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Contribution of Education, Culture and Attitudes to One’s Professional Success
John Gowland Mwangi

Education, culture and attitude to work, which are the focus of this paper, are important for success in one’s career. Education lays the foundation for people’s behavioural change, socioeconomic status and confidence in tackling survival problems (Mwangi 1998). It helps people appreciate the past by pointing out why our ancestors failed or succeeded in their decision-making and systems of government. Culture indicates the prevalent behaviours that are expected in various societies, standards of living that are accepted and levels of appreciation that are supposed. It helps us understand the mechanism that a particular society used in the past to change people’s behaviour, control human greed and injustice, and ensure that people lived in harmony in good and bad times. Work is the tool that makes us productive and fruitful while attitudes, which are largely influenced by one’s educational background, determine our way of thinking and behaviour.

No country can afford to neglect the education of its young people. Because knowledge must always precede action, parents all over the world struggle to educate their children in order to improve their future socioeconomic status. In Africa, enrolment in higher education varies greatly: ranging, in Fracophone countries, from 986 per 100,000 inhabitants in Morocco to 50 per 100,000 in Rwanda. In Anglophone countries, the range is from 21 per 100,000 in Tanzania to 1,636 per 100,000 in Egypt (Lindley 1999). Education - the process by which people gain knowledge or develop productive skills and attitudes required for later life and work - sharpens one’s abilities in constructive thinking and problem-solving. It changes people’s behaviour and attitudes, raises their socioeconomic status, gives them self-confidence to tackle current and future problems (visions die in the absence of confidence), stimulates their desire to learn and apply the acquired knowledge and skills in daily life situations, and increases their capacity to face development and modernization challenges (Mwangi 1998). Globally, education has been widely and effectively used to mobilize communities to adopt a particular political ideology, religious belief, cultural practices or to be aware of certain health hazards.

Kenyan leaders, for example, have been called upon to educate the public, particularly the youth, on the dangers of acquiring HIV/AIDS by engaging in unprotected sexual practices. This incurable disease, according to Kenya’s National AIDS/STDs Council, is killing about 560 Kenyans daily (East African Standard, 2000). In 1999, Kenya lost over 2000 teachers to AIDS, leaving 95,000 primary school pupils without teachers, while in South Africa over 100,000 children were left without teachers in the same year (Kareithi, 2000). During the cold-war era, education was extensively used by the Russians to promote communism while the Americans used it to promote capitalism. Soon after attaining political independence, leaders in Tanzania used education to promote African socialism while leaders in Kenya and Uganda chose to pursue economic development based on capitalistic ideologies. Through education we learn how various communities have either succeeded or failed in the past and are able to use that information to evaluate the soundness of their decisions and actions. For it to benefit individuals and society as a whole, education in any country should be life- rather than information-oriented. It should offer students skills that will earn them employment in the job market. Apart from education, culture and one’s attitude towards work are equally crucial for one’s success in life.

Culture is the way of life of a society. It is that complex whole that includes knowledge, beliefs, morals, law, customs, opinions, religion and art. Culture may also be defined as the development and improvement of the mind or body by education or training. From a cultural perspective, people’s motivation for work, aimed at individual and community development, springs from their definition and aspiration for a good society and their criteria for the good life. To ensure proper use of individual talents for the common good of the community, the society must be empowered to freely maintain and enjoy its values, customs, tastes and attitudes, all of which engender happiness, security and peace in an atmosphere of acceptable justice for all. However, practices that appeal to carnal desires, especially sexual immorality, drunkenness, drug abuse and other anti-social behaviour should be avoided. Education and culture are good if they help people to live the good life. The goals of community education and culture should be those of existence itself: to provide an opportunity for men and women to live fully human lives. In complex societies, there are prevalent behaviours that are expected, standards of living that are accepted and levels of appreciation that are supposed (Heimlich and Tilburg 1987).

Behaviours such as honesty, good morals, value for hard work and respect for others as well as accepted standards of conduct protected people in the past, particularly in the developing world, from the evils of theft, promiscuity, sexually transmitted diseases, divorce, teenage pregnancy, drug addiction, over-population, suicide rates, incest and many others. Unfortunately, the society today takes some of these practices lightly and even tries to make them respectable.

Among many Kenyan communities, past cultural systems of rewards and punishments for people with unacceptable behaviour were very effective in behaviour modification and in controlling human greed and injustice. Consequently, it was not necessary to spend a fortune in maintaining law and order. There were fewer unwanted children, fewer homicide cases, and the poor secured jobs from their rich neighbours and felt contented. Even in times of famine, wars and other natural calamities, unity prevailed as people tried to survive together as members of one family. That unity has been eroded by modern concepts of individual rights and freedom which emphasize individualism and set no ethical standards to moderate human greed, pride and lust for power. A major problem in the world today is the belief that everybody is right and nobody is wrong. People have ignored the fundamental, cultural values in their quest for material possessions and in pursuit of individualistic and exploitive ways of dominating others. Corrupt tendencies and the belief that the end justifies the means go on unabated. Selfishness has become an accepted lifestyle of many whose guiding light and motto is every person for himself or herself. Consequently, respect for human life is deteriorating fast while poverty and suffering are rising rapidly. News of people being murdered by thugs in cold blood for no other reason but to take what they have earned through their sweat is no longer received by the public with the horror and outrage that it deserves.

In most universities and other learning institutions, many students have developed a culture of laziness where they want to be awarded higher grades without working for them, lack of respect for their superiors, hurting others as a way of expressing their frustrations in life, drug abuse and an affinity for committing serious crimes that include rape and murder. Technology has failed to guarantee the much needed happiness and safety despite the increasing affluence and investment in state security. What difference would it make if you were surrounded by an environment of luxury and comfort, but your life remained a gamble because undisciplined members of your society could strike you at any moment for no other reason but to get what is not rightfully theirs?

