The Ghanaian student in American universities: Selected attitudes and perceptions

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Content THE GHANAIAN STUDENT IN AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES:
SELECTED ATTITUDES AND PERCEPTIONS
by
Felix Agyako Boateng
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(Education)
February 1977
UMI Number: DP24183
All rights reserved
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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
TH E G RADUATE SCHO O L
U N IV E R S IT Y PARK
LOS AN G ELES. C A L IF O R N IA 9 0 0 0 7
This dissertation, w ritte n by
.........F e 1 i x_ _ A qy a k o Boate ng
PK .D.
Ea
’ 7 7
D
under the direction o f h.is... Dissertation C om
mittee, and approved by a ll its members, has
been presented to and accepted by The Graduate
School, in p a rtia l fu lfillm e n t of requirements of
the degree of
D O C T O R O F P H I L O S O P H Y
Dean
T>«U
SERTATI
Chairman
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Appreciation is expressed to my wife, Adwoa, and
my daughter, Maame, for their understanding and support.
Appreciation is also expressed to Dr. William
O'Neill, my advisor. He has been more than an advisor.
Felix Agyako Boateng
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS........... ii
LIST OF TABLES ............................... V
Chapter
I. THE PROBLEM...................... 1
Importance of the S t u d y ............. 5
Purpose of the Study.................. 7
Questions to be Answered ............. 8
Assumptions ^........................... 9
Scope, Limitations and
Delimitations of the Study......... 10
Definitions ............... . 12
Review of Literature .................. 17
Organization of the Study ...... 25
II. CONTEMPORARY GHANA: AN OVERVIEW ......... 26
The People and Cultural
Traditions ............................ 27
Modernization and Cultural
Traditions................... 42
Development of Western
Education in Ghana.................. 57
III. HIGHER EDUCATION IN GHANA ................ 64
Development of Higher
Education in Ghana . 64
The Role of Intellectuals in
the Development of Ghana .......... 75
IV. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY ......... 84
Development of the S u r v e y ........... 86
Treatment of the D a t a ............... 87
iii
Chapter Page
V. PRESENTATION OF DATA................... . 89
General Characteristics
of the Sample . .'.............. 89
Residence in Southern California . . . 90
Tribal Distribution of
Ghanaian Students in
Southern California ................ 90
Marital Status ........................ 93
Fields of Academic
Specialization ...................... 93
Loyalty to Parental Traditions .... 96
Students' Evaluation of their
Academic W o r k .................. 100
Students' Major Concerns as they
Prepare to Return to Ghana . . . . . 104
Students' Career Goals and
Extent of Students' Interest
in Politics . 107
VI. SUMMARY; CONCLUSIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS ............. . . . . ’. 119
Summary . ...................... 119
Conclusions................. 125
Recommendations . .................. 12 9
BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . ................................ 135
APPENDICES.......................................... 14 5
A Questionnaire............................. 14 6
B Letter from the Ghana Students'
Association ...................... 152
C Letter to the Ghanaian Students ..... 153
iv
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
1. Residence of Ghanaian Students
in Southern California . . . . . . . . . . 91
2. Tribal Distribution of Ghanaian
Students in Southern California
who Responded to the Questionnaire .... 92
3. Marital Status of Ghanaian Students
who Responded to Questionnaire ........... 94
4. Tribal Distribution and Fields of
Academic Specialization of
Ghanaian Students in Southern
California ........................ . 95
5. "How Important in the Day-to-Day
Life of your Family were
Traditional Religious Beliefs?" ......... 98
6. Criteria Used in Student Evaluations
of Academic Work ............. 101
7. "What Occupational Field do you Plan to
Enter upon your Return to Ghana?" .... 108
8. "By the time you are 45, How Active
are you Likely to be in the
Political Life of Ghana as a Whole? . . . Ill
9. "In the Last Six Months How Often
Have you Discussed Ghanaian
Politics with Other Students?" ...... 114
10. "What is the Biggest Problem Facing
Ghana as a Nation Today?" ........ 116
v
CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM
Since the introduction of Western education into
Africa, researchers and observers have given considerable
attention to the role of Western-educated Africans in the
political, social and economic development of their
countries. Economists have discovered that a developing
nation spends less when her youngsters obtain higher
education abroad than when the training is given in local
institutions of higher learning. In other words, it is
economically unfeasible for these countries to establish
universities which are prestigious and expensive. This
input has led many African governments to encourage their
students to take graduate training in overseas univer
sities. Also, many students prefer to study abroad in
order to obtain an understanding of other cultures and
societies.
In recent literature on the role of, higher
education in the developmental process of African nations,
much attention has been given to the important role
Western-educated Africans are playing in the economic,
social and political growth of their countries. Writers
1
like Almond and Coleman have shown that higher education
in Africa endows the Western-educated African with an
"exaggerated sense of superiority and special legitimacy
which has produced the uncontestable assumption that the
educated have a divine right to rule" (2:283). In Africa
today, the rulers in most of the nations have had a
Western educational background. The goals of governments
of African nations are to unify tribal sovereignties into
nationhood. Western education continues to play an
important role in the modernization of these countries,
and the nations look forward to utilizing products of
Western education for placement in positions of top
government, civil service and higher education.
Edward Shils, however, remarks that the effective
ness of the Western-educated will depend very much on
their ability "to balance their own inhibitions against
the rocky obduracy of the traditional order" (48:463).
Marvick, Shils and Coleman state that African students,
who have been influenced by Western culture and have
largely adopted Western ways, face culture shock and its
inherent conflict of interest upon returning home. Most
of them, concerned with the poverty and illiteracy that
prevail in their countries, insist on rapid economic
progress for their own people to approximate the level of
the people of the advanced countries. They exhibit
2
contempt for the views of those they now consider
unsophisticated in their traditional societies. But, at
the same time, they revere the wisdom and philosophies of
their traditional tribal societies.
Writing on the "Dilemma of African Intellectuals"
in the December 1974 issue of Africa, L. 0. Sanneh remarks
that African "intellectuals have become the focus of
abuse, blame and censure because they symbolize one of the
glaring contradictions of Africa, great promise but paltry
performance" (98:57). Dwaine Marvick aptly states that
"African intellectuals trained in the West, return to
their countries with envied credentials; their baptism in
modernity's waters has been total immersion. For them,
it has been perhaps easier to grasp the pervasive meaning
of modernity, but harder upon return to fit in and use
their knowledge and skills successfully" (48:464).
In the fall of 1960-61 academic year, Marvick
conducted a number of studies on African students enrolled
at Fourah Bay University in Sierra Leone. One of these
studies focused on the influences that academic speciali
zation and tribal backgrounds of Sierra Leone and Nigerian
students at the Fourah Bay University have on their own
future plans and the development of their countries.
Marvick's study focused on three tribal groups - Creoles
of Sierra Leone, Yorubas and Ibos of Nigeria. He found
3
that, with the exception of the Yoruba students of
Nigeria, the tribal affiliation and orientation of the
other students had considerable influence on their plans
for their future and on their role in the development of
their nations. Marvick concluded that the Yoruba v \
students, whom he found to be very removed from their
traditions and greatly influenced by their Western
academic specialization face serious conflicts of interest
on their return to their native country. Marvick
explained that the students will find that traditional
norms in their societies are still viable and that what
they have studied will not be immediately applicable. He
states that these are the students who are likely to feel
"ambivalent not only toward the traditional society but
also toward the new order" (48:463).
Edward Shils' study describes these Westernized
students who return to their native countries as going
through a "syndrome of intense politicization and ambiva
lent populism, a syndrome which often leads to the
politics of withdrawal" (58:254).
The present study concentrates on Ghanaian
students studying in institutions of higher learning in
Southern California, and it is patterned on the
objectives and survey methods of the Marvick study.
Today, the competence and self restraint of both African
4
leaders and their critics are being tested, but, for the
next generation, the caliber of African leaders will
depend largely upon the young people who are now studying
in institutions of higher learning in Africa as well as
overseas. They are the professionals, the government and
national leaders of tomorrow.
This investigator recognizes that the contribution
of many of these young people to Ghana's development can
come only after they .complete their education. It was
therefore important to investigate attitudes and
aspirations of Ghanaian students who are now studying in
Southern California higher institutions in order to
determine what this experience prepares them for in
regard to Ghana's national development.
Importance of the Study
Economic and social factors cause developing
countries to encourage their students through scholar
ships, grants, and other means of financial assistance to
study in overseas colleges and universities.
In the case of Ghana, until the early sixties,
the majority of the students went to Britain for their
studies. Since the sixties, however, the interest in
overseas studies has been shifting to the United States.
This is due to the fact that the British educated
Ghanaians continue to follow the colonial curriculum
5
which emphasizes acquisition of literary skills, and
classical academics, and which leads to the life of a
"scholarly gentleman" largely unrelated to the economic
and social realities in Ghana.
Comparative educational analysts have shown in a
number of reports (80,82) that higher education in the
United States provides both theory and practice, a
pragmatic approach to education that prepares the
individual to better cope with modern conditions.
Consequently it is now very attractive for many Ghanaian
students who take the opportunity to study abroad.
If there is any validity in the assumption that
the attitudes and interests which students hold at the
time they are leaving school affect the roles they will
subsequently play in their contribution to society, then
it is important to know what these interests and attitudes
are, as well as to ascertain some of the more important
factors which appear to determine them.
The Ghanaian student population coming to Southern
California institutions of higher learning is increasing
in number; both with and without financial support from
the government of Ghana. The high cost of educating a
Ghanaian student in Southern California requires
corresponding returns when the students begin to
contribute to Ghana*s progress as a nation. But how
committed to their Ghanaian homeland are these Ghanaian
students studying in Southern California, and what are
some of the factors that determine their commitment?
These are important questions for the political and
economic development of contemporary Ghana.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the study was to ascertain the
attitudes and perceptions of Ghanaian students, living in
Southern California, about specific situations related to
(1) traditional values in Ghana, (2) the career choices
they propose to follow within Ghana, and (3) their views
concerning problems of Ghanafs development and their role
in solving these problems.
In Ghana, the lifestyle of the individual is
influenced greatly by the cultural norms of the tribes.
The Ghanaian students, who come to study in Southern
California, have as background many formative years of
traditional tribal education. This study sought to find
whether students' attitudes, with respect to the three
areas identified in the purpose of the study, reflect the
cultural values of their tribal background.
The Ghanaian students involved in the study had
been through a British system of education emphasizing
academic studies, terminating at the high school and/or
the undergraduate level in Ghanaian universities. Since
these students were continuing in their specialized
fields and professional areas while students in Southern
California, this study also sought to find out whether
their attitudes are influenced by and reflect these
fields of academic specialization and interests.
Questions to be Answered
The study was designed to answer the following
questions which were patterned upon and are similar to
those used by Dwaine Marvick in his study of African
students at the Fourah Bay University in Sierra Leone
during the fall academic year 1960/61 (48:463).
1. What loyalty do the students feel toward the
traditional social order in which they were raised and
in which their parents still live?
2. What criteria do they use to evaluate their
academic work in Southern California?
3. What are their major concerns as they prepare to
leave America to once again take up their Ghanaian way of
life?
4. How do they see education in Southern California
as preparing them for a role in the solving of problems
of Ghana?
8
5. How committed are they to contributing
professionally toward the solution of Ghana's national
problems?
6. How much interest do they have in Ghana's
politics?
7. What do they see as the priorities facing Ghana
in its process of modernization?
The questions were formulated to bring responses
from which an analysis and evaluation could be made. The
language used was specific to the students' previous
British English terminology as well as their past history
and education.
Assumptions
The study was predicated on the following
assumptions:
1. Attitudes which students hold at the time they
are leaving school affect their subsequent choices and
actions.
2. The respect, pride and esteem that students accord
their parents' tribal and religious practices signify the
students' basic feelings of loyalty to, and identification
with traditional tribal beliefs. This assumption was made
9
because prior studies have shown that many African
students are reluctant to discuss their attitudes toward
traditional tribal norms in a direct manner (48:471).
3. The sample chosen for the study is sufficient
to insure the viability of the study, and that findings
can be generalized to cover all Ghanaian students in
American Universities. Marvick's study had a sample of
68 students; this investigator studied 190 students.
4. Ghanaian students who study abroad will
ordinarily return to Ghana to assume positions of
leadership in the modernization process.
Scope, Limitations and Delimitations
of the Study
Scope
Owing to difficulties and delays in obtaining
addresses of Ghanaian students across the United States,
the study was limited to Ghanaian students attending
colleges and universities in Southern California. The
scope of the study was therefore confined to 210 Ghanaian
students registered with the Ghana Students Association
of Southern California in Los Angeles by March 1975. This
list automatically excluded Ghanaian students who, either
through ignorance of the existence of this Association or
10
through reluctance to participate in its activities, were
not members. The sampling took place in March 1975.
Limitations
1. The basic research method for this study was the
descriptive survey. The study was therefore limited by
the characteristics inherent in descriptive surveys. For
example:
(a) Sources of information are subject to the
weaknesses of interpretation.
(b) There is a reluctance to answer question
naires. This limitation could become more restrictive
with the involvement of African students. One possible
explanation for this could be that at the time of writing,
many African governments were under the control of the
military. Many African students were therefore undecided
about their future plans, and were especially reluctant
to respond to questions that focused on their future
political plans. The investigator attempted to overcome
this limitation by informing each student of the purpose
of the study, and by assuring him of the confidentiality
of his responses.
2. The majority of the students in the sample were
employed in order to earn either all or part of their
finances, and did not have grants or scholarships. Some
11
studies on foreign students in the United States have
shown that such students are less interested in develop
ments in their home countries than those who come to the
United States on scholarships from their governments or
from other related sponsors. In view of this, the find
ings of the study may not be applicable to Ghanaian
students who receive all or most of their support from
Ghanaian government scholarships.
De 1 im i . t a t i on s
1. This study did not attempt to evaluate the
effectiveness of the American education provided to
Ghanaian students.
2. The study restricted consideration to certain
questions and did not investigate the Ghanaian student's
perceptions about his problems as a foreign student in an
American university , or about his experiences with
American social, economic and political institutions.
Definitions
The terminology in this study is best understood
when consideration is given to the Ghanaian students'
background of the British-English language which is in
use in Ghana. For the purposes of this study, the terms
are defined as follows:
12
Foreign Student
The term "foreign student" refers to an alien
admitted to the United States and enrolled in an
educational institution. Foreign students stay in the
United States on four types of United States Immigration
Visas: (a) F-l Student, (b) J-l Exchange Visitor,
(c) A-2 Foreign Government Representative, and (d) Immi
grant or Permanent Resident.
Ghanaian Student
The term "Ghanaian student" refers to a citizen
of the Republic of Ghana (known as Gold Coast until the
achievement of independence in 1957), who is enrolled in
an educational institution. American citizens who have
acquired Ghanaian citizenship by virtue of their
marriage to Ghanaians are excluded.
Intellectual
The term "intellectual," as defined by Shils,
refers to a Ghanaian with an "advanced modern education
and the intellectual concerns and skills ordinarily
associated with it" (58:251). This definition is not
intended to deny the existence of a class of traditional
intellectuals, largely religious in their concerns. In
Ghana, the intellectuals are usually in the civil service,
13
journalism, law, teaching (particularly in college and
sometimes secondary school), medicine and engineering
professions.
Tribal Background
The term "tribal background" refers to the
students' locales of birth and the locales where they
were raised in Ghana. These locales automatically
determined the maternal or paternal tribal affiliation
for each student. Thus parental ethnicity was established
from the students' responses.
Tribalism
The term "tribalism" refers to the people's
loyalty to a specific tribe with its symbols and patterns
of behavior and their simultaneous distrust of other
tribes in Ghana.
Modernization
The term "modernization" refers to the adaptation
of traditional tribal institutions to political, social
and economic changes accompanying industrialization and
westernization.
Cultural traditions
The term "cultural traditions" refers to a set of
conditions, thoughts, and practices that are native to
14
Ghanaian society. Cultural traditions reflect the
genuinely indigenous quality in the society.
Traditional Education
"Traditional education" refers to the parental
responsibility for their children's learning, carried on
through everyday life experiences, to enable them to play
adult roles and to ensure the survival of the community.
Western Education
The term "Western education" refers to the system
of schooling brought into Ghana by the early missionaries
from Europe and which emphasizes Western culture.
Liberal Arts
The term "liberal arts," as interpreted in the
British system, refers to courses in literature, history,
classical languages, geography, anthropology, fine arts
and religion. These courses ordinarily lead to
professional studies in education, law, journalism,
theology and government.
