Why political leaders should indeed have degrees

Strong criticism has met a proposal by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission that those seeking positions in national and county legislative institutions be university graduates.

Those opposed to the degree requirement argue that university education is irrelevant to political leadership. They have cited great political leaders like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Winston Churchill as examples of people who had no university education but who made real difference in the lives of their people.

The point, however, is that many of our leaders and prospective political leaders who don’t have university degrees don’t have the intellectual and moral and spiritual stamina to be likened to the aforementioned great leaders.

 I have read speeches and biographies of Lincoln. I have read the text of Scott Walker’s presidential announcement speech at the Waukesha County Expo Centre. The speeches and the writings about these two men project knowledge, intellect, vision and a sense of purpose, which they respectively extracted from the rich cultural heritage of the Western civilisation and which forms the staple of university education.

Suffice it to say that whereas they did not have university education, they had taken pains to acquaint themselves with the content, with stuff, with the education that, in modern times, is by default restricted to university education.

It is this knowledge that gives those who have imbibed it the power to think — to have the critical and analytical abilities and judgement that leadership, real leadership requires in any institution. Parliament, the Judiciary and Executive need men and women with strong - if not awesome - knowledge, intellect, judgement and wisdom.

The complex issues these overarching institutions are called upon to deal with are not places for people without the comprehensive thinking and vision. University education is expected to develop or impart in those who attend their lecture rooms the reflections of the great thinkers in politics, philosophy, economics, and science.

The students are expected to burn the midnight oil taking pains to study, to read the minds of these great men and women so that they acquire the capacity to understand the changing environment and be able to guide the rest of mankind in tackling the challenges of living together and with neighbours in a stable and peaceful environment.

There is nothing particularly unique with university, though. What is unique about it is that this is the place where the pool of knowledge about life has been stored for those students who want to extract something from them. Otherwise, this pool of knowledge can be found in books, some of which are available in high schools and bookshops.

The basic education curriculum, in fact lays the foundation necessary for learning. That is the kind of knowledge the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development has designed for basic education and which, had there been the right curriculum management and delivery, students in high school could have been nurtured in such a way upon leaving formal schooling.

That is the kind of education that the Ministry of Education is rooting for in the series of legislation and policies it has generated in recent days. Management of public affairs needs men and women of intellect, character and moral probity. Mankind has not invented any other technology of developing intellect other than education. We cannot downgrade higher education by simply saying we have had people without it who made excellent leaders.

University education is not a solution to effective management of society and the multifarious institutions that regulate people’s activities. But then, there is no other I know that can do this better than quality and rigorous education.