has been little evidence of the negative effects ol this kind of outlook on
modern African life, especially when compared to the balkanization
which followed Latin-European colonialism.
In Latin-European colonies there tended to be a concentration of
cultural values favoring Europe, and consequently downgrading those
of Africa. In this system schools were viewed primarily as agencies for
the spread of European languages and culture. The educational policies followed by these European powers, therefore, reflected their governments' unique concept of their colonial responsibility, namely, to
work toward integration of the Africans within their control into
French, Portuguese, or Spanish culture and society, rather than toward
the goal of eventual self-government. In order to achieve this, these
Latin-European governments encouraged the spread of Christian missionary institutions, the use of only the official European language in
all instruction, and the direct inculcation of national values of the
European power in control.
Some of the consequences of these systems of educational control
have yet to be analyzed. There seems to be a somewhat violent reaction
against this Latin cultural domination. We are referring to the
vehemence with which French-African values claim to have some
mystical power called Negritude, which is supposed to derive from a
combination of some properties of African culture and "blackness" and
which enables the possessor of such properties to behave in ways that
are intrinsically different from other racial groups. Leopold Senghor
defines Negritude as "the whole complex of civilized values—cultural,
economic, social, and political—which characterize the black peoples,
or more precisely, the Negro-African world." n This is a political
mystique probably meant to rally the African masses for a more effective push against European colonialism. In a way, the British-educated
African perhaps means the same thing when he speaks of the "African
personality." Since in both Latin and Anglo-Saxon colonial systems the
educational systems were dominated by foreign philosophies and
methods, it may not be surprising that "la Negritude" and "the African
personality" had to be invented as tools for boosting African self-
respect. As Senghor says, "Paradoxically, it was the French who first
forced us to seek its essence, and who then showed us where it lav . . .
when they enforced their policy of assimilation and thus deepened our
despair. . . . Early on, we had become aware within ourselves that assimilation was a failure; we could assimilate mathematics or the French
language, but we could never strip off our black skins or root out our
black souls. And so we set out on a fervent quest for the Holy Grail:
our Collective Soul." 12
One of the major forces which have been used by European colonial
powers in die education ol i\u
ary effort. As in the commit >
colonies,   formal  education  u
Christian churches.  I he ( n|j,
were instituted bj Christian
was at the mission m ho<>N j:;
fust steps in edu< at ion weir :
This interest  was enhanced I
Christianity. Most ol tin- <<:
initiated, financed, and st.nh <
missionaries were often «>i- mj
but always thc\ established % i
Even now a large propottmn
trol of these mission.n\ imih
geralion that the (christian mi
to the rest of the Euioix in i
engaging in the same int
For epiite a long time ( hi M
bilities of planning, finani m
little   help   from   colonial
colonies most Christian iiimi
ment.13
The main purpose o! Ciht.i
African. Consequently it ^ no
Christian mission st hool
pean Christian morality
African society was lain.; ilti
and in view of the Uu t thai
dustrial, i.e.. Western  1 tuoji
African education \\as !hi;;.' i
viewed from the vantage  ;
schools left a great deal hi 1
African   has  had   his  own   ni
should never have ignored, (
or in case of girls, training \t\
part and parcel ol  AfiM.
"regimental  training" m< m
point, and the system i*   -
place in the traditional lilt
the situation thus:  "SfM i il
given by tribal elders.   It wo
indigenous  type ol  edui •'•
sought to adjust its method*
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