I don't understand why some of you will buy house/car and pay influencers to post, some will even go to the extent of paying influencers to come to the house to make video and post, I'm yet to understand why they do this.
This write-up is a humble conversation, not aggression. Again, I'm no writer or debater, but an intrigued common student who also believes in the goodwill of my country and its leaders.
I understand the diverse views on whether we should keep our hair. I also get the fears: beauty competition among students and maintenance challenges, as my good friend Frederick Arkoh also pointed out. He told anecdotal scenes when @AchimotaSchool briefly allowed sneakers; it was a mess! Soon, classrooms filled with flashing red-green-blue shoes and rivalry until Motown rightfully demanded the familiar "Achimota" sandals.
However, these real challenges were summarized as "We are moulding character so that we won't tolerate long hair." Then came a straw man about beauty pageants and the slippery claim that keeping hair would somehow lead to no shoes, then no clothes, no school, no education, and finally, no Ghana.
Here's why I am still confused. When I heard our minister Hon. @HonIddrisu state that mother tongue was accepted as a medium of instruction in basic schools, I was thrilled: it was pride in the black star. Then I asked if I'd be delighted if my chemistry classes were entirely in Twi. Think of the Twi words for "photosynthesis", "self-pollination", or "atoms"? Computer architecture fully in Ga or Ewe? What about the periodic table elements or "diamers"? We'd still rely on English textbooks, and for how long? Our diverse local languages are beautiful, but which should a teacher use when there's no common tongue? Despite these challenges, we are incredibly proud to have taken a step towards our own.
Technology tells the same story. Artificial Intelligence and Robotics are growing central to modern education. We all want it, but if we rushed to implement them nationwide this hour, we may meet hard limits: few Arduino kits, limited books, and up to possible electrical pressure. Yet there's hope: someday soon, we may see real AI learning in our Ghanaian classrooms.
Back to the hair, I'm not denying its challenges, but obstacles shouldn't excuse inaction. None of us will have air in our lungs in 2325, but will future lads and lasses still shave their heads in the name of "moulding character"? Moulded into what, exactly? If shorter hair means better character, then no hair must mean perfection; it's a conversation for another day.
Some changes must come gradually, but they begin with acknowledgment. After first sem at the @Penn, I remember my silent frustration with my WASSCE Science (Elective ICT) curriculum. I thought I had a modern background, but it was QBasic 64, a useful yet relic beneath modern demands. Yet it remains, while Python is barely taught. Maybe it is a lack of infrastructure (I thought), but you don't need GPUs and supercomputers to learn Python or C programming at school? That conversation may soon be visited, and if faulty, revised.
If we forbid discussion about our problems, we only preserve them.