Does the school make a person?

In the Sunday Nation, there was an article on where the wealthy Kenyans take their children to school. Children of wealthy businessmen, politicians and senor public servants apparently give the 8-4-4 system a wide berth as they prefer to enroll their children in expensive private international schools. The fees in such schools range anywhere from between kshs.500, 000 to kshs.1.5 million per year. The irony is that many of the public officials who take their children to the expensive international schools are the same ones who design the educational policies of Kenyan children. Some of the international schools where children of wealthy Kenyans attend include the International school of Kenya (ISK), Rossyln Academy, Peponi school, Braeburn group of schools, and Brookhouse school among others. Given the huge fees that children in such schools pay, it is expected that such children will become successful in life.

In reality really, does the school ever make a person? Kenyans attach a lot of tag to the school that one attended. If you attended the top national schools, you are likely to receive a nod from Kenyans. Many Kenyans routinely struggle to send their children to such schools as Alliance, Starehe, Mang’u , and Kenya High among other top schools. It is believed that such schools have the uncanny ability to transform even the average student to a star who is capable of making great strides and impact in the society. This is not a phenomenon that is confined to Kenya alone. Every country has schools that the elite attend.

In the US, this tag goes to the Ivy League schools plus their nemesis. The tag HYPMS (Harvard, Yale Princeton, MIT and Stanford) connote this caliber of schools. Similarly, in the UK, Oxford, Cambridge and some few other private schools train the elite of the society. However, it is not automatic that if one attends such high caliber schools, then they have won life. There are obviously also some life failures from such schools. Such students may be very bitter and feel cheated, assuming that their admission to Alliance, Starehe, Mang’u, Harvard, Stanford, and Yale was an automatic passport to success in life. So, does the school really make a person? Post your comments in the comments section below please.

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