Natural Sciences
The term "natural sciences" as interpreted in
the British system of education, refers to courses in
both chemical and physical sciences such as physics,
15
chemistry, geology, biology and zoology. These courses
typically lead to studies in the professions of pharmacy,
medicine, nursing and engineering.
Business Studies
"Business studies" refers to courses in business
such as marketing, management, salesmanship, administra
tion, finance and accounting.
Perception
"Perception" refers to the understanding, know
ledge and acquired views of the Ghanaian students in
regard to issues raised in the study.
Social Relevance
The term "social relevance" refers to factors
relating to central problems pertaining to the quality of
life for the Ghanaian people.
African Content
The term "African content" refers to the relevance
of studies to the African setting. Programs of studies
that have specific references to Africa and her peoples.
Conditions in Africa are taken into consideration in the
design, planning and teaching of such courses.
16
Career Placement
The term "career placement" refers to the
emphasis given to personal job satisfaction without
consideration of the job's relevance to Ghana's develop
ment. The individual's security on the job is given
consideration over the job's relevance to Ghana's
development.
Southern California
The term "Southern California" refers to the
southern area of the State of California, Bakersfield
south through San Diego, where Ghanaian students were
enrolled in colleges and universities.
Review of Literature
A sizable body of literature and research is
available on various aspects of the foreign students who
come to study in the United States. In establishing a
background that could give perspective to this study, it
has been somewhat advantageous to look at studies conduc
ted in this area of concern. A closer analysis of these
studies, however, shows that many of them deal with the
students' culture shock and the accompanying problems in
America. Few go beyond the student's assessment of his
scholastic achievement at the American university. There
is nothing in the literature about students' perceptions
17
of the role to be taken in regard to leadership in the
home countries. Absence of studies on how the student
sees himself today, the subsequent actualization of his
achievements, or the utilization of his training, may be
an important omission. The students' contributions to
public life will come only after they leave college.
Something can be learned about the contributions they
will make, or fail to make, by examining their interests
and perceptions while they are still students.
Written in the fifties, Cora Du Bois' Foreign
Students and Higher Education in the United States 1956
is considered a classic. Although she employs intuitive
procedures and offers insights rather than proof, her
observations on foreign students' motives, problems and
post-return difficulties are still of interest today. The
thrust of her work, however, centers on factors that
contribute to the successful adjustment of the foreign
student in the United States, and to some extent, his
post return success in his home country. Her conclusion
is that the expectations and the motivations of the
foreign student before his arrival in the United States
have a strong correlation with future professional and
academic success or failure (25:78-79).
18
The National Survey of Foreign Students in the
United States 1966 (86), a report from the United States
Advisory Commission in International Educational and
Cultural Affairs, was based on 1456 interviews with
students from 88 countries at 110 colleges and univer
sities in 37 states. It provided gross data, i.e.,
statistical profiles of various national, cultural,
regional and educational aggregates, and identified actual
and potential problem areas. This study found a
relatively high degree of satisfaction expressed by
European students in regard to the content of the
education they received in the United States of America.
It was also found that many African and Latin American
students were doubtful about the quality of the education
they were receiving and were unhappy with the prejudice
they encountered. The study did not concern itself with
the after effects of their American education upon their
return to their countries.
The Institute of International Education published
a Survey of the African Student. His Achievement and his
Problems in 1961 (70). Like most of the other studies on
foreign students, the students' backgrounds, major
problems, educational and social experiences were covered,
leaving out their present state of mind and their atti
tudes toward development problems in their various
19
countries. Most of the African students, however,
indicated that the formal academic education that they
were obtaining in the United States was adequate and
generally well handled. The findings suggested that most
of the problems that cloud the African students*
experiences in the United States are non-academic.
Several doctoral dissertations have been concerned
with the motivating factors influencing both returning
and non-returning foreign students as well as with their
aspirations. One dissertation completed in 1965 at
Stanford University by Robert Lee Young was titled
Study Abroad and National Purpose in the Middle East (68).
Young conducted interviews of government officials and
students in the United States, Europe and the Middle East
in order to obtain data relative to educational exchange
of Middle Eastern students. In the study, he discussed
significant variables in the Middle Eastern cultural
background, in the overseas experience of students, and
in the readjustment problems of students returning home.
He concluded that students who followed their countries'
developmental problems and who thought often about
possible solutions to these problems were older, more
mature, students with close family ties, and with
definite employment possibilities awaiting their return.
20
Another doctoral dissertation concerned with the
academic life of foreign students was African and Latin
American Graduate Students1 Assessment of Situations
Related to their Academic Life in the United States by
Paulo Da Silva, completed in 1974 at the University of
Southern California (23). This study sought to find out
the perceptions of African and Latin American graduate
students about situations related to their personal,
social and academic experiences at the University of
Southern California and to find factors that determined
these perceptions. Among the many conclusions Da Silva
drew from the study was the observation that African
students majoring in the social sciences "feel more
problematic situations of a social nature" than their
compatriots in the physical sciences (23:226).
Two more studies of nationality groups were
Mohamad Borhanmanesh's dissertation at the University of
California, Los Angeles, titled A Study of Iranian
Students in Southern California (14) and John Thames'
dissertation at the University of Southern California,
Los Angeles, titled Korean Students in Southern
California - Factors Influencing Their Plans Toward
Returning Home (60). Both Mr. Borhanmanesh and Mr. Thames
used open-end interviews to identify the factors, before
and after arrival in the United States, which
21
influenced students' aspirations and their intentions to
return home. Among conclusions from both studies was the
fact that students who work to support themselves in the
United States tend to be less interested in developments
at home and less likely to return to their countries;
while the most likely to return are those who receive
most of their support from scholarships.
The review so far has shown a minimum amount of
research on the perceptions foreign students have about
problems of their nations' development. This gap in the
literature becomes more serious when one considers the
important roles that the students - especially those
coming from developing countries - are expected to play
in the struggle for political, social and economic
development of their countries.
Edward Shils (.5 9) , in a pioneering study of the
role of elites titled The Intellectuals in the Political
Development of the New States (59:249) maintains that the
"gestation, birth and continuing life" of these states is
in large measure the work of the intellectuals. Shils
explains that, unlike the West, where politics have never
been a preserve of the intellectual, in developing
countries the intellectuals have created the political
life. Using India and sub-Saharan Africa as his major
examples, he outlines three stages in the politics of the
22
intellectuals. He lists "constitutional liberalism,
politicized nationalism and assumption of power in a
sovereign state ruled by indigenous elites." It is at
the third stage that intellectuals become disillusioned,
frustrated and usually disappointed over both the atti
tudes and behavior of their own people. According to
Shils, intellectuals, especially those trained in the
West, find their talents wasted, and their qualifications
questioned. They find themselves removed from the
traditional social order. The result is what he calls
"the politics of withdrawal" (for most of the Western
educated intellectuals). In spite of the frustrations
and the disillusionment, however, Shils concludes that
the intellectuals should be expected to play major roles
in the development of their countries for some time.
In a study conducted by Dwaine Marvick (48) on
68 foreign students studying at Fourah Bay College in
Sierra Leone, it was found that for most of the Nigerian
students, "neither in content nor in intellectual method
has their college education been addressed to the tasks
they will face" at home (4 8:495). On questions concerning
public problems in Nigeria, he found out that the main
factor that determined most of the answers was the tribal
affiliation of the students. Their education at Fourah
Bay had not influenced their attitudes in any way. He
23
concluded that Yoruba students were the group "to whom
cynicism, bitterness or resignation may well come in the
next ten years" (4 8:496) . In other words, they were the
likeliest candidates for Edward Shils' "politics of
withdrawal."
Although the literature contains studies on the
problems, attitudes, and interests of foreign students in
the United States, little practical work has been done
on the factors that determine students' future plans and
aspirations with respect to their home countries. Shils'
and Marvick's studies concluded that, despite the
disillusionment that Western-trained intellectuals may
experience on their return to their countries, they will
continue to play important roles in the national develop
ment. Marvick suggested that we can predict the contri
bution of foreign students to their countries' development
even before they leave school mainly by examining the
perceptions and interests of these students. Accordingly,
the present study is an attempt to discover both the
perceptions and attitudes of Ghanaian students in
Southern California and some of the factors which
determine them.
24
Organization of the Study
Chapter II discusses Ghana and her cultural
traditions, the role of cultural traditions in the process
of modernization, and Ghana*s educational development.
In Chapter III, an overview of higher education
in Ghana is presented. The chapter ends with an analysis
of the role which intellectuals play in the development of
Ghana.
Chapter IV discusses the procedure used in the
present study, including selection of the sample, the
development of the survey, the data collection process,
and the treatment of the data.
Chapter V provides a description of the sample,
analyzes the questionnaire, and discusses some of the
factors which happen to influence the perceptions of the
Ghanaian students.
Chapter VI encompasses a summary, conclusions and
recommendations.
25
CHAPTER II
CONTEMPORARY GHANA: AN OVERVIEW
This study concerns itself with Ghanaian students
studying in Southern California, their attitudes in
regard to Ghana's national development and an analysis
of the factors that influence and determine these
attitudes and aspirations to leadership in Ghana. Among
the many factors that may influence their attitudes and
perceptions are their fields of study and their tribal
background. In order to understand these various factors,
it is necessary to recognize the cultural background of
the students, the system of education in Ghana and the
status of Ghanaian tribal influences vis a vis the rapid
growth of modernization in the country. Among the sources
which provided the investigator with insight into Ghana's
people and institutions are the writings on Ghana by
Philip Foster (30), Barbara Ward (65), K. Busia (16),
J. C. Caldwell (17), and annual reports issued by Ghana's
Ministry of Education.
Contemporary Ghana, known as the Gold Coast
before the achievement of her independence in 1957,
covers an area of some 93,000 square miles. Like most
26
African countries, Ghana's cultural and linguistic
heterogeneity is partly a result of the creation of
artificial national boundaries by European powers, and
the nature of the country's topographical features.
According to E. A. Boateng's Geography of Ghana (12),
there is relatively limited vegetational variation with .
the possible exception of parts of the Volta Region and
the Eastern Region. Although a few isolated peaks may
reach 3,GOO feet elevation, the average height of the area
is only some 1,500 feet (12:12-24). Geographers and
historians have concluded that since neither topography
nor vegetational variation hindered the migratory movement
of African peoples, Ghana has been subject to successive
waves of migration from the early period, which involved
the frequent absorption of its original inhabitants by
newer invaders. In the course of these migrations and
invasions, the influence of the Akan group is known to
have been particularly felt by the majority of other
cultural and linguistic groups (30:16).
The People and Cultural Traditions
The total population of Ghana is nine million.
Anthropologists and linguists have recognized that the
people of Ghana may be considered to be divided into five
principal groupings, which have linguistic affinities,
27
the possession of common cultural attributes, and to some
extent common mythological origins (66:37-40). These
are the Akan, the Ga Adangbe, the Ewe, the Guan and the
Gur speaking peoples.
Numerically, the Akans form the predominant
linguistic and cultural group within Ghana, and according
to recent available evidence, they constitute approxi
mately 44 percent of the total population (17:47). Two
dominant major groups within the Akans are the Fantis and
the Ashantis, who comprise over one-half of the total
Akan population. The other half is comprised of Kwahus,
Akwapims, and Brongs. All Akans speak the Twi language.
Historically, the Fantis are believed to have led the
first wave of Akan migration, reaching the coastal zone
from the north about the thirteenth century A.D. and
becoming the coastal dwellers. They were followed soon
after by the Ashantis who mainly occupied the forested
zone, north of the coastal plain (66:43).
The Gas who now constitute some 9 percent of the
Ghanaian population, are supposed to have moved into
Ghana along a westerly route, probably from Dahomey,
during the 16th Century (27:83). According to M. J.
Field, the Gas created small principalities along the
coast, including Accra, the present capital city of
Ghana. The evidence seems to suggest that they were by
J
28
no means a homogenous group in terms of mythological
origin or social organization. They appear to comprise
both migratory and original elements; all utilized the Ga
language (27:83).
The Adangbe, closely related to the Ga, both
culturally and linguistically, were later settlers who
occupied an area East of the Ga, nearer to the river
Volta. A most significant difference between the Akans
and the Ga Adangbes is in the matrilineal organization of
the Akans and the patrilineal based structure of the Ga
Adangbes.
The origins of the Ewe, who exhibit a more,
cultural and linguistic uniformity, lie in the area East
of the Niger and it appears that their arrival within the
boundaries of modern Ghana roughly coincided with the
period of Ga immigration. They occupy the southeastern
segment of Ghana, east of the Volta (46:9). The Ewe
number approximately 13 percent of the total Ghana
population and are a patrilineal people. The Gas and the
Ewes show similarities in basic elements of social
structure.
The Guans, the largest group among them being the
Efutu, are a small minority. At present, they constitute
about one percent of the total population and are
principally found in scattered pockets among the Akans.
29
Many Guan groupings have been absorbed linguistically and
culturally by larger Akan groups but still speak the Guan
language.
The Gurs now occupy the northern and upper regions
of Ghana, constituting over 30 percent of the total Ghana
population. They speak the Gur language and belong to one
of four subdivisions, the Dagbani, Grusi, Gurma and
Senufo (54:122-129). As Philip Foster points out in his
"Education and Social Change in Ghana" (30), it is
appropriate to treat the Northern Region as one cultural
and linguistic area, with some Akan influence evident
(30:19).
Cultural Traditions
Tribal traditions and customs are still viable and
function even in the face of the rapid industrialization
and modernization of Ghana. Barbara Ward reports in one
of her studies on Ghana that Ghana is considered at least
6 0 percent nonliterate and under tribal influences
(65:53). The 1960 population census of Ghana showed that
23 percent of the Ghana population live in urban
localities while the remaining 77 percent live in rural
areas where traditional tribal ways of life prevail. The
figures throw some light on the strength of tribal forces.
30
A discussion of cultural traditions of Ghanaians
concentrates mostly on the Akans since they constitute
the largest linguistic and cultural aggregation in modern
Ghana.
The Akans
An outstanding feature of Akan society has been
the considerable vitality of tribal traditional cultural
elements which are maintained in spite of profound changes
in Ghana's economic and political organization; changes
which started in the 1900's when Ghana became a colony of
Britain. Akans recognize a dual principle of descent.
Blood (mogya) is inherited through the mother and
determines lineage membership, succession and inheritance.
The male principle or spirit (ntoro) which is transmitted
through the paternal line has a limited implication for
social structure because it is essentially the maternal
line which is socially significant (52:78). Akan
children normally are their uncles' heirs (mother's
brother), since their uncles are believed to have the
same blood as the mother. This system usually keeps
children under the authority of their uncles, especially
in cases where the fathers may have two or more wives.
A wife and her children reside within the same house with
her brothers, mother and grandparents, while the husband
31
lives with his nephews (his sister's children), sisters
and parents. Historically, the Akans are considered
immigrants from the ancient 8th century A.D. empire of
Ghana. They are presumed to have inherited this maternal
system from ancient Ghana. An Arabic traveler in ancient
Ghana is said to have asked the King of Ghana, why his
nephews were his inheritors, instead of his own sons.
The King replied that he was very sure of the (blood)
relationship of his nephews, but he was not completely
convinced of that of his own children.
Alongside the basic unilineal descent group exists
a clear territorial unit, the village. This usually
consists of an aggregation of several different lineages,
themselves divided into predominantly patrilocal extended
households. Within such territorial units, one lineage,
usually the one that first started the settlement, is
regarded as 'royal* in apposition to all the remaining
'commoner' lineages in the village. It is from the former
that the village head is chosen.
Rattray has described in considerable detail how
successive migrations from older and larger villages to
new settlements elevated the status of the heads of the
former to that of sub-chiefs having jurisdiction over
divisional clusters of villages C53:4). It was the
continuance of this process that led to the emergence of
32
larger-scale territorial state units headed by paramount
chiefs (Amanhene) to whom village headmen were responsible
through the sub-chiefs. Rattray describes this Akan
structure as a series of successive aggregations giving
rise to a hierarchical organization based "on the
duplication of common structural elements at different
levels" (53:404). In all these levels, recruitment to a
tribal office is primarily on the basis of descent from
an ancestor. In other words, recruitment to a political
office from the village to the state level could only be
through membership in the royal family.
