What will end age of the wheelbarrow?

One of the most noticeable revolutions in our society has been the end of self-initiative. Lots of parents complain that their children do not initiate anything by themselves – they must be pushed like wheelbarrows.

From school to the workplace, parents and managers have all become wheelbarrow pushers.

Teachers are pushing pupils to do their homework, with parents signing off on the diary after their pushing. Employees rarely go beyond the call of duty.

The ‘wheelbarrow effect’ slows down the economic productivity of any nation.

How did we get here? How can we reverse it?

The competitive environment in school and at work should have spawned more self-initiative. With such few good schools and good courses at the university, one would have expected students to be hardworking, full of self-drive. With such few high-quality jobs, we would expect students to go beyond the call of duty.

The paradox gets more interesting; poverty is no longer the motivator in school. In my school days, pupils were more likely to be truant, miss school and sneak out if they came from affluent families. Not anymore. The new phenomenon taxes psychologists, educationists and keen observers.

We have argued in the past it might be about the parenting. With the househelp doing all the work, children learn their job is to enjoy life, watch TV, play computer games and eat. How do we expect kids to be self-driven if we never give them a chance to? In the rural areas, the small pieces of land mean there isn’t much work to do. Rural folks dream of the city to avoid work, rest and not be pushed.

Avoid work

In school, we transfer all the learning to the teacher, including during the holidays. ‘Wheelbarrowing’ has created new industries, like motivational speaking, tuition and private schools, where pushing is transferred to teachers who might need pushing of their own. High-end schools charge you handsomely to push your children.

By the time they leave school, children have learnt to avoid work and must be pushed. Yet, if they are pushed early in life, they learn to push themselves later on.

Pushing children till they learn to push themselves is hard work. There are no algorithms, no apps, no precedence and it demands lots of creativity and time. Some parents, afraid of being thought of as old fashioned, fail to push their children early. By the time they realise they should have, it’s too late and they must keep pushing adults.

Today, parents apply for graduate courses for their children, and follow up on exam performance after paying the fees. They get jobs for them, and house them past age 30. Children learn early that someone can take the initiative on their behalf, so why bother?

The other pushers include the Government which has sanctions, like approved schools or the threat of jail if parental pushing does not work. That is has mellowed, thanks to new laws and the belief that children have their rights.

The church has also mellowed; the scares of yesteryears are not there anymore – thanks to modernity. When did you last hear your preacher talking about fire and brimstone? Taboos and threats of parental curses were great pushers in the past.

Leisure balance

We still think work is evil and should be avoided. Why push yourself towards it? Our children learn about the American constitution and its electoral process. But what about Protestant Work Ethics (PWE)? I will ask this question a million times.

Where do we go from here?

Parents complain that children have to be pushed on the things that matter, but on leisure, they have lots of self-initiative. They will sing the latest songs by the biggest musician, but will not analyse a poem in class. They prefer computer games to science experiments.

Some have argued that the media shapes our perspective on life and leisure balance, tilting the balance towards leisure. It’s difficult to find a movie or TV comedy on growing potatoes or milking cows. Most movies and comedies are about emotions.

I once offered Sh1,000 to undergraduate and graduate students who identify Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Angus Deaton and Jean Tirole from photographs.

I kept my money.

They all recognised the power couple. Who are the others? Google – or must you be pushed? Noted most TV comedies and movies are about people talking not working?

We are rarely pushed on matters of leisure. This creates fertile ground for corruption and substance abuse to escape the reality of work. If we rewarded self-initiative, we would have fewer wheelbarrows. We give the innovators patents, the hardworkers bonuses, and hardworking students get good schools and job prospects.

Maybe the wheelbarrow effect shows we have not aligned our incentives to self-initiative. Children probably realise this and rarely see self-initiative rewarded.

The wheelbarrow has been replaced by pickups and front loaders, the same way bicycles are being replaced by motorcycles. Can we do the same mentally?

The writer is senior lecturer, University of Nairobi. [email protected]