Chapter II.

CHARACTER-TRAINING.
No success will come— no matter how high our educa- tion or how perfect our trade training, no success will be real or will be permanent — if character is neglected. We may talk eloquently of the progress of the people being Government's first policy in this country; we may dilate on the fact that the keystone of Progress! is edu- cation; but all that will be idle rhetoric if we mix the materials of the keystone badly. Leave out the most important part in the material of the keystone and the arch will collapse ; leave character-training out of our educational system and the progress of the African races will inevitably become a series of stumbles and falls that will leave a permanent mark on them, if it does not stop their advance altogether.
*****
I believe that history records no single instance of a nation finally achieving greatness — attaining a per- manent independent position in the worild — under leaders in thought, industries, and the professions of an entirely different race. Tor a time it may advance along the paths that lead from a primitive to a higher state of civilization under the leadership and guidance of men of an alien race; but should it lose those leaders before it is able to stand by itself, time — -it may be centuries — is lost in reaching power and independence. The races of British tropical Africa stand in that position to-day : under leaders from a Western democracy that has gradu- ally realised its task of tutelage, they are all in varying degree emerging from primitive conditions and are
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pressing forward, their faces set to the goal of modern civilization. There cannot be a moment's doubt as to their incapacity to-day to stand by themselves : apart from the fact that there may be Africans capable of leading in the primitive methods of native administra- tion, there is no single race among the tropical African peoples that possesses the many leaders necessary to cope with the changing conditions that are daily being wrought by the advance of European civilization — the many leaders from among whom, in due course, the few may emerge who are capable of the supreme leadership.
To create these leaders is an implied part of Britain's recently self-imposed task of tutelage and development. To create them without the highest and best forms of education would be an impossibility; to think for one moment that it is possible to create them without ^haracter-training would be vain. Brain — to a leader — is of no use. is a positive danger, unless backed by force of character. Britain herself, mother of the greatest Empire the world has ever seen, owes her position far more to the force of character of her sons than to their brain.
Lack of the qualities of Leadership, which in all cases involves the bearing of responsibility and in many also the power of command, is a pronounced defect among the races of the West Coast of Africa. Those citizens of the Gold Coast who have developed the quali- ties I have mentioned have done so by th^ir own indi- vidual efforts and in spite of our system of education, and the majority of them only after residence in Europe. Apart from these, practically the whole of those Africans who may be said to be the leaders of thought in this country have received their higher education in Europe, where they have imbibed ideas so far in advance of the
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progress of the bulk of their countrymen as often to be dangerous. In many cases — again there are exceptions — it is noticeable that the young African recently returned from Europe is seriously out of touch with his country- men. This is, I am afraid, inevitable, and will continue so long as we cannot provide in the Gold Coast a system of education in which he will receive his character- training before, and not after, he goes to Europe.
* * * * *
Of what I have just written I am certain. We shall fail in our self-imposed task unless we can train the character of the African ; we shall not only fail in creat- ing leaders, but we shall succeed in doing something that is far worse — making a European of him, and a bad European at that.
Our task bristles with difficulties. Using to the utmost our knowledge of his characteristics we have to- produce a type of African who will be sufficientlv imbued with European ideas to enable him to cope with the European civilization which must eventually sweep the world clear of all primitive methods of life; one who, at the same time, will remain an African, with all the best of the many fine attributes of hi& race. The task is, indeed, one that will have to be carried out with care and wisdom and patience; the difficulties such that Britain should be proud of having the opportunity of
solving them.
*****
Of one thing I am convinced after twenty-two years of tropical Africa : we shall never succeed if the sole place in which the African can get his higher education and his professional training is Europe. Much learn- ing, and of the best, he can get there ; character-training,
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none. I do not intend to enter here into the old contro- versy of the effect on Africans of long" residence in Europe at the most impressionable period of their lives. As far as British Africa is concerned, Britain has enoug'h to do at home in educating- and training her own sons ; it is in Africa, and with the aid of Africans, that the education and character-training of the African must be carried out. All those whose experience makes their opinion worth listening to, all those who have devoted any thought to the subject, are in agreement on this point, Africans and Europeans alike.