Because of ignoring the cultural values, which in the past brought order and harmony in society, we are reaping the bitter fruits of defiance. Many Kenyan youth, for instance, have rejected the basic cultural standards of self-discipline - lying to one’s parents and teachers has become the norm and many of them have rejected the societal values related to compassion for others. Not only do the youth deliberately burn their peers to death as they did recently in Kenya’s Central Province, but it is common for them to physically molest their teachers and innocent members of the public on petty excuses. These problems make life demeaning, unpleasant and clearly indicate that if development means making life better, then something more than material wealth and technology is needed. That something might be found in re-commitment to cultural values, which emphasize ethics, religion and morality in society. Those who love their nations must zealously start teaching these cultural values to the youth by being good role models themselves.

Work Culture: A work culture is the way of doing things in a manner that has evolved over time, and gained acceptability within a community or a group of people with a common goal. A good work culture is important in ensuring efficiency and productivity in the work place. In a university, a work culture may enhance good practice. It is affected by work ethics of the university staff, their scholarly activities, collegiality, attitudes towards work, accountability and transparency, commitment to duty, striving for excellence, respect for procedures and processes, self discipline and self motivation. Universities should avoid a culture of corruption, looting and nepotism that impacts negatively on the academic enterprise and leads to social decadence. Foster (1999) has warned that if we are not actively pursuing institutional change in our universities for purposes of quality control, accountability, keeping up with information technology, globalisation and avoiding the status quo, we are already significantly behind the times. Csaki (1999) advocates for teamwork and democracy in the process of institutional and organizational reform advising that the change agenda should include policies and procedures for promoting and evaluating faculty members using a democratic and merit-based approach.

Mbashu (1999) indicates that Kenya is experiencing a change of values and laments that what was revered and held in high esteem before is now ignored and despised. Honesty, hard work, justice and fair play are no longer valued. Vices such as corruption, theft, robbery and murder have bred millionaires overnight, denied justice to the deserving, relegated intellectuals to the sideline and elevated semi-illiterates, illiterates and incompetents in positions of responsibility. Mbashu explains that when illiterate persons are put in positions of responsibility, they feel inadequate for lacking credentials and therefore credibility. Consequently, they resort to looting in a bid to amass wealth hoping that it would give them recognition and respect. Most damaging, laments Mbashu, is the attitude of Kenya’s youth who seem to adore wealth and all the things that come with it – big cars, posh houses and the latest design in clothes. They waste valuable time talking about who is driving the latest models and which parents take their children abroad for holidays. Yet they have no sympathy for farmers who work hard to feed the population and are paid next to nothing for their crop. They have no empathy for slum dwellers that work tirelessly and can hardly afford a day’s meal. The youth, whom the older generation has failed to instill in them a sense of honesty, hard work, fair play and justice, tend to recognize and respect the rich no matter how crookedly they acquired their wealth. People should learn to value what is honestly and fairly earned because those who gain wealth, power or success through dishonest means never really get any sense of fulfillment and satisfaction. On the contrary, they feel inadequate despite living in posh houses or driving sleek cars.

Parents, schools, mosques and churches should take their educational role seriously so that they can breed a dependable generation that will lead their countries in future. They should earnestly teach the youth to be law abiding because laws alert us to possible danger. The very laws that restrict negative behavior also encourage and uphold positive attitudes and actions. Lawlessness defies the standard that govern society by regulating behavior and shows no responsibility toward anyone or anything. It leads to loss of existing freedoms, slavery, and death (Munroe 1996).

Attitude: An attitude is a way of thinking or behaving. For example, one may believe that it is morally good to work hard. Our attitudes color our personality. Though we cannot always choose what happens to us, we can choose our attitude toward each situation. Having the right attitude towards work contributes significantly to one’s career success. The love of work is the secret of personal progress, productivity, and fulfillment because work encourages the release of potential and potential is the abundance of talents, abilities, and capabilities given to every person (Munroe 1996). Few people make it to the top and stay there without hard work and those unwilling to learn from others are unlikely to succeed professionally (Munroe 1996). No matter how intelligent and well educated, we should have an open mind and heart to learn from others - superiors, professional colleagues and subordinates. We must utilize knowledge from all sources to address complex issues because knowledge exists in every community, in higher education as well as in business, government, and the people we serve (Foster 1999).

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East African Correspondent. 2000. What the HIV/AIDS figures say. East African Standard. (July 19). Nairobi.

Foster, R. M. 1999. From local to global: The challenge of change in agriculture and the food system. In Leadership for higher education in agriculture, edited by David G. Acker, 71-75. Proceedings of the Inaugural Conference of the Global Consortium of Higher Education and Research for Agriculture held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Ames, IA: Iowa State University.

Heimlich, J. E., and E. V. Tilburg. 1987. Subcultures and educators ... concerns of membership in education. Paper presented at the Conference of American Association for Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE) held in Washington. DC.

Kareithi, A. 2000. AIDS killed 2000 teachers in 1999. East African Standard. (July 20). Nairobi.

Lindley, W. I. 1999. July 22-24. Quality improvement in undergraduate education. In Leadership for higher education in agriculture, edited by David G. Acker, 85-89. Proceedings of the Inaugural Conference of the Global Consortium of Higher Education and Research for Agriculture held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Ames, IA: Iowa State University.

Mbashu, E. 1999. Kenya’s ‘new’ culture: Cause to worry. The People. (November 27). Nairobi.

Mwangi, J. G. 1998. Contributions of education and research to national development, with special reference to Kenya. Egerton Journal of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education 2, no. 1: 80-94.

Munroe, M. 1996. Maximizing your potential: The keys to dying empty. Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image Publications, Inc.

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