Among the Ashantis, almost continual conquest
during the eighteenth century led to the creation of a
more general confederacy wherein sub-chiefs of previously
independent political units became subsidiary to a common
ruler (Asantehene), the Ashanti King. This union of sub
chiefs, into the Ashanti state instead of fragmented
independent political units, made the Ashantis one of the
most powerful groups to resist foreign infiltrations for
many years.
One area which is given considerable attention in
the Akan social structure is age. Significant social and
political roles are only open to limited numbers of
individuals on the basis of age, sex and lineage. Age
is usually equated with wisdom, therefore, older members
33
of a group are given preference. The criterion of descent
is crucial in the Akan social structure. The differentia
tion of status, on the basis of wealth and occupation is
minimal. Most individuals in the Akan society, whether
royal or common, are subsistence agriculturists. Under
these circumstances, a status hierarchy essentially based
on occupational criteria is manifestly impossible (53:40).
There are, however, a few occupational specialists to whom
special respect is accorded, i.e., goldsmiths, weavers,
and religious functionaries. Recruitment for those areas
is primarily based on descent and is the result of
prolonged training. As a consequence of such limited
specialization, Akan societal structure did not develop
western type educational institutions for the training of
ordinary members of the society. This function, known as
"traditional education," remained primarily a parental
responsibility that was usually carried on through every
day life experiences. The education of youth did not vary
significantly between segments of society and did not
function as a basis of status differentiation.
As shown by Philip Foster (30:23), the signifi
cance of formal educational institutions lies in their
differentiation of function and the extent to which
varying groups obtain access to one or another of them.
Foster concludes that it was "precisely this factor which
34
enhanced the importance of Western formal educational
institutions at a later date in the Akan area." Western
education offered other opportunities for many Akans, who,
under the old system might have permanently remained
commoners or agriculturists. In this context, one of the
principal functions of Western educational institutions
was the creation of new criteria of status, and allowing
individuals to bypass tribal limitations.
Another feature of Akan structure lies in the
exercise of power itself. The hierarchical nature of the
political and social organization gives a superficial
impression of autocratic control. Rattray shows that
this is not so. In practice, office holders, from the
King to the level of the village head, were unable to
exercise anything but the most limited authority without
the approval of counselors or lineage heads (53:82). The
Akan society has a built-in system of elaborate checks
and balances at every level to successfully curtail the
exercise of arbitrary despotic power. Furthermore, all
chiefs and lineage heads combine political office with
specific ritual and religious functions upon which the
continuance and prosperity of the community is believed
to depend (53:92).
Religion, defined by Tylor as a belief in a
supreme being, permeates every aspect of the Akan life.
35
God, the supreme being, is believed to be in control of
everything and he is represented on earth by spirits of
ancestors and other lesser gods. The chief of a village
is looked upon as the conserver of religious tradition, a
living link with the ancestors. This coalescence of
political and religious roles strengthens the conservation
of Akan institutions. Foster has shown that in view of
the role of the chief in the Akan social system, and the
importance of religion in the lifestyles of the people,
social structures of the Akans have an initially high
resistance to innovating forces originating from outside
(30:,25). The nature of a chieftain's authority is one of
the primary factors that determine the assimilative
capacities of the culture. In an area like Uganda, where
the tribal chiefs had only political roles, Western
institutions were readily accepted to replace traditional
tribal roles. This preservation of Akan institutions, is
a factor that has held the Akans to their tribal customs
despite the growing influence of Western educational
institutions in Ghana.
Other Societal Groups
There are some differences in language and culture
in the other principal Ghanaian groups, but Akan-type
elements pervade their social and philosophical
structures.
36
The Ga Adangbe
Unlike the Akans who had developed a complex
hierarchical political structure; the Ga Adangbe,
according to M. J. Field, remained fragmented into a
number of small political units without the development
of a clearly defined political hierarchy (27:83). The
migrating Ga are said to have moved into their present
coastal area around the sixteenth century. They settled
into six coastal townships which remained totally
independent of each other. The Ga did not develop royal
lineages. The government of the independent principali
ties, was largely in the hands of the lineage heads or the
"Wulomo." Philip Foster describes the Ga political
institutions as a "democratic gerontocracy." There was
not only equality between the Wulomo of the different
lineages but their appointment was subject to the consent
of other lineages within the principality" (30:28).
M. J. Field states in his research study, that unlike the
Akans, recruitment to office among the Ga, on the basis
of lineage seniority, was strongly affected by considera
tion of personal qualities. Ancestral descent and
inheritance were frequently set aside in accord with the
general principle that "all succession is a question of
election by relatives and not of inherent right" (27:46).
Recruitment to office among the Ga, therefore, is more
37
democratic than among the Akans. The Wulomei were not
only political figures but also religious and ritual
functionaries as well. Within the Ga society, the slave
class could achieve significant office, and M. J. Fields
writes about cases in which slaves were actually obliged
to assume the "onerous duties of a Wulomo" and their
descendants became Wulomo after them (27:153). It must
be noted at this juncture that in the light of the
relatively minor role birth had in the recruitment to
office, the Ga people would not be expected to conserve
tradition as the Akans might do. Finally, unlike the
Akans, the patrilineal system of inheritance which
prevailed among the Ga led to the emergence of smaller
families as opposed to large extended families of the
Akans.
The Ewe
The Ewe share the characteristics of both the
Akans and the Gas, but there is greater influence from the
Akan culture. Like the Ga, the Ewe did not develop any
large scale political units; but like the Akans the basic
territorial unit was the village, "a cluster of
segmentary, localized patrilineages" (30:29). According
to Manoukian, however, the localized patrilineage formed
the basis of their political and social structure, and a
38
pattern of division of lineages between 1 commoners1 and
'royals* paralleled the Akan principle of primacy of
occupation of a village area. There is a strong
presumption by authorities, including Ward and Manoukian,
that the development of royal lineages among the Ewe was
the result of Akan influence. As evidence to support
this, Manoukian uses the fact that the Ewe still regard
the institution of "kingship" as an innovation and state
that at the time of the initial immigration they had no
kings, but only elders (46:22). The position of chiefs
or lineage heads was very similar to that of the Akan;
recruitment to office was on the basis of birth, and the
position of chief depended upon a general consensus. The
Ewe chiefs and lineage heads combined political and
ritual functions, and on the whole, Ewe sociopolitical
structures were basically similar to those of the Akan,
even though they never reached the size of the Akan
aggregations.
The Northern Peoples
Studies on the peoples of what is now the northern
region of Ghana have been comparatively limited as a
result of the fact that until recently, the research on the
impact of Western influence on institutions was limited.
A. W. Cardinall has pointed out in his studies on the
39
peoples of Ghana, that the sociopolitical organization of
the Northern peoples is unique (18:16). Cardinall
explains that this uniqueness has been the result of the
superimposition of a small alien elite of Moshi origin
upon a large number of 1 1 autochthonous peoples who
exhibited a high initial degree of linguistic and
cultural uniformity" (18:17). Most Northern peoples
recognized both patrilineal and matrilineal descent,
though without exception it appears the patrilineal line
provides the basis of social organization while matri
lineal descent conferred spiritual attributes (54:9-13).
Like the Ga, the base of all northern social organization
was the localized segmentary patrilineage. However, as
M. Fortes indicates, the basic territorial unit was not
the village, but rather the 'homestead' consisting of two
or more close agnates with their wives, children and
other dependents (29:44). Another significant difference
between the Northerners and the other groups was
mentioned by Manoukian in the area of the function of
"land trustee." While in other groups the important
function of "land trustee" was performed by the chiefs,
in the north, this function was carried out by a specific
j
office, that of the Earth Priest (or Tendana) (47:28).
Functions relating to land allocation were reserved to
these priests, who, according to Rattray, were
40
representatives of the autochthonous groupings.
Recruitment to office was like the Ashantis, on the basis
of birth, but with the late introduction of Westernized
education, and the importance of such education in the
formation of an elite class, the few educated Northerners
are building unusual political influence in the area.
Philip Foster remarks that "so far as educational
development is concerned, the situation (in the north)
even now is quite similar to that in the coastal zones in
the early twentieth century when and where educated
people had begun to enjoy an unusually powerful position"
(30:30) .
The purpose of this general survey of peoples was
to examine briefly the nature of the groups from which
Ghanaian students, used in the study come. It is
necessary, however, to isolate some characteristics of
these groups that appear relevant to an analysis of the
influence of Western education.
The basis of political and social organization in
all cases was the unilateral descent group or lineage.
An individual1s future political and social roles were
determined to a great extent by the accident of birth.
Status within all these societies with the probable
exception of the Ga, rested on ascriptive criteria of
sex, age and lineage origin. These traits, traditionally,
41
constituted a static element, and as Foster explains
in his analysis of traditional tribal societies in Ghana,
"the notion of 'social strata1 as understood in the West,
is of very limited use in societies such as these"
(30:33). The economic basis of these societies in Ghana
was sedentary agriculture or fishing and the populations,
even today, are composed mostly of subsistent farmers.
Even though there were a few occupational specialists,
like goldsmiths and weavers, before the introduction of
Western education occupational criteria were not applicable
as a basis of a major system of status differentiation.
The preeminent function of Ghanaian tribal education
which prevailed and still prevails in all the societies
was the transmission of an essentially common culture and
the maintenance of social cohesion. Education, according
to Foster, traditionally performed a homogenizing and
conservative function (30:33). Demand for and greater
acceptance of Western education could only come with
changes in the economic system and political control.
Modernization and Cultural Traditions
In the face of Ghana's rapid development, and
Ghana's modernizing problems, the investigator finds it
necessary in this section to discuss the viability of
traditional cultural institutions in the process of
Ghana’s national development.
42
One of the lessons which students of social
change have learned is that during the process of moderni
zation and nation-building, the old society undergoes
transformation, both in its structure and in its
functions. The process involves changes in the value
system, as well as economic, political and social changes
which are expected to lead to better living conditions,
and to help in the eradication of poverty, ignorance and
disease. It is the economic, social and political
benefits of these changes which have moved Rostow and
other scholars to work out models of changes which could
be implemented in the emerging countries. The unfortunate
thing is that most of these models are based on assump
tions which may have validity only in the Western world.
Very little attention is given to the cultural traditions,
the social and philosophical foundations of the emerging
countries when framing these models. These scholars have
classified their models as "Theory N." Theory N assumes
that existing traditional cultures and values are
impediments to change and are obstacles to modernization
and the new economic development. The theory contends
that conflicts exist between the past and the new changes;
and that institutions like the extended family, tribalism,
and other old values, are dysfunctional for the process
of modernization.
43
The new roles and wealth introduced by agents of
change like industrialization, can be amalgamated with
old institutions. In a critique of Theory N, Ramos has
shown in the second part of his theory which he calls P,
that every nation, regardless of its present stage of
development, contains its own possibilities of moderniza
tion. Theory P supposes that elements for modernization
are not specific to a particular locale, and questions
Theory N, which urges every society to try to attain the
stage occupied by the so-called "developed" societies.
Bendix proposes departure from the thought that
"modernization involves a series of development steps
which each nation must undergo" (8:3). The evidence
furnished by Ramos, Bendix, and others, supports the main
thesis of this section that there are certain basic
capabilities inherent in the traditional cultures in the
developing nations which contribute to their strength and
stability in the processes of modernization.
National Development and the Role
of Ghanaian Cultural Traditions
Ghana, like most developing areas in the world,
has embarked on large scale industrialization as a step
toward modernization. Western and non-Western
scholars like Rostow, Gusfield and Lewis are seeking to
discover the mechanisms by which continued economic and
44
political growth can be maintained. The efforts of the
scholars are directed along two major channels. The first
approach attempts to establish the prerequisites of an
industrial society, from a comparison of the existing
industrial and non-industrial nations of the world. These
scholars abstract institutions prevailing in the former,
but not in the latter, and deduce that these are accord
ingly essential to the maintenance of an industrial
society. The prerequisites of developments, as indicated
by them, include bureaucratic forms of organization, a
developed system social stratification, and a universal
legal system. These institutions are then held to promote
progress toward modernizing a tribal primitive society.
Most of these prerequisites are formulated in terms too
vague to permit practical application. The scholars
indicate all tribal societies should adopt the same forms
of organizational devices without making an analysis of
the influences of tradition which prevail in these
societies.
The second approach to the study of development
focuses on the private entrepreneur and his innovative
economic contributions. Theories in this field have
stressed the importance of a class of entrepreneurs who,
denied access to political office and its privileges, find
compensation and relief in heightened commercial
45
activity (28:141). Such men in Ghana are unlikely to
contribute greatly to the economic expansion of the
nation. The large scale industrial developments and
reliance upon foreign capital and skills place the
initiative in the hands of civil servants and expatriate
entrepreneurs. These expatriates, often managers of-
large corporations, are not the owners of the means of
production. The wealthy businessman aspires to buy
political office as a symbol of his success. He then
leaves the arena of commercial activities and concentrates
on his political role.
Most of these scholarly theories look at change
from the functional model approach, stating that ideas
and tools introduced from the West create new relation
ships and new Western philosophies in the developing
nations. As Gusfield has pointed out "they make Anglo-
American political forms either inevitable or necessarily
superior outcomes of political processes in new nations"
(32:16). We cannot view change in Ghana today exclusively
from the viewpoint of the functional model which explains
change as a result of external forces. This ignores the
changes inherent in the traditional society which are
given new forms of expression in modern life.
According to Karl Deutsch, social mobilization is
the overall process of change, which happens to large
46
numbers of people in areas that are moving from tribal to
modern ways of life. These areas, including Ghana, are
introduced to "advanced, non-traditional practices in
culture, technology and economic life" (24:385).
This type of mobilization brings about a change in
the quality of human needs. As people are uprooted from
their villages and old habits, they experience drastic
changes in their needs. According to Karl Deutsch, such
people may now need provisions for housing and employment;
social security against illnesses and old age; medical
care against health hazards of crowded dwellings and the
risk of accidents with unfamiliar machinery. He further
adds that people may also need security against seasonal
unemployment, oppressive charges of rent and against
fluctuations in the prices of the main commodities which
they must sell or buy (24:385). In the course of social
mobilization, which is a concomitant of the modernization
process, people begin to need a wide range and large
amounts of new government services to maintain order and
stability. These are essential prerequisites of .
development.
In Ghana/ however, these needs are not met as the
government's budget could not possibly afford necessary
elaborate social services. Family savings are often
aggregated and invested in education. Western education
47
has seen the proliferation of disgruntled students in the
urban areas. In West Africa today, most of the tribal
traditional institutions are contributing greatly to the
political, social and economic stability of the various
nations during this period of modernization. The complete
rejection of these institutions is not feasible since the
governments are not in a position to take over the
services provided by these tribal institutions.
P. C. Lloyd wrote that in leaving his village, the
Ghanaian becomes "detribalized"; in learning the new
norms and values of town life, he becomes "urbanized."
But this has tended to obscure the degree to which
relationships in the town may still be patterned to meet
tribal norms. The migrant, taking employment as a
laborer or clerk in a large company or governmental
department, must learn the behavior appropriate to
bureaucratic structures. But, on arriving in the town,
he will most probably lodge with distant relatives or
other people from his tribe and his behavior will follow
that of the tribe. The view that the old and the new are
necessarily in unresolvable conflict is not true in the
Ghanaian setting. The individual in the city is exposed
to a rather wide range of opportunities. He can maintain
social relationships, only with members of his own tribal
group, but at the same time he may exploit to the fullest
48
the economic opportunities offered by living in town.
Generalizations about life in urban societies tend to
stress superficiality, anonymity and impersonal relation
ships. These generalizations are more appropriate to
middle class suburbs of Western industrial cities and
especially those of recent rapid growth. Ghanaian towns
cannot easily be divided into compact territorial sub
units, each encompassing individuals in a restricted
socio-economic status. P. C. Lloyd found in his research
on immigrants in urban centers in West Africa that the
literate town dweller, in almost all cases, maintains
fairly close links with his village of origin (45:116).
Maintaining old and traditional relations provide the
environment necessary for emotional stability for people
in a traditional tribal society that is trying to become
modern. Tribalism is not dysfunctional for the processes
of modernization.
On the other hand, it is argued that tribalism
presents a serious obstacle to nation-building and the
national integration necessary for modern development
(28:507). But as K. A. Busia pointed out in his article
on "Tribal Consciousness" (88), Western understanding of
a nation, "a single people, traditionally fixed on a well
defined territory, speaking the same language and
preferably a language of its own, and shaped to a common
49
mold by many generations of shared historical experience,"
is not applicable to the African situation. According to
this interpretation, a country where there are differences
of tribe, language, religion, economic development, would
not be considered a nation.
