of education since it aims at revealing underlying causes of changes in attitudes towards authority as a result of indigenous as well as Western education.

This thesis investigates the practice of high-stakes standardized testing in Nigeria. Examining its colonial histories, its philosophical incongruities with African indigenous education, and its neocolonial foundations, it argues that high-stakes testing in Nigeria facilitates the erosion of a critical African worldview. It demonstrates that through high-stakes testing’s reproduction of social and regional inequalities, the unethicality of its systems and practices as well as its exemplification of Freire’s concept of normative and non liberatory education as the “practice of domination”; high-stakes standardized testing in Nigeria seamlessly fits into the neo-colonial and neoliberal logic of education as a site of psychological colonization and the material exploitation of the people by the ruling elite.

This thesis investigates the practice of high-stakes standardized testing in Nigeria. Examining its colonial histories, its philosophical incongruities with African indigenous education, and its neocolonial foundations, it argues that high-stakes testing in Nigeria facilitates the erosion of a critical African worldview. It demonstrates that through high-stakes testing’s reproduction of social and regional inequalities, the unethicality of its systems and practices as well as its exemplification of Freire’s concept of normative and non liberatory education as the “practice of domination”; high-stakes standardized testing in Nigeria seamlessly fits into the neo-colonial and neoliberal logic of education as a site of psychological colonization and the material exploitation of the people by the ruling elite.

In the majority of American schools, the often intentional and systematic erasure of Africana cultural and social contributions from curricular content combined with alienating pedagogical and administrative processes produce a malignant learning environment that has the capacity to interfere with the positive identity and agency development of African American students. In this study, I explore potential means of addressing the current forms of cultural identity dislocation and educational alienation experienced by African American students. I aim to do so by examining the psychological mechanisms of Afrocentric identity and agency development and by exploring how indigenous West African and American culturally-based pedagogies promote the positive development of agency and cultural identity in children. To achieve these aims, I first develop Afrocentric Agency Amplification Theory (AAAT)—a theoretical framework designed to illustrate the specific factors that facilitate the formation and development of an Afrocentric agentic identity for Africana people in general and for African American students specifically. This theoretical framework includes a model of Afrocentric Agency Amplification and a model of Afrocentric Agentic Identity that outline the socialization praxis that will most likely activate, expand or center the development of the thoughts, feelings, and behavioral inclinations that embody the all elements of an agentic Afrocentric consciousness. Then, using this theoretical framework, I conduct a qualitative pilot content analysis of available primary and secondary research that describes the socialization philosophies and practices of various West African ethnic groups along with prominent culturally-based pedagogies that are aimed at enhancing the educational outcomes of African American students. In doing so, this work sheds light on the manner and degree to which West African socialization methodologies and contemporary American culturally-based pedagogies have the potential to amplify the level of Afrocentric agency within African and African American children. By illuminating the values and best practices of agency-building pedagogies, this work helps reorient and extend existing Afrocentric pedagogical research. Building upon the rich theoretical and practical traditions of Afrocentric education, this work contributes to existing endeavors to reclaim the best of our African cultural pasts in the service of crafting a stronger future. / Africology and African American Studies