And so we arrive at one definite point anyway in our educational system, whatever the details of that may be, • We must aim at giving the whole of our education locally, and, where it is essential that an African should go to Europe for the final steps to enter a profession, we must arrange our svstem in such a manner that his absence will be reduced to the shortest possible time and the foundations of his character firmly laid before he goes.
*****
If what I have written is right, it is evident that character-training must take a predominant place in our system of education, for the simple reason that no nation whatever can afford to omit it from the curriculum of its schools. Especially is this the case when a nation is passing through a phase when the influence of home life is generally retrogressive so far as modern civilization is concerned. That this is so is inevitable; the difference will become less marked as the years pass by.
*****
What is character-training? I confess that I have often been baffled in the attempt to define the nebulous curriculum of such a subject. We all know what we
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mean, but how many of us can define the word, can draw
up an exact course of instruction in character-training? I think we g'et a good deal of help from Dr. Jesse Jones, who recently visited this country on the African Educa- tion Commission under the auspices of the Phelps-Stokes Fund. i\Iauy of us remember the deep impression made on us by the earuestness and wide views of Dr. Jesse Jones, Professor Ag-grey, and their companions. The result of their travels and investigations was a book entitled " Education in Africa," a book containing a combination of idealism and practical common sense, and from which we can receive, if we read with discre- tion, much valuable advice.
With regard to character-training I believe that Dr. Jesse Jones hits the nail on the head. What he prac- tically says is that there is no definite syllabus, but that whatever system we adopt, whether in infant schools, primary schools, trade schools, or secondary schools, we must endeavour to graft the simple virtues on our chil- dren. These simple virtues are perseverance, thorough- ness, order, cleanliness, punctuality, thrift, temperance, self-control, obedience, reliability, honesty, and respect for parents. To these I would add, if they do not include it, a correct appreciation of responsibility. As Dr. Jesse Jones says, these virtues cannot be taught out of books; they must be developed by sound habits resulting from days, weeks, and months of actual practice and repetition.
It is comparatively easy to develop the above virtues in the students of a residential school under the guidance of house-masters and, instructors who have themselves had their characters developed. It is far more difficult in a day school, especially when we consider the general backwardness in civilization of the student's home. We can certainly do something in the day schools, but we can do nothing completely and satisfactorily until we
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liave those boarding schools the formation of which is at present waiting for a trained staff.
***** In the present phase of civilization in the Gold Coast we should have been hard put to it to find a satisfactory means of cLaracter-trainiug if it had not been for those great movements, the Boy Scouts and the Girl Guides, Such boarding schools as we have are run on Scout and Guide lines, which contain a practical application of the principles of Christianity and citizenship that is invalu- able. We have gradually introduced all these principles in our day schools, where they are accepted as the foundation of the character-training and the discipline of the school. The essence of the Boy Scout movement, however, is that it is voluntary, and so difficulties have been encountered. After making experiments I believe that we have evolved a satisfactory solution. Students who enter the schools do so as " probationer Scouts the conduct required from them is contained in the Scout Law; they play the Scout games and pass the Scout tests; they wear a dress consisting of the Scout shirt and shorts, but no Scout emblems or badges. In due course they become eligible to enter the troops which those teachers who are trained Scoutmasters form in every school from, volunteers among the boys. By means of Scout parades, orderliness, punctuality and a sense of subordination to one's seniors are impressed on the boys; by placing boys in charge of the " Standards " or " Sections," which correspond to the " Troops " and " Patrols " of the Scouts, the sense of initiative and leadership is incul- cated in them. By entrusting these boy leaders with the correction of faults of unpunctuality and bad conduct a sense of responsibility is gradiially formed. The system is working successfully, and has proved the great value of the application of Scout principles to a school.
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