Ghana does not fit this Western definition of a
nation. Ghana was created by Britain, a power that
brought together by force, under one administration,
heterogeneous tribal groups speaking different languages,
and possessing distinct cultures and religions, where
animosities and tribal wars have left their traces. There
is no common heritage or a shared historical experience.
The Ghanaian situation calls for the concept of a nation
composed of many tribes:
. . . possessing a diversity of traditions, and
even cultures, inhabiting a common territory,
bound together by the common desire to preserve
their newly won independence. (88:18)
There are some who contend that tribalism should
be eradicated by repression and coercion, on the grounds
that it obstructs national unity. The following events in
West Africa show that repression only leads to instability
which in the long run holds back the process of moderniza
tion. Tribal cleavages contributed to the disorderly
events of January, 1966, in Nigeria, which resulted in the
50
military takeover of the government. In a broadcast to
the nation on January 28, 1966, General Ironsi, the head
of the new regime, said:
All Nigerians want an end to regionalism. Tribal
loyalties and activities which promote tribal
consciousness and sectional interests must give
way to the urgent task of national reconstruction.
(101)
Subsequent events, including his murder, have shown that
the General underestimated the strength of tribal feeling
and sentiment.
In a social survey of Sekondi-Takoradi, two cities
in Ghana, undertaken in the early fifties, Dr. Busia noted
that intense tribal loyalties were manifested in the many
tribal associations which existed in the cities. Even
those who had been city dwellers for many years showed
strong loyalty to their tribes and home villages.
Dr. Busia found that:
. . . tribal associations, through the control
they exercise over members, are potent factors
for law and order and in this sense form part
of the governmental institutions of the
municipalities. (15:25-28)
Some years later, Philip Foster, carrying out a
study of education and social change in Ghana, noted that:
. . . a considerable body of evidence points to
the persistence of elements of traditional social
structure even within the most 'modern* sectors
of Ghanaian society. Ethnic background, kinship
affiliation and traditional residence patterns
still play a role even within the urban context
and indeed may provide the basis for organizations
51
which appear at first sight to be essentially
Western in nature. For example, voluntary
self-help associations and trade unions all
contain components based upon traditional
patterns of association and affiliation.
(30:301)
Zolberg, in a study of the Ivory Coast, noted how
the government's party had come to terms with the tribal
situation. This was explained to him by an official of
the party, who said:
During the elections we have found that ethnic
associations that existed in the city (Abidjan)
functioned effectively for election purposes.
. . . Regardless of where they lived and worked
in the city, people of the same tribe came
together for social purposes. So we transformed
the ethnic associations into party sub
committees. Where they did not exist, we helped
the tribes to organize original ones. Only in
this way could we communicate with the members,
collect dues, and pass down party directives in
the various local languages. (69:62)
The existence of indigenous institutions, like tribes,
does not necessarily conflict with innovations for modern
ization and the building of a nation. According to
K. A. Busia, it is no sign of backwardness to recognize
the fact of the existence of different tribes and groups,
nor is it reactionary to seek accommodation with tribal
loyalties. (88:19)
The existence of these groups may even afford
better prospects for democracy. In their survey of
political trends in the new nations of Africa and Asia,
Almond and Coleman had this to say:
52
Although the racial and tribal pluralism of new
political communities tends to retard the
process of national unification, it is not a
barrier to their survival, nor is it necessarily
unhealthy in terms of the development of
competitive societies. The multiplicity of
tribes within a state is not everywhere an
obstacle to the creation of a broader political
nationality. Indeed the larger their number and
the smaller their size, the better are the chances
of effective amalgamation. Moreover, it could be
argued that such a rich pluralism makes dictator
ship less likely by providing countervailing
power centers which cannot be coerced into a
single authoritarian system. (2:301)
This view merits attention. Accommodation with
territorial tribal units implies decentralization, as it
did in the solution to Nigeria1s problems. Some scholars
and rulers see decentralization as yielding to separatism
and so they advocate measures that tend to increase
centralization and authoritarianism; the fallacy in this
so far as West Africa is concerned is shown in the recent
coups -d 'etat. Others, however, see it as a means whereby
tribes of diverse traditions and sometimes of wide
regional differences can be kept together to preserve the
nation from breaking apart (88). Efforts to copy
irrelevant models from Britain and France will only
contribute to the holding back of social, political and
economic development of the developing nations in West
Africa.
There are inherent capabilities in the traditions
of the West Africans which greatly contribute to the whole
53
process of modernization and economic development.
Traditions like the extended family and tribal groups
offer a variety of services that contribute to develop
ment .
The extended family is frequently described as
an impediment to the modernizing process and to economic
development. The extended family, it is claimed by
scholars like Lloyd, leads to a dispersal of savings
which might otherwise be productively employed. Needless
gifts are made to relatives. This is a valid criticism.
But in the Ghanaian context, this assertion needs
considerable qualification. Much of the assistance given
by the affluent is to the genuinely poor and needy, for
whom the national government provides no support.
It is argued furthermore that the drain on
personal income disinclines the prosperous man to seek
wealth— just as in industrial societies high rates of
taxes are said to deter men from effort and initiative.
For the Ghanaian the expectations of his family can be a
spur to further effort for economic development. The
respect and allegiance of those supported provide moral
rewards for the many who maintain such traditional values.
P. C. Lloyd noted that the obligations to employ the
members of one's own family in a business may impair its
54
economic efficiency. But, very few modern West African
enterprises are organized on this scale.
The extended family is seen as enforcing
conformity upon its members, and thus is discouraging to
change. This may be true in European societies where
sons follow the occupations of their fathers. But in
Ghanaian tribal societies, men born to humble families
could become wealthy and powerful in the occupation of
their choice.
It is the role of the tribal groups to provide
food and shelter to the unemployed, marriage and burial
expenses, assistance in locating a job. Immanuel
Wallerstein has found in his study "Ethnicity and National
Integration in West Africa," that tribal loyalties in
West Africa cannot be entirely eliminated. He states
that:
. . . medium-sized groups based on such loyalties
perform certain functions--of furnishing social
and psychological security--which cannot yet in
West Africa be performed either by the government
or by the nuclear family. (63:6 73)
The government in Ghana is not yet in a position
to offer a really effective network of welfare services,
because of a lack of resources and personnel. Yet such
services avoid widespread social unrest. One of the most
important roles of the tribal groups in cities is acting
as agents of social control. Most of these tribal groups
55
settle quarrels that arise between members and in the
settlement of disputes apply the customary law of their
home areas. They are there to preserve the reputations
of their own tribes and will take strong measures to
prevent any member from damaging them. The small number
of policemen stationed in various towns and cities
reflects the success of tribal associations that act as
agents of social control.
Writers, like Mitchell and Wallerstein, show that
people in rural areas are apt to take their tribe for
granted, but when they come to the city their tribal
membership assumes new and great importance. The
acceptance of new products, new religions, and other
changes do not necessarily lead to the disappearance of
the older form. Gusfield maintains that "new forms may
only increase the range of alternatives" (32:19). This
is very true in Ghana where traditional structures and
values supply skills and sources which are capable of
being used in pursuit of new goals with new processes.
The old traditions are still viable and
functional even in the face of rapid industrialization.
Awareness of this situation is necessary for Ghana's
future leaders.
56
Development of Western Education
in Ghana
A small number of sound historical studies exist
on the growth of Western education in Africa, but most of
these have rarely gone beyond descriptive accounts of
recent growth in providing educational services. The
three historical works most relevant to the development
of Western education in Ghana are F. H. Hillard, A Short
History of Education in British West Africa (London:
Thomas Nelson and Sons, Ltd., 1957); H. 0. A. McWilliam,;
The Development of Education in Ghana (London: Longmans,
Green, 1959); and Colin Wise, A History of Education in
British West Africa (London: Longmans, Green, 1968). The
scope of these studies is limited to the school system.
The overall environment in which the schools function has
been given very little attention.
The impact of Western education on traditional
social and economic structures and conversely the effects
of those structures upon the schools, cannot be assessed
without understanding the nature of tribal societies. In
view of this, the previous discussion on traditional
societies in Ghana should serve as background to the
following analysis of Western educational development in
Ghana, and its role in the process of national
modernization.
57
Portuguese missionaries and traders in the early
seventeenth century introduced Western education to
Ghana, establishing schools in the coastal settlements,
but little is recorded of their work.
Specialists on African education, including
Scanlon, and McWilliam^= indicate that the basic
foundation of the present Ghanaian school system was laid
by the nineteenth century missionaries who had come to
'civilize' or rather 'Westernize1 the African, and to
help in the abolition of the Atlantic Slave Trade (11).
In the first half of the nineteenth century, the English
missions began to establish schools, mostly in the
coastal settlements, which were and are still occupied
by the Fantis. The records show that these mission
schools were oriented toward Christian religious
education. As Great Britain's commercial and political
interests in Ghana grew, education became increasingly
secular (55:326). As commerce and administration
expanded, these mission schools prospered because they
fulfilled a real economic function. The British
commercial firms and colonial administration sought native
workers to fill the lower positions in their businesses,
since it was felt that natives were less expensive than
British expatriates (20:4). The educational aim was to
provide qualified Ghanaians with a modicum of modern
58
skills, to fit them for subordinate and routine tasks as
clerks or bookkeepers in the government administration,
as well as in commercial establishments. The demand for
"junior" clerks, who did not need any skills training,
apart from reading and writing, encouraged the growth of
academic schools. Scanlon, 01 Connell,and Cowan have
stated that in a politico-legal administration and a
trading economy, the primary demand was for clerks who
were needed to record things. In addition to the fact
that the economy of the period demanded clerks, the
academic nature of the schools was strengthened because
the schools were modeled after those of the mother
countries where technical education was not given status.
Wise, McWilliams and Hillard, among others, in
discussing the nature of colonial education in Ghana,
blame Ghanaians for insisting that colonial educational
models be retained. They do not consider the economic
basis involved; the fact that individuals who graduated
from the European system were the most highly paid in the
country.
In the period following World War I, the British
government began to assume a greater share of the burden
and control of education. The religious missionaries
gradually came to realize that the magnitude of the
educational task was beyond their resources, and education
59
was suddenly recognized as an important aspect of the
British colonial policy. Government grants to, and
control of mission schools increased, but the missionary
philosophy of providing native white collar graduates to
serve in the lower echelons of the trading economy
prevailed. This philosophy, totally ignoring the basic
social and political realities of the Ghanaian society,
became the foundation of the school system. The ghost of
this system still hangs on even after the achievement of
national independence.
Adu Boahen and McWilliam have cited that the new
interest British showed in Ghana's education derived from
the fact that as a result of the war, Ghana's raw
materials, and other African products in general, were
bringing higher prices on the international market, thus
making additional funds available for education. Scanlon
also stated that the growth of international interest in
the problems of colonial education engendered by the
League of Nations mandate system, forced the European
powers to review their past educational activities in
Africa. (20:5) This new climate of post war opinion was
highlighted by the publication of the first Phelps-Stokes
report, the work of a commission composed of American,
British and African educators who visited the educational
institutions of West Africa. The report focused on the
60
need to adapt education in West African countries to the
needs of the natives. Within a short time after the
publication of the report, Britain and other colonial
powers began issuing policy statements outlining in broad
terms the educational policy to be followed in the
territories; most of these policies focused on the
establishment of vocational, technical and agricultural
education. Despite the emphasis placed on technical and
agricultural education, the field of education continued
to be mainly concerned with the acquisition of academic
skills. British colonial reports (75,76,77) show that
the failure of the development of technical vocational
and agricultural education in the early twentieth century
was due to public indifference to the program; and the
unhealthy attitude found among Ghanaians toward manual
labor. However, we must give consideration to the fact
that unemployment and underemployment which existed in
the 1930's among the graduates from technical institutes
helped kill the interest in non-academic education in
Ghana. Academic education had certain advantages over
technical and vocational education. It met an individ
ual 's need for status and prestige. Graduates with
academic education had easier access to the more
remunerative jobs offered to the middle level personnel
required by administrative and commercial enterprises.
61
Dzobo, in a critical analysis of Ghana's educa
tion, comments on one important factor for the failure of
non-academic education in Ghana. He notes that Ghana's
"inability to establish a really effective national
control over the quality and content of education has
contributed to the growth of bookish pattern of
educational development" (92:41-45). Ghana's lack of
national control of education has led to a proliferation
of educational institutions, with unplanned placement of
graduates to meet the demand for such professional
services. It is estimated by Scanlon, O'Connell and
Cowan, that between 1950 and 1960, enrollment in primary
schools in Ghana doubled and tripled. Yet there was a
critical shortage of facilities in the area of secondary
education. A bottleneck developed. Thousands of
children were finishing primary schools and could not
continue their education because of the limited number of
secondary schools; the University of Ghana, the only
university established before the opening of Kumasi
University in 19 61, was operating at only a fraction of
its potential enrollment because of the scarcity of
secondary school graduates.
Ghanaians who could afford overseas studies left
Ghana to study in Britain.. They returned to Ghana with a
philosophy of academic excellence, a system that is not
62
sympathetic to, nor could come to grips with Ghana's slow
developing rural economy. Ghana's educational development
was thus heavily influenced by fashionable and popular
conceptions of Western education, and as Dzobo points
out, by a lack of any effective national control. The
result was a proliferation of educational institutions
that turned out frustrated graduates.
63
CHAPTER III
HIGHER EDUCATION IN GHANA
Students in the area of higher education in Ghana
have been intensely active on the political scene.
Graduates of higher institutions have been in the fore
front of the nationalist movements and other forms of
political agitation within the total developmental
struggle since the introduction of Western education in
Ghana. Why the intellectuals assumed leadership roles
in the political struggle, and their future participation
in Ghana's development as a nation, is what originally
gave rise to this examination of perspectives of Ghanaian
students in American institutions of higher learning.
Development of Higher Education
in Ghana
Until 194 8, Ghanaians who wished to further their
education after primary school (and, in some cases after
the secondary school) had to meet strong competition in
order to enter Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone or had
to find a way to study at an overseas University. The
Fourah Bay College, founded by the Church Missionary
Society in 1827, was affiliated with the University of
64
Durham in 1876. It was the only institution of higher
education in West Africa that opened her gates to African
and Ghanaian students. This insufficiency of facilities
contributed to severe shortage of university-trained
personnel in Ghana. The British Colonial government
refused to establish universities in Ghana. Scanlon,
O'Connell and Cowan, among others, point out that the
Colonial administration was not enthusiastic about
founding African universities because they were uneasy
about the financing of expensive institutions. The three
authors also say that the administrators, having attended
universities like Oxford and Cambridge, were skeptical
about establishing a university that differed greatly
from the ones they had attended in Britain. A careful
appraisal of the developments of the period including the
colonial aims of the British, shows the major reason for
the reluctance, as indicated by Scanlon, O'Connell and
Cowan, was that many of the colonial officials in Ghana
"were not enthusiastic about coping with multitudes of
African graduates who might cause them difficulties and
eventually claim their jobs" (20:28). This fear of
competition was prevalent among colonial officials.
Consistent efforts were exerted by them to keep the skills
of Ghanaian graduates of secondary and primary schools at
65
the level of junior positions in the government adminis
tration and in commerce.
The situation gradually began to change after the
second World War. Scanlon and Adam Curie found that by
this time Britain accepted the idea of the colonials
moving toward national independence, and the need for more
highly skilled manpower.
The University College of the Gold Coast (Ghana)
was founded in 1948 as a result of the recommendations of
the Asquith Commission's Report, published in 1945 (77).
The terms of the report make it clear that the establish
ment of the college was intended as a measure to promote
the eventual independence of the Gold Coast. Thus, this
college could not be stigmatized, as many of the West
African schools had been, as an institution geared to
producing subordinate officials to maintain the British
rule (21:87). The report was insistent that the standards
of this new college should be as high as possible. It
stipulated that the college possess the same measure of
autonomy as in the United Kingdom, thus preventing
political interference. Academic standards were to be
maintained under the guardianship of an English Univer
sity. Subsequently, London University established a
system known as a Special Relationship with the College
by means of which this tutelage was operated (21:87). In
66
effect the standards for entry to the University College
of the Gold Coast were determined by the requirements of
London. Syllabi were developed jointly, and examinations
set and corrected in the same way. Special Relationship
representatives of London University paid periodical
visits to the College to observe and advise on the courses
being offered, and London's nominees sat on all appoint
ment committees for faculty posts. To all intents and
purposes, the University College of Ghana, at its genesis,
was in all respects the University of London. Degrees
received by students from the college were known as
London degrees. Degrees obtained from the University
College of Ghana received the same acceptance as degrees
received from London University for entrance into graduate
schools in the University of London.
