Nigeria, March 2 -- Has anybody wondered why the generality of the first set of our educated citizens revered the United Kingdom and aped the white Briton? They saw the mode of dressing, manner of speech, behavioural nuances, and general etiquette of the Briton as the epitome of civilisation.

It took some coups and counter-coups, the death of some British-trained political and military leaders, and a civil war, coupled with the British diminishing international political and economic influence on the one hand and the United States of America becoming a world power on the other, for Nigeria to discard the British parliamentary political system and adopt American democracy and "way of life."

The philosophy of education is a set of values ...