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There are many ways to tell or interpret a story.
Transmission of knowledge and explanation of an
event can focus on details or rely on the big
picture; it can even remain an anecdotal or
humorous. However, the nut that binds the strategies
together is that the content is important; the
outcome is what is judged at the end of the day on
its merits.
In too many facets of life in Ethiopia this truism
is pushed aside. What replaces the core of the issue
is a strict adherence to structure and rules.
Of course, formality has its place and time.
Ceremonial events such as weddings or meetings
adhere to tradition in order to hold onto processes
that grant them legitimacy and enforce an efficient
standardisation.
This valuation of form over content should not be
the rule in all venues though. In many traditional
cultures that have honed ceremonial life, the system
has been successful in preserving the status quo.
The lengthy greetings or coffee ceremonies are an
important part of life that grant uniqueness to
existence and a pride of history. Though their
ramifications on other aspects of life extend into
many modernising day-to-day encounters such as
mobile bills or the nine-to-five work day, they
should not be destroyed. We are not machines.
Problems and impediments to progress develop when
too many formalities enter the work place or
classroom. These drivers of change for a country
that has remained economically poor for too long
need the creative approaches that can bring
solutions and strategies outside the box.
An overt concern for rules over results is grossly
apparent in many schools. The institutions that are
supposed to be turning out tomorrow's leaders are
producing machines that can regurgitate grammatical
laws or scientific maxims.
Students who can apply their knowledge to compose a
gripping price of fiction or dissect information to
discern the core issue and then transmit it in a
coherent and intelligent manner are lacking. The
teacher is concerned with ensuring the textbook is
completed, not with pushing students to enlarge
skills.
Too often a pupil can verbalise the difference
between a noun and verb but when asked to prove it
by synthesising a passage and writing a
comprehensible summary utilising the knowledge he
has just purported to know, she is lost. The
education system and instructors alike are to blame
in promoting memorisation over understanding.
Sadly, it does not end there, as these youth then
transmit this philosophy into the workplace.
Entering an office will reveal a slew of employees
concentrating on accomplishing a set of tasks, laid
out sometimes less then clearly, to please
superiors. It is often known what is needed to keep
one's job.
When a challenge or unforeseen circumstance arises,
crisis is the result. If it is outside the realm of
normal operation or beyond what is necessary to
remain at that desk, the issue will most likely go
unresolved.
It does not matter if the problem threatens the
institution's long-term viability and thus job
security in the future. If it requires creative
thinking - it is beyond the reach of many duty-bound
Ethiopians.
Oftentimes, an office manager has a list of duties
to fulfil. When an employee challenges this status
quo claiming that certain office systems are
adversely affecting the work environment, his
requests, regardless of merit, will most likely be
brushed aside. More than one company has lost a good
worker for lack of flexibility to another business
that recognises the need to cater to an enterprising
individual who can push the bounds.
The disease is at its worst in government; it
usually is but especially perverse in the Ethiopian
context that has not shaken off many of socialism's
shackles. Stepping into any government office will
reveal the ethics or mission statement clearly
visible on the wall for all to see, as dictated by
whatever supervisory body. To actually see the
maxims in practice is another matter.
Changing the status quo or structures that have been
in place and that people have become adapted to is
easier said than done. Though the service seeker is
supposed to be the beneficiary well-intentioned
reforms occurring, he will probably still be
forwarded to another office by a bureaucrat
interested in preserving her own privileges over
actually giving help.
Often, any alterations in the structure are proudly
reported, meant to look good on paper and pleasing
to higher-ups. This type of embellishing the truth
when a bleak reality exists is often joked about
when referring to the catastrophe exposed by the
Soviet Union's collapse. Framing the truth is still
quite prevalent here.
Picking up any state newspaper yields a rosy picture
of a country devoid of problems and rapidly
propelling itself to perfection. The report of this
or that local government official reaching a quota
or an association passing a new resolution with
passes over the deep rooted problems still existing
under the surface.
The choice when telling the story is to stick with
the formal requirements and goals rather than
creatively improvising in a way that exposes
problems and suggests constructive solutions. The
choice in interpreting the story is to rely upon and
maintain faith in those government structures in
passing up the core of the issue - how citizens are
actually affected.
The important pragmatism - placing favour in results
over the structured means - is lacking in too many
places in Ethiopia. Government, media and
educational systems can continue to pretend the
rules are all there is to the game or they can open
their eyes, be honest, remain little valuable to
criticism and pursue solutions. This is better than
being disregarded as incompetent or unreliable. |