In 194 9 the University College actually opened
Its Special Relations with London University with 90
students. By the summer of 1961, when it attained full
university status, the number of students had risen to
over 700. The Faculty (school) of Social Studies, and
the Faculty of Agriculture, had been added to the original
faculties of Arts and of Science. Also added were a
Department of Law and a Department of Education.
67
After the achievement of national independence in
1957, relations between the University and the government
began to deteriorate. Government officials complained
that the University, while eating up Ghana's resources,
was indifferent to its needs and its graduates came out
more British oriented than Ghanaian. Many attempts,
which culminated in the establishment of the Commission of
Inquiries and the interim National Council for Higher
Education of 1961, were made to have the University
become more oriented to Ghanaian needs.
Demands were made on the university by the new
Ghana Government, led by the late Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, in
regard to changing the original organizational structure
of the University. The university, as pointed out
earlier, followed Britain's system— it was autonomous and
deliberately detached from the government. Adam Curie
remarked that the constitution of the college made it
difficult for the government to impose policies on the
college "without causing an embarrassing amount of
commotion" (21:88). In standards and curriculum, the
university stressed narrow specialization; and in social
function, the graduates and the administrators regarded
themselves as a privileged class. The university was to
nurture an elitist group; and in the words of Eric Ashby,
the university was a "replica of the British University
68
at its best" (5:20). "Until 1961, when the constitution
of the University of Ghana was changed," Ashby continued,
"the four halls of residence were made self-governing,
each with its own by-laws and its officers: Master,
Senior Tutor, Chaplain" (5:27). Ashby explains that, as
in Cambridge, the halls and not the University accountant
collected the students* fees. The terms or semesters were
given English names like Michaelmas, Lent and Trinity. In
the dining halls, grace was read in Latin and the
purchasing officer was called a "manciple." The
consequence of this educational transplantation was that
very often the graduates of the University, despite the
leadership roles they had to take in the development of
their country, were ill-adapted to their own social
environment. The curriculum, to a large extent, excluded
the possibility of a broad liberal education and stressed
the specification in one area, known as the "honors
program."
From 1957 to 1960, according to records furnished
by the Commission on University Education (December,
1960), the Faculty of Arts of the University graduated
95 students with honors degrees in single subjects; and
only 45 students with general degrees in Arts, which
combined two or more subjects (74). Ashby reports that
since 1960 a balance has been restored between the number
69
of students in the honors degree programs and in the
general program. The underlying assumption of the honors
degree program was the "belief that the social function
of a university in Africa was to create and sustain an
intellectual elite" (5:41). Eric Ashby pointed out that
for an African at that time, the impact of a university
education was something inconceivable to a European. It
separated him from his family and his village though he
could return regularly to his home and accept what Ashby
calls "crushing family responsibilities." The education
obliged him to live in a Western way and his problem was
how to apply the Western knowledge to the welfare of his
own people. According to Ashby, since the gap" between
him and his people was so great, the individual student
lost the opportunity to reflect on the problem (5:41).
Thus, there was a wedge between the graduates of
the University and the Ghanaian people. The only way to
bridge this gap and to change the consciousness of the
elite was to change the curriculum at the university
level, and to create more secondary and technical schools.
In the secondary- and high-level schools, applied science
and technology would be the core of the curriculum instead
of Latin, Greek, Christian Theology and British history.
The content of the curriculum had to relate to the
70
cultural ethos of the society. And, as President
Nkrumah declared "we must in the development of our
university bear in mind that once it had been planted in
African soil it must take root amidst African traditions
and culture" (100). The growing antagonism that had
developed between the University and Nkrumah's government
led to the appointment in 1960 of an international
commission by the Ghana government to advise on the future
development of higher education in Ghana. This
Commission was comprised of three educators from England,
two from the United States, one from Russia, one African
from Sierra Leone, and the Chairman, who was a cabinet
minister in President Nkrumah's government. The
Commission's recommendations on the relationship between
universities in Ghana and the State rested on two basic
principles: (a) that Ghanaian universities "should be
able to respond to the immediate and future needs of the
community," and (b) "that they should have the greatest
possible autonomy in their organization, teaching, and
research" (74). The Commission's report was accepted by
the government. Shortly after the departure of the
Commission, the government set up an Interim National
Council for Higher Education and Research charged with the
task of reorganizing higher education in general and
specifically with implementing the recommendations of
71
the Commission. African studies were now included as a
major component of university curricula and there was a
reorganization of higher education in the country. Two
former colleges were given university status. Thus, in
Ghana in 1961, there were three university-level
institutions: The University of Ghana at Legon, which
had been founded in 194 8 as the University College of the
Gold Coast; the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and
Technology at Kumasi, which had been founded in 1951 as
the Kumasi College of Technology; and the University
College of Cape Coast, founded as a teacher training
institution in the early part of 1961. The President of
Ghana became the chancellor of all three universities.
The government was given a more active and decisive role
in the determination of academic policy and in the control
of the universities.
Ironically, the introduction of African studies
into the curriculum received strong opposition from the
African intellectuals, rather than from the non-African
professors of the universities. Professor Ashby, in his
study of African universities, pointed out that:
Some African intellectuals, especially those
educated in Britain, resist changes in curriculum
or in pattern of courses because they confuse
such changes with a lowering of standards. They
are accordingly suspicious of any divergence from
the British pattern. Some of them are particularly
allergic to proposals for incorporating African
72
studies into the curriculum. Is this, they say,
the first step toward disarming us intellectually;
to substitute Arabic and African languages for
the classics. . . . to neglect Tudor history in
favor of the history of Africa. (5:61-62)
These criticisms were ignored, and in October, 1961, under
the direction of the government and the new council, it
was announced that the Institute of African Studies at
Legon would be expanded, and that all first year under
graduates, regardless of their major fields of study,
would have to take a course in African studies "stressing
the unity of the African continent in all its aspects"
(100). A two-year post graduate course, leading to a
Master's degree in African Studies was established with
its curriculum including Languages, History, African
Social and Political and Economic institutions as well as
African Music and Art. Nana Nketsia, head of the African
Studies Institute, commented in the January 29, 1962 issue
of the Ghanaian Times, that "for the first time since
Ghana's contact with Europe in the fifteenth century, the
universities in Ghana are serving as places where creative
and conscious reflections on life in Africa are being
undertaken" (99). At present, Ghana maintains these
universities - which, according to Sloan and Kitchen, have
consistently sought to develop themselves as educational
institutions that would be adapted to Ghanaian needs and
73
yet would preserve the "quality of the British
university" (55:346).
The University of Ghana offers degrees in the
Liberal Arts, the Humanities, Law, Natural and Physical
Sciences. The University of Cape Coast concentrates on
Education, the degree programs for teachers who enter the
field of secondary school teaching.
The University of Science and Technology offers a
wide range of technica 1_,courses such as welding, auto
mechanics, carpentry programs on a post secondary level,
with most of them leading to special diplomas and
certificates rather than degrees. According to Sloan and
Kitchen, its aim is to train highly specialized techni
cians rapidly rather than to turn out specialists with a
broad general background. It also offers degree courses
in Engineering, Surveying, Architecture, Estate Manage
ment, Accounting, Pharmacy, Agriculture, Physical
Education, Domestic Science, Music, Arts, and Crafts.
In addition to Ghanaians studying in these three
national institutions of higher learning, there are
hundreds enrolled in universities outside of Ghana. The
Ghanaian government's interest in the growth of the
universities makes it clear that the government attaches
great importance to institutions of higher learning as
active agents of change in the modernization process.
74
The Role of Intellectuals in the
Development of Ghana
"The gestation, birth and continuing life of the
new states of Asia and Africa," remarks Edward Shils in
his paper "The Intellectuals in the Political Development
of the New States," "... are in large measure the work
of intellectuals. In no state formations in all history
have intellectuals played such a role as they have in
these events of the present century" (58:249).
Shils* remarks can be described as a summary of
the role of intellectuals in the socio-political develop
ment of Ghana. As in most developing countries, the
prominence of intellectuals in the socio-political
development of Ghana arises, in part, from its background
as a British colony and the effects of imperial rule. In
the West, as Shils points out, politics have been a
preserve of "well established aristocrats, landed gentry
with ample leisure" (58:249) and more recently, the
businessmen. He adds that intellectuals: professors,
teachers, scientists and journalists, have participated
inpolitics, primarily as radicals. In Ghana and other
developing countries, the intellectuals have assumed
control of both the radical and conservative areas. A
number of reasons, arising from the colonial situation,
account for this. It was the intellectuals who developed
the task of contending for their nations' rights to exist.
75
Philip Foster’s study on Education and Social
Change in Ghana reports that the first development of
nationalism in Ghana was closely associated with the
creation of a Western-educated and urbanized minority;
and that nationalism was "a result of the relatively
autonomous development of schools in a situation with a
very limited occupational structure" (30:93). During the
colonial period, and to the first half of the twentieth
century, only junior administrative posts in Ghana were
open to the most highly educated Ghanaians; under
conditions of service uniformly inferior to their
counterparts recruited in the United Kingdom.
Colonial Ghana, as Shils explains (58:253), lacked
a clearly defined middle class that could utilize the
"literary products" of the intellectuals. Poverty and
the absence of significant industrial development
prevented the emergence of demand for highly trained
technicians in engineering, industrial chemistry, and
other technological fields.
Illiteracy was also a factor in limiting the
market for books, journals, newspapers and other means
of disseminating specialized professional knowledge.
Journalism, as a career, provided few opportunities for
employment as a result of the widespread illiteracy.
76
The medical profession was held to a limited few,
since the course of study was very costly. And more
seriously, many of the appointments to senior level jobs
in medical service were preempted by the colonial govern
ment and consequently reserved for foreigners (58:253).
Teaching was very unremunerative. It mostly
involved living in villages away from the advantages of
the larger towns.
As a result of the above conditions, and the fact
that the British policy of indirect rule downgraded the
placement of educated Ghanaians in the political decision
making process in the regions, intellectuals found little
opportunity for employment in their chosen academic
fields. Thus they turned to the field of politics to
effect changes. In the words of Edward Shils, they went
"directly into agitational and conspiratorial politics"
(58:256).
Emerson- characterizes the educated groups of this
period in the following manner:
Conscious that they no longer fit into the older
society from which they had emerged, they found
themselves rejected as equal partners by the
dominant westerners. While many were absorbed
into the framework of colonial governments and
enterprise, they were denied access to the
upper positions of responsibility, command and
wealth. Inevitably, they felt the bitter
frustration of inability to secure in their own
societies positions which correspond to their
expectations and newly acquired knowledge and
skills. (26:54)
77
Although a few opportunities for wealth were open
to intellectuals through the trading occupations, as
Wallerstein points out, the effect of Western education
was to socialize individuals to "anticipate career
patterns which they were not permitted to fulfill"
(64:58).
The political activities of the intellectuals
acquired significance with the formation of the Fanti
Confederation in 1868. Originally founded by Fanti tribal
chiefs as an organization to resist a proposed exchange
of British and Dutch possessions on the coast of Ghana,
the Confederation emerged in 1871 with the aims of
improving the social condition of the Fanti peoples while
providing a constitutional framework for self-government
(3:24). The constitution of the Confederation had
appended to it the names of all the principal Fanti chiefs
and the Western-educated intellectuals. It provided for
the creation of a legislative assembly with powers of
direct taxation. The forty-seven articles of the
constitution which, according to Claridge, were mostly
drawn up by the intellectuals, included widespread social
and economic improvements - construction of roads,
development of agriculture and industry, and the exploita
tion of mineral resources. Claridge writes that "the
whole constitution seems to have been framed by a few
78
educated men, primarily no doubt for the good of their
country, but secondarily for the benefit of themselves"
(19:619). He adds, further, that many of the chiefs who
are supposed to have signed the document were not even
present at the meetings. The intellectuals were attempt
ing to gain political power, and as Foster points out in
his analysis of the Confederation, had the Confederation
succeeded, there would have been a partial transfer of
power from the chiefs to the Western-educated minority
(30:95).
The Confederation itself was short-lived due to
strong opposition from the colonial regime, but the
significance of the Confederation lay in its revelation
of the growing strength of Western-educated elements on
the coast of Ghana.
Before the end of the nineteenth century, the
Western-educated group was more successful in its
organization of the "Aborigines Rights Protection
Society" with the aim of defeating the Public Lands Bill
of that year, a bill that sought to convert to the
British Crown land, all unoccupied areas, and aimed at
checking the process of land takeover by other European
mining and timber companies. Losing the land was
regarded by the chiefs and the Western-educated elements
as unpardonable interference in tribal concepts of land
79
trusteeship. A deputation was sent to England after the
formation of the Society. The efforts and the agitation
of the Western-educated group, led by J. Casely Hayford
and J. Mensah Sarbah ensured the withdrawal of the Lands
Bill.
The Aborigines Rights Protection Society continued
as a nationalist organization and acted as the spokesmen
of the chiefs and people of Ghana. According to Sloan
and Kitchen, this group gradually came to harbor distinct
political ambitions of their own - to supplant the chiefs
in substance if not in form; to win some degree of self-
government; and eventually independence; and to serve as
a vehicle for Ghana's modernization.
Sloan and Kitchen summarize the activities of the
group in this manner:
It was this new [intellectual group] with its new
vexations and attitudes, which first began to
think of a future for their country radically
different from its past. The mystique of African
nationalism began to take shape and it became
increasingly concerned with a total reconstruction
of [Ghanaian] society. (55:328)
Men like J. B. Danquah, Obetsebi Lamptey, K. A. Busia and
Kwame Nkrumah - all products of Western universities -
successfully agitated for the withdrawal of British
domination over Ghana and helped achieve its nationhood.
Edward Shils has given an interesting and rather
psychological explanation of the intense politicization
80
of the intellectual. According to Shils, the possibility
of achievement as a leader or of making one1s mark on
events is very minimal in a society where status is
traditionally determined by such qualities as kinship
connection, age, sex, and rank order within the family.
Yet, at the same time, the content of the education
received by the intellectual arouses in him the need to
establish his status, and satisfy his self-esteem, by his
own achievements. Shils concludes that "it is the
political movement with its demands and challenges" that
r ■
presents the arena for the intellectual, and that "the
political arena, unlike a business firm or a government
department can absorb as many people as "apply to it and
can give the people tasks to perform which can offer them
the possibility of seeing the effects of their actions or
efforts" (58:258). This explanation is applicable in the
Ghanaian case, if one considers the number of teachers
and other Western educated intellectuals who left the
teaching field for politics. Kwame Nkrumah, who led the
struggle for independence and a great number of his close
political associates had been teachers in either the
mission or the colonial government controlled schools.
The question to consider is the role of the
intellectuals after Ghana's achievement of independence.
Shils1 study of post independence African intellectuals
81
shows that "politics remain a major alternative to
apathetic idiocy or a regression into the acceptance of
the traditional pattern of life" (58:258). Politics
remain a major alternative open to intellectuals as long
as the Ghanaian society maintains tribal characteristics.
The same author concludes that
Only when the society has become more differentia
ted occupationally and when it has developed a
sufficiently large and self-esteeming corps of
intellectual professions with their own corporate
forms of organization, will the passionate
sentiment and energy flow into channels other
than the political ones. (58:258)
Even though Ghana is presently under a military
regime, it is the highly educated army officers who form
the cabinet. Important decisions regarding Ghana’s
development are made in consultation with the intellec
tuals who form the backbone of the Civil Service.
There are numerous editorials in Ghanaian
newspapers that focus on the need for Ghanaian students
abroad to return home to help in the modernization
process. The Ghana Civil Service Commission makes yearly
visitations to Europe and America to convince Ghanaian
students to return home to help in the government's
domestic Africanization program in all departments of
service. These are all factors that show that the
Western Educated Ghanaian is still needed and influential
82
in his homeland. Therefore, an examination of his
attitudes and perspectives on Ghana's development is
important.
83
CHAPTER IV
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
The experimental aspect of this study consisted
of a survey of the perceptions of Ghanaian students
studying in Southern California, with regard to Ghana's
national development and an analysis of the factors that
determine and influence the perceptions and aspirations
of such students.
