ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the educational ideas of a selected group of American and African nationalists, with emphasis on their attitudes towards foreign education and the formation of pertinent national characters. It shows that while the United States has been able to 'craft' an American national character/personality, Africans are still struggling to create a pan-African national character. Colonial education and educational adaptation were integral parts of the imperialistic educational systems in Africa. Education in Africa should consist of both literary and technical, and moral subjects in the curriculum of schools. Illiteracy should be diminished by the gradual introduction of compulsory elementary education throughout Africa. Educational adaptation and the great emphasis on literary education were both implemented without the consent of the natives. The content of pan-African education should emphasize African culture, history, literature, politics, economics, and other disciplines concerned with African development. A pan-African educational system would teach about Africa and African peoples as a unit.