In order to identify and measure the importance
of Ghanaian students' perceptions of traditional values
in Ghana, their proposed career choices, and their views
concerning Ghanaian national problems, the descriptive
survey method was applied. A similar type of study done
by Dwaine Marvick (48) also used the descriptive survey
method.
This investigator selected 210 students, all of
whom were members of the Ghana Students Association of
Southern California, as the sample for the present study.
This sample constituted a cross section of sex, marital
status, tribal group, and areas of study. It was the
original intent of this investigator to secure the views
of all the Ghanaian students studying in the entire
United States. Ghana's embassy in Washington, D.C. was
contacted with a request for the names and addresses of
all such students. A confirming letter was sent to the
embassy stating the reason for the request. A second
request was made to the Embassy two months later, but no
reply was forthcoming. As this information was not
available, this investigator determined to utilize the
services of the Ghana Students Association of Southern
California in order to obtain the names and addresses of
those Ghanaian students studying in Southern California.
This organization made its list of 210 students available
for the study.
An opinion survey of 21 items, consisting of
questions and statements similar to those in Marvick's
study, was developed for evaluation. The questions were
framed in terminology that reflects the Ghanaian students'
background of British-English education. Fixed alterna
tive questions were used to obtain quantitative data that
could be measured. The questionnaire also had room for
students' comments and statements.
The questionnaires were sent to the 210 students
at their home addresses by mail in March of 1975. An
introductory letter from the investigator accompanied the
questionnaire to explain the purpose of the survey and to
assure students that their replies would be kept
85
confidential. One hundred ninety replies were received
by the end of April 1975. Data from the repliesNwere
analyzed and tabulated. Interpretation of the data is
presented in Chapter V.
Development of the Survey
The first eight questions in the survey were
designed to determine students' background: age, sex,
marital status, tribal affiliation, educational background
and academic field of interest.
Most of these Ghanaian students had come to the
United States after their formative years had been spent
in their tribal communities in Ghana. Given these
diverse tribal affiliations, the next three questions were
designed to estimate the influence of their cultural
background. The importance they placed on the traditional
cultural practices of their parents, their parents' belief
in traditional religions, and their parents' positions in
their communities were taken as significant clues to the
students' basic feelings of loyalty to, and identification
with, the traditional societies in which they were raised.
The last ten questions were designed to discover
how the students evaluated their academic studies in the
/
United States; what they recognized as the top priority
tasks facing Ghana in her development; and what roles they
saw for themselves in Ghana's future.
86
Specifically questions were designed to find out
how committed these students were to making a professional
contribution toward solving Ghana's problems, and what
role they intended to play in the political situation.
The questions developed in the survey on aspects of the
effects of American education, attempted to find out
whether their college experience and life in America had
any maturing effects on the students by developing self-
reliance, tolerance, and open-mindedness. Did they
develop attitudes and perceptions that contribute to their
effectiveness as educators or leaders in modernizing
Ghana? Do their perceptions run counter to the forces
underlying the "politics of withdrawal"?
Treatment of the Data
The data from the survey were tabulated. A
description of the population is shown in Tables 1 to 4 -
which provide specific information on years of residence
of Ghanaian students in Southern California, tribal
background, fields of study and marital status. Tables
5 to 10 show the students' responses to questions related
to traditional values, future plans and Ghana's national
problems.
The responses, which revealed students' attitudes
and perceptions, were analyzed through the use of simple
87
percentages. Individual comments of the students were
utilized in the analysis of the results to provide
possible explanations for their opinions. Analysis of
replies was also based on knowledge gained from the
available literature.
88
CHAPTER V
PRESENTATION OF DATA
This chapter deals with the questionnaire and
data. Sections and tables show information about
students' backgrounds,as well as intergroup and intra
group comparisons of the responses elicited by the items
in the questionnaire.
General Characteristics of the Sample
In spite of substantial variation among individual
Ghanaian students in Southern California, some generaliza
tions can be made about the whole sample. The sample
consisted largely of self-sponsored students who
depended on either their families or their own part-time
jobs for financial support. Two hundred and ten question
naires were sent out. One hundred and ninety students
responded. One hundred and fifty out of the 19 0 students
who responded were under no obligation to the government
of Ghana to return to government service in Ghana.
The sample consisted of college and university
students over twenty years of age who had completed high
school in Ghana before coming to study in Southern
89
California. Ages of students ranged between eighteen and
thirty-three, with over 75 percent of them falling between
twenty-six and thirty-three. The ratio of males to
females in the sample was five to one, with a majority
of the women falling within the married group. The small
number of women found in the sample was not surprising
because in Africa the gates of higher education were only
recently opened for women.
Residence in Southern California
The data in Table 1 show that the residence
period of the students ranged from 1 to more than 12
years, the majority of them living in Southern California
for a period of from 1 to 5 years.
Tribal Distribution of Ghanaian Students
in Southern California
The survey covered students from all the six
major cultural and linguistic areas in Ghana. The details
appear in Table 2. Ashantis, Fantis and Easterners were
the leading groups in terms of respondents; Northerners
represented the smallest number. The small number in the
Northern group was expected because, as the introductory
chapters of the study show, Western education had a very
slow start in the Northern regions of Ghana, and the
90
TABLE 1
RESIDENCE OF GHANAIAN STUDENTS
IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
N = 190
Residence
(in years)
Frequency,
1 15
2 28
3 39
4 20
5 27
6 11
7 12
8 7
9 8
10 15
11 3
12+ 6
91
TABLE 2
TRIBAL DISTRIBUTION OF GHANAIAN STUDENTS
IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WHO RESPONDED
TO THE QUESTIONNAIRE
Tribe/Ethnic Group
Ashanti
Central/Western
(Fanti)
Eastern (Kwahus,
Akims, etc.)
Ga (Ga Adangbe)
Northern (Gur)
Volta (Ewe)
TOTAL
*No. of
Questionnaires
mailed - 210
X
x
x
X
X
X
210
Respondents
44
A3
41
32
2
28
190
* It was not possible for surveyor to determine tribal
or ethnic origins of students before questionnaires
were mailed out. Ghanaian names are not appropriate
indications for the identification of tribal origins.
92
government of Ghana is still working on programs to
motivate more Northerners to go to school.
Marital Status
Tabulations in Table 3 show over 60 percent of
all respondents were married. Of the 38 women in the
sample, 2 6 were married. The majority of the married
males were either married to non-Ghanaian women or
married to Ghanaian women who reside in Ghana. Table 3
shows that married and single students were almost evenly
distributed among the various cultural groups, with the
Ashantis and Gas making up the greater part of the
singles group. The two Northern students were single,
and- throughout the survey, their responses and comments
to questions were in most cases identical.
Fields of Academic Specialization
The data in Table 4 show that slightly over 4 0
percent of the respondents were taking courses in the
area of Business studies; this interest was quite high
among Easterners who traditionally are the successful
traders of the entire Ghanaian community.
The remaining 60 percent was divided almost evenly
in the Liberal Arts and the Natural Science groups. The
51 Liberal Arts majors were evenly distributed among the
major cultural groups. The only exceptions were the.two
93
TABLE 3
MARITAL STATUS OF GHANAIAN STUDENTS
WHO RESPONDED TO QUESTIONNAIRE
Status Ashanti Fanti Eastern Ga Northern Volta Total
Single 18 9 8 16 2 4 57
Married 25 31 32 15 0 23 126
Separated 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
Engaged 1 1 0 0 0 0 2
Divorced 0 2 0 1 0 1 4
TOTAL 44 43 41 32 2 28 190
TABLE 4
TRIBAL DISTRIBUTION AND FIELDS OF ACADEMIC
SPECIALIZATION OF GHANAIAN STUDENTS
IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Fields Ashantis Fantis Easterners Gas Northerners Volta Total
Liberal
Arts 12 11 8 8 0 12 51
Natural
Sciences 16 15 7 14 2 10 64
Business
Studies 16. KL 26 10 0 6 75
TOTAL 44 43 41 32 2 28 190
95
Northern students who were pursuing programs in the
natural sciences; one indicated that he was completing a
program in pre-medical studies.
On the whole, the most popular field of study, as
Table 4 shows, was the Business field in its various
fields such as marketing, accountancy, management,
finance, and sales. Most of the students in this group
indicated that they planned to enter private business in
Ghana upon the completion of their programs in Southern
California.
Loyalty to Parental Traditions
It was pointed out in the introductory chapters
of the study that many of the students interviewed came
to the United States after a good part of their formative
years had been spent in tribal communities. Given the
diverse ethnic backgrounds, as seen in Chapter II, the
first task was to estimate the influence of their cultural
origins on the respondents.
The ratings students gave to questions numbered
9 through 11 of their parents' traditional beliefs were
used as important clues to students' loyalty and identi
fication with the traditional societies in which they
were raised, and to which they may return. To explore
their attitudes toward traditional practices, three
96
questions(9 through 11) were posed: "For your parents,
how important was their cultural group in setting a
pattern of life to be followed?" "How important in the
day-to-day life of your family were traditional religious
beliefs?" and, "How much involvement did your family
members have in community affairs where they lived?"
were posed.
Religious beliefs influence virtually all
behavioral patterns in African societies. Table 5 analyzed
the responses to the question "How important in the day-
to-day life of your family were traditional religious
beliefs?" While only 15 percent of the Fanti students
stressed the importance of their family's traditional
religious beliefs, about 50 percent of the Ashantis,
Easterners, Volta/Ewes and Northerners did so. No
variations in this emphasis appear to be linked to
students' fields of study.
In Ghana, the Fantis, who are part of the Akans,
and occupy the west coast regions of the country, were
the first group of Ghanaians to come into contact with
Europeans in the fifteenth century A.D. This initial
contact led to a whole series of Euro-Fanti relationships
which culminated in the Anglo-Fanti alliance against the
Ashantis who made several attempts to remove European
interests from the coast of Ghana. The Fantis accepted
97
TABLE 5
"HOW IMPORTANT IN THE DAY-TO-DAY LIFE OF YOUR FAMILY
WERE TRADITIONAL RELIGIOUS BELIEFS?"
Field of
Tribal Group Academic Specialization
Liberal Natural
Ashanti Fanti Eastern Ga Northern Volta Arts Sciences Business
Highest
importance 54% 15% 55% 40% 100% 75% 32% 23% 38%
Above
average
importance 35 10 23 20 5 28 31 18
Average
importance 5 25 17 20
10
13 14 24
Below
average
importance 2 45 5 14 6 10 21 12
Little
importance 4 5
— 6 4 18 11 8
TOTALS 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
00
Christianity, formal education, and Western culture
faster and in heavier doses than any other group in Ghana.
In many ways, they are much more allied to the civic
minded elite of a small community in a Western nation
than they are to an African society. Last names like
Smith, Ferguson, and Bartels are commonplace among the
people in the Fanti society today. This may explain why
Fanti students do not value the influences of their tribe
and religion as highly as the other students do. The
Fantis' rejection of parental traditional religious
beliefs can, in this context, be explained by their long
standing association with the West.
The other Akan groups - namely, the Ashantis,
Akwapims, and Kwahus - although they basically share many
cultural attributes with the Fantis, indicate that
traditional religious beliefs were important. Certain
statements, common to the Akan students, illuminated the
importance of these beliefs even in modern Ghana. They
were: "As Africans, the religious beliefs in the day to
day life of the individual cannot be ruled out even
today." "Note that traditional religious beliefs form
the basis of my existence." Fantis, on the other hand,
indicated that the Christian Church affiliation of their
families neutralized the effect of the traditional
religious beliefs.
99
The question "How much involvement did your family
members have in community affairs where they lived?"
received responses showing that over 50 percent of the
Fantis said "not at all" while the two Northern students
who were members of tribal royal families stated that
their families were very involved. Involvement was also
most pronounced among the Ashantis and the Ewes: "Up
till now, the linguist to the town chief is from my
family." "Grandfather's compound is the meeting place of
the village." Such remarks were common. As several
authorities have noted, the Ashantis who form the
majority of the Akan group, and the Ewes (Volta) should
be expected to conserve tradtion, more than most of the
other groups (30:25).
Students' Evaluation of their
Academic Work
The second part of the questionnaire dealt with
the criteria which students used in evaluating their
academic work in the United States. As Table 6 shows,
the three main criteria - social relevance and utility,
African content, and career placement - were used with
quite different frequency by sub-groups in the sample.
When their use by students in different fields of study
is examined, each discipline appears to have a distinctive
pattern. Science students are strongly inclined to stress
100
TABLE 6
CRITERIA USED IN STUDENT EVALUATIONS OF ACADEMIC WORK
Tribal Group
Criteria Ashanti Fanti Eastern Ga Northern Volta
Social
relevance
and
utility
561 59% 51% 62! 61%
Field of
Academic Specialization
Liberal Natural
Arts Science Business
56% 52% 39%
African
content 39% 23% 21% 25: 42% 35' 15% 46%
Career
placement
and
credentials
61! 71% 65% 57% 100! 59! 22% 65% 63'
Columns do not add to 100 percent because many students used more than one
criterion in their evaluation.
career placement and credentialing though they also give
as much weight as the Liberal Arts students to social
utility. Fifteen percent of the science students referred
to African content. This reflects the fact that their
studies do not contain pertinent studies on Africa.
Majors in Business presented the most balanced use
of all three criteria, but social utility is least
commonly invoked by them. One might have expected that
learning the principles of business administration,
economics, finance, and statistics would have heightened
their appreciation of the practical applicability of
their studies. It is not surprising on the other hand,
that students concentrating on Business subjects
commonly expressed the importance of the career creden
tials they were getting. What is distinctive, however,
is the awareness they displayed that their studies should
have an explicitly "African content." "Even though
business studies are designed to help the whole world,"
(one respondent noted) "I always look back at conditions
at home to see the relevance of what I am studying."
Many of the students in the Liberal Arts group
indicated that they were majoring in subjects like
history, philosophy, literature, anthropology and govern
ment. One could see from their responses and comments
that even though they realize the importance of African
102
content, as a criterion in evaluation, there was little
possibility within the scope of their programs for
explicit attention to African content. One student
remarked that "since the word 'Africa' is not even
mentioned in my classes, I have to relate my acquired
knowledge in classes to Africa, through the writing of
research papers." What was expected, and what appeared
in the responses, was a heavy emphasis on social utility
as a criterion in the evaluation of their academic work.
It can be seen from Table 6 that it is not only
the field of academic work that affects the evaluation of
their education in Southern California; cultural
background also has its influence. The Easterners
(Kwahus, Akwapims, etc.), the Fantis and the two
Northerners used the criterion of career credentials more
than the other groups. Most Easterners, especially the
Kwahus, stated that academic studies should, under all
circumstances, add to one's preparation for a career.
They believe the traditional belief that most Easterners
in Ghana are "enterprising," especially in the field of
commerce. It is not surprising, therefore, to find that
Eastern students placed great importance on career place
ment in their pursuit of higher education.
Even though the Ewes (Volta) were found to be
more preoccupied with the question of African content in
103
their studies, most of the differences noted in Table 6
appear to be the products of the academic environment and
not tribal or cultural background.
Students' Major Concerns as they Prepare
" to Return to Ghana
The survey at this point turned attention to
problems that students expect to face on their return to
Ghana and how they plan to cope with them. The question
naire asked each informant to answer the question "What
is the biggest problem that people like yourself are
likely to face on your return to Ghana?"
Almost half the students who have been in Southern
California for over 6 years, and nearly a third of the
rest, said they were worried primarily about how to adjust
to their own Ghanaian societal structure. This was the
major problem for all the cultural groups in all three
fields of studies - Liberal Arts, Business, and Natural
Sciences.
To more than one-third, and especially to the
preliminary stage students and those training for
executive and technical careers, the biggest personal
problem was "how to earn a good living."
The students were asked how they planned to cope
with their personal problem. Those in Business and in
Natural Sciences stressed "earning money" as the key to
104
solving their problems; Arts students tended to put the
emphasis on "studying hard." The response from the Arts
students cannot be interpreted as being different from
the Natural Sciences and the Business students who
stressed "earning money" because, in Ghana, an opportunity
for an Arts student to earn sizable amounts of money
depends on the number of higher education degrees he has
achieved. One is tempted to consider an Arts student's
desire to "study hard" as signifying a desire to make big
money. The two Northern students, and most of the Ewe
students, however, hoped to solve their problem by
"taking the lead and providing a working example." These
were the students who saw their biggest problems as
"family responsibilities" and "poor living standards."
For various historical reasons, there have been few
educational opportunities in the Northern and Volta
regions of Ghana, and as a result, the illiteracy rate is
higher than in other regions. Students coming from these
areas are, therefore, the shining lights who are expected
to become leaders, dedicating themselves to a better life
for their people. The more fortunate ones who are being
educated in Southern California intend to go back and
undertake the responsibility of educating the less
fortunate at home.
105
Each informant was also asked "In what way has
your education in America prepared you to solve that
problem?" The most frequent benefit mentioned was the
"cultural and social broadening which studying in America
has given." Almost 50 percent or more of every cultural
group and academic discipline stressed this benefit.
They stated that the practical aspect of the education
they were receiving in America was most important. One
student replied that "studying in America is not meant to
be all bookish. . . .1 1 Twenty percent of the groups
stressed the status a college degree would give them,
with concomitant job security and promotions. The
answers revealed the confidence the students have in their
intellectual disciplines. They are aware through their
cultural and social broadening that despite differences
people can work together in mutual tolerance and respect.
It must be noted, however, that whatever cultural and
social broadening they have achieved has been acquired
and tested in a foreign country, and most probably in a
sheltered college atmosphere; a laboratory community.
The remaining eight questions were designed to
find out what the students intend to do in Ghana after
graduation from Southern Californian colleges or universi
ties; how they view Ghana's struggle for national
development; and how committed they are to making a
106
professional contribution in relation to solutions for
Ghana's problems as a developing nation. As was pointed
out in the introductory chapters, although a student's
reaction to his country's development will depend on the
kind of apprenticeship he will have in the year ahead
(in his country), his effectiveness as a public figure
may also depend on his current involvement in Ghana's
politics and his desire to have a future place in it. It
may also depend on what he sees as the top priority
problems confronting his country and/or what other options
outside the field of politics he recognizes to be
potentially contributing factors to their solution. The
questions were concerned with these points.
Students' Career Goals and Extent of
Students' Interest in Politics
Students were asked to indicate their future
career goals. Nearly all the Business majors, 85 percent,
indicated they expect to enter private business (Table 7).
Students stated that "at this stage, that is the only
relevant choice" and "I cannot see working for any agency,
so I plan to set up my own business." This investigator
finds this rather alarming and somewhat unrealistic. In
Ghana, where the economy can be described as socialistic,
the government is the main and the most effective
employer. Private capital is hard to come by. The
107
108
TABLE 7
"WHAT OCCUPATIONAL FIELD DO YOU PLAN TO ENTER
UPON YOUR RETURN TO GHANA?"
Tribal Group
Field of
Academic Specialization
Field Ashanti Fanti Eastern Ga Northern Volta
Liberal
Arts
Natural
Science Business
Private
Business 45% 41% 67% 43% 31% 18% 28% 85%
Teaching 41 47 13 36 100% 43 56 62 9
Civil Service 14 12 20 21
__
26 26 10 6
TOTALS 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
government urgently needs qualified personnel in the
fields of Business to advise and serve in state corpora
tions and industries which have been nationalized. In
the December 197 5 issue of Ghana News, published by the
Embassy of Ghana in Washington, D.C., the Ghana govern
ment appealed to students studying in overseas institu
tions to come back home and help in the management of
state-owned corporations. Unless these Business major
students plan to enter private farming, which is
encouraged by the government in the "Operation Feed
Yourself" Program, one can safely say that their private j
enterprise objectives do not best serve, realistically
the present situation in Ghana.
The exclusive interest in private business shown
by the Business major students probably reflects the
nature of the curriculum in their studies. However, a
look at Table 7 shows that most Eastern students, 67
percent, showed interest in private business. Easterners
in Ghana are dominated by the Kwahus who are noted for
their control and domination of private commercial
enterprises. It is therefore possible that both their
cultural background and the academic discipline influenced
their determination to enter private business.
Most Liberal Arts majors and Science specialists,
about 60 percent, planned to become teachers as their
109
professional occupation. About 40 percent would go into
civil service, even though most students noted that
conditions in the civil service will slow down their
contributions, mainly because of its elaborate bureaucracy.
The Fantis showed a stronger interest in the
teaching field, and the Easterners showed great interest
in private business. The rest of the cultural groups were ;
almost evenly distributed among private business, teaching
and civil service.
Asked about why they chose their career fields,
almost 8 0 percent saw it as a way of making a real social
contribution; "Trained manpower is one of Ghana's most
pressing needs" was a common remark. More Science
students, about 47 percent, however, indicated that they
had no other choice but teaching.
Each student was asked what role in the political
life of Ghana he or she hoped to play by the time he or
she was forty-five years old (Table 8). In this longer
perspective, more than half the Fanti students aspired to
positions in the Legislature, and 38 percent planned to be
in local politics. Few Easterners entertained similar
hopes. Thirty-three percent expected to stay behind the
scenes, probably to influence public decision-making
processes (most of them had already expressed interest
in private business). Forty-one percent of the
110
TABLE 8
"BY THE TIME YOU ARE 45, HOW ACTIVE ARE YOU LIKELY TO BE IN THE
POLITICAL LIFE OF GHANA AS A WHOLE?"
Tribal Group
Ashanti Fanti Eastern Ga Northern Volta
Ministerial
Role
Local
Politics
Behind the
Scenes
No
Significant
Role
41% 52% 20% 31% 50!
48 38 26 42 50
7 5 33 15
4 5 21 12
39%
46
12
Field of
Academic Specialization
Liberal Natural
Arts Science Business
30%
35
16
19
5%
10
18
67
19%
27
30
24
TOTALS 100% 100% 100% 100% 100! 100% 100% 100% 100%
Ashantis and 39 percent of the Ewes (Volta) indicated the
intention to be active in the higher levels of politics,
with the majority intending to stay in local politics.
The two students from Northern Ghana anticipated an
influential role in national politics. They indicated
that "if the time comes for national elections, our
people are definitely going to force us into representing
them mainly because of our intellectual attainment."
i
Tribal cultural group differences were not the |
|
only influence on student aspirations toward national !
i
political roles. A distinct lack of interest in politics j
• i
was found among Science students; 67 percent wanted no |
<
significant role. This is in sharp contrast with the !
students in Business and Liberal Arts. At least three-
fourths of both the Arts and the Business majors indicated
long run political aspirations.
A student's involvement in politics is measured
not only by his long-range hopes for an active part in
community or national affairs but is also disclosed by
his liking for the developments on the contemporary
political scene. The question formulated to investigate
this was: "In the last 6 months how often have you
discussed Ghanaian politics with your friends?" Two-
thirds of the students replied that they very frequently
talked about Ghana's politics with fellow students
112
(Table 9). Easterners were least involved, 67 percent;
Fantis and Northerners were most involved/ 79 percent
and 100 percent respectively. These slight differences
partly reflect the aspirations of the various groups as
shown in Table 8. The same point can be made in
comparing the Science majors, only half of whom very
frequently talked politics, 54 percent;with the Business
students, about three-fourths of whom did, 75 percent.
This contrast may be reflective of their course work.
Business students who plan to enter the private business
section of the economy will wish, under normal circum
stances, to know more about the political climate of the
country.
Students' responses showed impressive involvement
in the political affairs of Ghana. The analysis of the
responses indicate that Science students were seemingly
unconcerned about Ghana's political development. It seems
likely that many of them will spend quiet lives, making
their contributions to the modernization of Ghana either
as doctors or teachers, irrespective of the kind of
political regime or civic life that develops around them.
The final two questions attempted to find out
what students see as the major social problems facing
Ghana and how they hoped to help solve these problems.
Examination of the responses from the view of the tribal
113
114
TABLE 9
Very
frequently
Frequently
Less
often
Not
at all
"IN THE LAST 6 MONTHS HOW OFTEN HAVE YOU DISCUSSED
GHANAIAN POLITICS WITH OTHER STUDENTS?"
Tribal Group
Ashanti Fanti Eastern Ga Northern Volta
72.% 79% 67% 69% 100!
17 11 18 16
11 10 15 15
71%
19
10
Field of
Academic Specialization
Liberal Natural
Arts Science Business
68%
18
14
52%
10
36
75%
16
9
TOTALS 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
background of students revealed very little variation.
With the exception of the Ewe, 5 7 percent, and the
Northerners, 50 percent, both of whom identified
"tribalism" as a problem, the majority of the other
cultural groups--Gas, Ashantis, Easterners— identified
economic development and the task of improving the living
conditions of their people as primary priorities (Table
10) .
In Ghana, Western education had a slow start in
the Ewe and the Northern areas. As a result, most Ewes
and Northerners, considered "illiterates" in Western
terms, have gone into manual labor in the other regions
of Ghana where Western education is developed. This
situation has turned the Ewes and the Northerners into
targets of tribal discrimination by the Gas, Fantis,
Ashantis and the Easterners. The identification of
"tribalism" as a problem by the Ewes and the Northerners
was therefore to be expected.
This finding must, however, be considered in
light of the Ewes' and the Northerners' equally
distinctive emphasis on "practicing tolerance" as the way
to help solve the problem of tribalism. Tribalism is
rooted both in people's loyalty to symbols and patterns
of behavior of the tribe and in their simultaneous
distrust of others. Practicing tolerance is the
115
TABLE 10
"WHAT IS THE BIGGEST PROBLEM FACING GHANA AS A NATION TODAY?"
Tribal Group
Ashanti Fanti Eastern Ga Northern Volta
Tribalism
Illiteracy
Living
Conditions
Educational
Needs
Economic
Development
Political
Instability
12%
26%
10%
28%
31% 30%
42% 33%
42% 38!
14% 21%
25% 25%
31% 30%
41% 41%
42% 36%
21% 30% 30% 24%
50% 52%
20%
15%
50% 30%
21%
35%
Field of
Academic Specialization
Liberal Natural
Arts Science Business
25%
27%
30%
36%
31%
51%
10%
25%
20%
41%
20%
14%
19%
15%
21%
32%
38%
44%
Columns do not add to 100% because of multiple responses.
ordinary citizen's way of helping to confine cultural and
tribal contentions within the corporate framework of a
civil order.
The other groups (Gas, Fantis, Easterners, and
Ashantis), the majority of whom identified economic
development as the biggest problem, indicated that they
could best contribute to the solution by "educating
others" and by "providing working examples."
Substantial differences in the perspectives of
academic fields of students emerge, however, when the
j
responses are analyzed. Liberal Arts students identified
"political instability" and "educational needs" as the
biggest problems facing Ghana. Most of these students
had previously indicated their interest in the teaching
field and in politics. This concern about political
instability and educational needs is reflective of their
expectations to become teachers and politicians. About
76 percent of the students in this Liberal Arts group
responded that they could help solve the problems by
becoming politically active. This response partly
confirms research studies that have portrayed Liberal
Arts students of higher institutions as activists in the
political affairs of developing nations (58).
Business majors identified "economic development"
and "political instability" as the major problems. Some
117
of the respondents remarked that they were concerned about
the series of coups d'etat that had toppled two Ghana
governments in less than five years. "Rapid and violent
changes of government affect the stability of the
economy" and "Foreign investors do not invest in a country
that suffers from unstable governments" were character
istic remarks. Thirty-five percent of students in this
group indicated they could help the situation by
becoming politically active. About 6 0 percent hoped to
solve the problem through "educating others" and by
|
providing working examples. j
Science students showed a comparative indifference !
i
to problems of political instability, economic development
and tribalism. The majority of students in this group,
42 percent, identified educational needs as the biggest
problem and intended to contribute to the solution of
this problem by "educating others." Only 15 percent of
the Science students expressed concern about political
instability, while 20 percent identified economic
development as a major task. The responses confirm
earlier indications by Science students that they do not
plan to take any active part in the political affairs of
Ghana.
118
CHAPTER VI
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary
The purpose of the study was, first, to ascertain
the perceptions of Ghanaian students studying in Southern
California's colleges and universities concerning
(1) traditional Ghanaian values, (2) their career
aspirations within Ghana, and (3) problems of Ghanaian
development.
Second, the study sought to find out whether
students' specific perceptions with respect to the three
areas identified above tend to be related to (1) their
cultural orientation and/or tribal background or (2) their
fields of academic specialization.
Procedure
In order to understand the importance of the
various factors which 'could determine the perceptions of
the students, the study was divided into two major parts.
The first part entailed library research focusing on
the Ghanaian cultural background of the students, the
status of Ghanaian traditional institutions vis a vis the
119
rapid process of modernization in Western Africa, and the
system of education in Ghana from which these students
have emerged. The second part of the study was a survey
of the perceptions of Ghanaian students concerning
Ghanaian traditional values, their career aspirations,
and problems of Ghanaian development.
A sample comprising 210 Ghanaian students who were
members of the Ghana Students Association of Southern
California was selected. These students were asked to
answer a questionnaire of 21 items, comprising seven
sections: (1) students* loyalty to Ghanaian tribal
traditions, (2) criteria students use to evaluate their
academic work in Southern California, (3) students'
anticipated personal problems upon return to Ghana,
(4) the relevance of American education for solving
students' problems in Ghana, (5) students* career goals,
(6) the extent of students' interest in Ghanaian politics,
and (7) students' perceptions of priorities facing Ghana
in her development.
The results from the survey provided information
which was analyzed through the use of simple percentages
in the light of information previously discussed in the
first part of the study. Presentation of the data and
corresponding tables were shown in Chapter V.
120
Summary of Findings
In Questions 9 through 11, students' loyalty
toward the Ghanaian traditional order was investigated.
It was found that 5 0 of the Ashantis, Easterners, Ewes
(Volta) and Northerners stressed the importance of family
traditional tribal beliefs. Only 15 of the Fantis
stressed this importance. The low interest expressed by
Fanti students in traditional tribal beliefs is probably
due to the Fantis early and continuing association with
Christianity and Western education.
No variations in this emphasis appear to be linked
with students' fields of study. The evidence suggests
that students generally identify with and accept their
cultural origins.
In Question 12, criteria students use to evaluate
their academic work, the three main criteria (1) social
relevance and utility, (2) African content, and (3) career
placement, were used with different frequency by sub
groups in the sample. Science students were strongly
inclined to stress the importance of "career placement and
credentials"; Liberal Arts students gave more weight to
the social utility of their studies. Majors in Business
gave almost equal importance to all three criteria, with
"social utility" being least emphasized. The lack of
121
variation in these evaluation standards appears to be
linked to the students' cultural background.
In Questions 13 and 14, students anticipated
problems as they prepare to go back to Ghana, and their
plans to cope with these were analyzed. For a majority
of the tribal groups, whether taking courses in Business,
Liberal Arts, or Science, the problem was basically how to
adjust to their own society upon their return to Ghana.
i
The two Northern students and a majority of the Ewe
(Volta) students saw their biggest problem as "family
responsibilities" and poor living standards. These two
groups, Northern and Volta, hoped to solve their problems j
I
i
by "taking the lead and providing a working example." ;
I
Students in the other sub-groups, both tribal and
academic, emphasized "earning money" and "studying hard"
I
as keys to the solution of their anticipated problems on
their return to Ghana.
In Question 15, the relevance of education in
Southern California for solving students' problems in
Ghana was investigated. On this issue, the most frequent
benefit mentioned was the cultural and social broadening
which studying in America has given them. Students stated
that the practical aspect of American education has made
their education less "bookish." The answers revealed the
confidence the students have in their intellectual
122
training in America, and how this training has united
them for common goals despite the tribal differences.
There was almost a consensus of opinion on this issue.
The evidence seems to suggest that the students generally
approve of their education in America.
In Questions 16 and 17, students' career goals,
the answers given are significantly related to the nature
of the disciplines pursued by the informants. Business
students mostly stressed their interest in private
enterprise; Liberal Arts and Science students planned
careers in the professional teaching field. Most students
rejected working in the civil service on the grounds that
its elaborate bureaucracy might slow down the contribu
tions they would wish to make. An examination of the
answers made from the view of the students' tribal
background found that variations in this emphasis had
very little to do with students' tribal background, even
though Easterners, who are dominated by the very enter
prising Kwahus, tended to stress interest in private
business. A comparatively higher percentage of Fantis
showed interest in the teaching field. The majority of
all students indicated that the choice of their careers
was to make a real social contribution.
In Questions 18 and 19, extent of students'
interest in Ghanaian politics was investigated. The
123
answers given confirmed information shown in the first
half of the study that intellectuals, especially those
with Liberal Arts background and who often enter the
teaching field, tend to develop greater interest in
politics. More than half of the Fanti students, who had
indicated interest in the teaching field, showed
aspirations for high political offices. A majority of
the students of all the tribes aspire to stay in local
politics or work behind the scenes. From the point of
view of academic background, a distinct lack of interest
in politics was found among Science students, 67 percent
of whom wanted no significant role in politics. The
evidence suggests therefore that even though most Ghanaian
students aspire to participate in political affairs on
their return, it seems likely that the Science students
will spend quiet lives making useful contributions to the
modernization of Ghana either as doctors or teachers
almost irrespective of the kind of political regime or
civic life that surrounds them.
In the final two questions, 2 0 and 21, students
were asked to identify the biggest problem facing Ghana as
a nation and how they expect to contribute to the solution
of the problem. With the exception of the Ewe and the
Northern students who identified "tribalism" as a
problem, the majority of the other tribal groups
124
identified economic development and educational needs as
the priority problems. The Ewe and Northern students
hoped to solve the problem of tribalism by "practicing
tolerance." The rest of the groups expected to solve the
economic and educational problems by "educating others
and providing working examples."
Analysis of the responses to the same question
from the view of academic disciplines revealed substantial
differences. While Liberal*Arts and Business students
identified problems like political instability, and
economic development, most Science students expressed
concern about educational needs.
Conclusions
Part I
The first half of the study which focused on the
nature of the Ghanaian society, the educational system,
and the role of intellectuals in the development of Ghana
gave rise to three basic conclusions:
1. One outstanding feature of the Ghanaian society
has been the considerable vitality of traditional tribal
cultures which maintain themselves despite rapid
modernization.
2. The present educational system of Ghana was found
to be alien to the social, political and economic
realities of Ghanaian society. The existing system is
125
educating Ghanaian children to gradually become strangers
to their own cultural background. A good comprehensive
system of education is very necessary for Ghana’s
development, and this could materialize if there were
clear and effective national control of education.
3. Far more than in the United States of America,
i
! intellectuals in developing countries including Ghana,
have always been in the forefront of national political
struggles* Higher education in Ghana has always been the i
i
, arena of intense political activity. Regardless of the j
l
perspectives of today's Ghanaian intellectuals, the
future development of the country rests on their
shoulders.
Part II— The Survey
The second part of the study which concentrated
on the attitudes and perceptions of Ghanaian students
concerning (1) traditional Ghanaian values, (2) their
career aspirations, and (3) problems of Ghanaian
development, gave rise to six basic conclusions:
1. Ghanaian students in American universities
continue to accept and approve of their cultural origins
and tribal traditions. To most of these students, their
parents' way of life does not conflict with the modern
order they hope to bring about in Ghana.
126
2. Although in some few instances the perceptions
and the attitudes of the Ghanaian students tended to
reflect the cultural values of their tribal background,
in the majority of the cases it was the field of academic
work chosen that showed primary influence on students'
| attitudes and perceptions. A distinct lack of interest
in politics and in Ghana1s political development, for
example, was found among Science students (unlike their
Liberal Arts counterparts who exhibited great interest
in Ghana's politics).
3. On the issue of the students' evaluation of their
i
j academic work in the United States, Science students
stressed career placement and credentials with little or
no reference to the African content of their studies.
Liberal Arts and Business students put more weight on the
social utility and the African content of their studies.
Science students suggest that knowledge gained in science
education can be applied in any society, regardless of
the social, political and economic aspirations of that
society. This issue and the attitude of these Science
students have implications for international education
programs planned for foreign students in overseas
universities.
4. Students' career goals strongly reflected the
nature of the disciplines they pursued. Most Arts and
127
Science students planned to become teachers, while
Business majors showed interest in the private business
sector. All of the academic and cultural sub-groups
tended to reject a career with the civil service on the
grounds that its elaborate bureaucracy might slow down
the contributions they would wish to make.
Cultural background, however, was a great
influence on the Fantis and the Easterners. A compara
tively higher percentage of Fantis showed interest in the
teaching field, while Easterners tended to stress interest
in private enterprise.
5. Students' areas of academic specialization
strongly affect their perceptions of Ghana's national
problems. While Business and Liberal Arts students
identified political instability, educational needs and
economic development as serious problems facing Ghana
and showed a significant degree of concern over the
relationship between economic development and political
stability, Science students showed less concern with all
of these matters.
6. Finally, there was apparent difference between
Marvick's conclusion (48), which found that the main
factor that determined most of the answers given by the
African students in his sample (on questions concerning
national problems in Africa), was the tribal affiliation
128
of the students. This investigator found the influence
of academic background to be stronger. A possible
explanation lies in the fact that the sample for the
present study consisted of students in Southern
California, while Marvick interviewed students who were
completing their programs in African universities. It
appears from the present study that the education of
Ghanaian students in Southern California has largely
neutralized tribal differences and united them. It has
also influenced their attitudes in regard to Ghana's
development. What remains to be examined is the effect
of length of time spent in American institutions of
higher learning upon the attitudes and perceptions of
Ghanaian students.
Re c ommen da t i on s
The following recommendations refer specifically
to the Ghanaian students' experiences in institutions of
higher learning in Southern California and reflect the
findings from the present study.
This investigator recognizes the fact that
programs recommended in this section can be undertaken
in all departments and faculties in colleges and univer
sities. However, since the dissertation was written in a
129
school of education, recommendations are specifically
addressed to the departments in schools of education.
Recommendations for
International Education
Programs
The results of the present study have several
implications for the foreign student programs in the
United States. First, the study shows that many
returning Ghanaian students were concerned about the
i problem of readjusting to the Ghanaian society on their
return. After living in the United States for several
years, many students undergo changes in values and
life styles which could generate frustrations and other
i
problems when these students go home. This was true for
both Science and Liberal Arts students; though the
problem appeared to be more severe for Science students
whose academic preparation in the United States seemed
to be devoid of any African content. One way to address
this problem would be to expand International Education
programs in colleges and universities to include both
pre-departure counseling and seminars on problems and
recent developments in the countries to which foreign
students are returning. In institutions like the
University of Southern California and the University of
California at Los Angeles, which have large numbers of
130
students from many different countries, it may be feasible
to have seminars for individual nations or regions. The
seminars or discussion groups could use the services of
returned Peace Corps Volunteers, foreign student advisors,
and qualified faculty members. The topics could include
problems of readjustment, processes of change in a
developing nation, and the modernization problems of these
nations. These seminars could help the students,
especially those whose academic preparation and life
styles in the United States widen the gap between the
needs in their home countries and their intellectual
preparation.
The study showed that Science students were
unconcerned about Ghana's political development. Some of
these students remarked in their comments that they could
function as scientists regardless of the nature of
political regime that flourishes around them. It is true
that most developing countries, including Ghana, have
embarked on a large scale production of scientists and
technicians to help in the struggle for development. In
the case of Ghana, this demand for scientists has led to
the increase of scholarships for Science students abroad
and the withdrawal of scholarships for Liberal Arts
students. But the question is: Can this specialization
131
be purchased at the price of continuing ignorance of
most other fields?
The proposition that a predominantly scientific
and technological orientation in education is supportive
of political authoritarianism has been discussed and
debated by many authorities. Alfred Cobban showed in
his study of dictatorships that it was the great advance
of specialist Science studies that was accompanied by the
rise of dictatorships and the development of totalitarian
states (48:531). The present study has confirmed that the
Science student is less concerned with party politics
and public affairs. Colleges and universities in the
United States can minimize the dangers inherent in this
narrow specialization by Science students. They can
prepare each individual to understand his nation's social
environment and the individual's role in it, and to
recognize that his effectiveness as a scientist depends
on his understanding of the dynamics of his society.
This can be done through the inclusion of International
Education courses in the curriculum of Science students
and for all other foreign students. On the whole, the
training of foreign students should be implemented in
relation to the developmental needs of their respective
countries, and the suggested department or agency to
132
handle the planning of the program should be the
International Education center or department within the
School of Education.
As a supplement to the programs recommended above
for international students at the universities, it is
suggested that the various foreign governments develop
information centers that would acquaint their students
studying abroad with developments at home. The Ghana
Ministry of Education or the Scholarship Secretariat, for
example, should develop an information center in Ghana
that would have the names and addresses of all students
who are studying abroad. The center could either monthly
or bimonthly send pertinent data, facts, and figures
regarding the developments in the local areas from which
the students came.
Science students especially, and others, would
thus become aware of Ghana’s needs and how best to apply
their newly gained knowledge upon their return to Ghana. 1
This would eliminate the isolation the student tends to
feel and would also keep the student in constant touch
with developments in Ghana.
Recommendations for
Ad d i tiorial Research
Additional research is necessary on several aspects
of the academic experiences and attitudes of Ghanaian
133
students enrolled at an institution of higher education.
For example, the present study was not able to show
whether the attitude of the Science students reflects
earlier propensities that led to the choice of a
scientific field or is the result of the students'
preoccupation with purely scientific subjects. This
brings out a complex issue of causal relationships which
could be explained by a more systematic comparative study.
This kind of research might yield more statistically
significant results than the present study and could
provide International Education centers with more
insights and information about such a student population.
The present study concluded that attitudes and
perceptions of Ghanaian students are largely influenced
by the students' fields of academic specialization. A
very important area that was not examined by this
investigator was the effect of the length of time spent
in studying in American colleges or universities.
Graduate students should be encouraged to conduct
research in this area to provide more valuable insights
about forces that shape the attitudes of Ghanaian
students. The sample for such future studies should
probably also include students studying in Britain if
generalizations are to be made about the effect of a
student's field of study on future plans.
134
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144
APPENDICES
APPENDIX A
QUESTIONNAIRE
1. AGE: Please check one
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
18-25 26-33 34-41 42-49 50+
2. Birth Place: Please state region,e.g., Ashanti, Central/Western,
Eastern, Ga, Northern or Volta. __
3. Sex: Male Female _
4. Where did you grow up in Ghana? Please state region.
5. What was the highest level of education achieved in Ghana?
6. Number of years spent in the United States. .
7. What is your marital status? Single ; Married ; Divorced___
Separated Engaged .
8. Academic Field: (a) General Field, e.g., Social Science,
Business, etc. ________________________ ___________________
(b) Specific Area or Specialty. Please be specific, e.g.,
Marketing, Physics, History, etc._______ _______
Answer and rate the rest of the questions by placing X in the
appropriate box. Please feel free in any of the questions, to
comment or add and rate further answers, if you wish. Use the
following scale to answer questions 9 through 21.
Highest Above Average Average Below Average Little
Importance Importance Importance Importance Importance
1 2 3 4 5
Of How Much Importance?
1 2 3 4 5
FOR YOUR PARENTS, HOW IMPORTANT
WAS THEIR CULTURAL GROUP IN SETTING -
A PATTERN OF LIFE TO BE FOLLOWED?
Comments: (If any)
146
10.
11.
12.
12.1
12.2
12.3
12.4
13.
13.1
Of How Much Importance?
1 2
i
3 4 5
HOW IMPORTANT IN THE DAY-TO-DAY
LIFE OF YDUR FAMILY WERE
TRADITIONAL RELIGIOUS BELIEFS?
Comments: (If any)
1 2 3 4 5
HOW MUCH INVOLVEMENT DID YOUR FAMILY
MEMBERS HAVE IN COMMUNITY AFFAIRS
WHERE THEY LIVED?
5
Comments: (If any)
/WHAT CRITERIA DO YOU USE TO EVALUATE YOUR ACADEMIC WORK?/
(Please add and r^ate any other criterion* or answer that
you feel is important in the appropriate blanks left at
the bottom of each of the sections.)
1 2 3 4 5
Social relevance and utility
African content
Career placement and credential
Other:
[WHAT IS THE BIGGEST PROBLEM THAT PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF ARE
LIKELY TO FACE ON YOUR RETURN TO GHANA? /
1 2 3 4 5
How to earn a good living.
147
1 2 3 ;4 5
13.2 Readjusting to the tempo and
style of life in Ghana.
;
\
13.3 Not being able to use knowledge
and skills acquired abroad.
!
13.4 Family responsibilities
13.5 Other or Comments:
14. /HOW DO YOU PLAN TO COPE WITH THIS PROBLEM?/
1 2 3 4 5
14.1 Earning money \
1
14.2 Studying hard while still in
my American college.
;
i
14.3 Taking the lead and providing a
working example.
1
14.4 Being sympathetic and outgoing
I
14.5 Other/Comments:
15.
/IN WHAT WAY HAS YOUR EDUCATION IN AMERICA /
/ PREPARED YOU TO SOLVE THAT PROBLEM? /
.
1 2 3
4 ;
5
15.1 The cultural and social broadening
which studying in America has given
(
15.2 The intellectual insight and disciplin
gained from American education
e
i
148
1 2 3 4 5
15.3 Status of my degree from my
American college.
15.4 It has not helped in any way
15.5 Other/Comments:
j
* i
i
/WHAT OCCUPATIONAL FIELD DO YOU PLAN TO ENTER UPON /
/ YOUR RETURN TO GHANA?_______ /
1st Choice 2nd Choice 3rd Choice
16.1 Civil Service
16.2 Teaching
16.3 Private Business
!
16.4 Other/Comments:
i
17. /WHY DO YOU CHOOSE THAT PROFESSION?/
1 2 3 4 5
17.1 Present financial assistance requires
a period of service in that area.
17.2 A way of making a real social
contribution
17. 3 The only area available for
my qualifications
i
17.4 The most lucrative
17.5 Other/Comments:
i
149
/BY THE TIME YOU ARE 45, HOW ACTIVE ARE YOU LIKELY TO BE/
/ IN THE POLITICAL LIFE OF GHANA AS A WHOLE?____________ /
Most
Likely
1
Very
Likely
2
r
Likely
3
Probably
4
Not
At All
5
18.1 Ministerial
role
18.2 Local
political
role
18.3 Behind the
scenes
18.4 Other/Comme
. . . _ _J
hts:
Very
Frequently Frequently
Less
Often
Not
at All
IN THE LAST 6
MONTHS HOW
OFTEN HAVE YOU
DISCUSSED
GHANAIAN
POLITICS WITH
YOUR FRIENDS?
20. /WHAT IS THE BIGGEST PROBLEM FACING GHANA/
/ AS A NATION TODAY?_____________________ /
Of How Much Importance?
1 2 3 4 5
20.1 Tribalism
20.2 . Illiteracy
20.3 Living conditions
r
150
<0f How Much Importance?
1' 2 3 4 5
20.4 Educational needs
20.5 Economic development
20.6 Political instability and
uncertainty
20.7 Other/Comments:
i
I 1
■
21. /WHAT CAN PEOPLE LIKE YOU DO TO HELP/
/ SOLVE THIS P R O B L E M ? ___________/
t
1 2 3 4 5
21.1 By practicing tolerance
21.2 By educating others and providing
working examples
21.3 By becoming politically active
21.4 Other/Comments:
J
151
APPENDIX B
GHANA STUDENTS’ ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
3800 West Slauson
Los Angeles, CA 90043
March 2, 1975
Dear Mr. Boateng,
Enclosed in this letter is a list of 210
Ghanaian students which you requested during our
telephone conversation last week. All the students
are registered members of the Ghana Students1
Association of Southern California.
Please let us know if we can be of further
assistance.
Sincerely,
J. K. Mensah
Executive Secretary
152
APPENDIX C
2508 Buckingham Road
Los Angeles, CA 9 0016
March 9, 1975
Dear Colleague,
As part of a study required for the completion
of a doctoral program, I have found it necessary to ask
for the reaction of fellow Ghanaians to some questions
relating to the study.
Your assistance in answering the questions
enclosed in this letter, as accurately as possible,
will be greatly appreciated. It is not necessary for
you to place your name on the questionnaire and your
answers will be held in strictest confidence.
Because of the importance of returning the
questionnaire as soon as possible - before or by the
third week in April - I am enclosing a stamped special
delivery envelope for your convenience.
I thank you very much for your cooperation.
Sincerely,
Felix Agyako Boateng
USC School of
Education
153

Asset Metadata

Creator Boateng, Felix Agyako (author)

Core Title The Ghanaian student in American universities: Selected attitudes and perceptions

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Degree Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Program Education

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag education, higher,Education, Multilingual,OAI-PMH Harvest

Language English

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c26-452072

Unique identifier UC11246046

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Legacy Identifier DP24183.pdf

Dmrecord 452072

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Boateng, Felix Agyako

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

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