Proverbs and Moral Development in Africa: An Exploration of the Parallels between Culture and Education

Abstract

This paper examines proverbs in the light of moral development within the
African sub-continent. Proverbs are phrases that give witty advice or something
that is true. In recent times, the plausibility for proverbs as instructional and
educational tool for moral development has been reduced. Perhaps, this is owing
to the reality of the New-Age in the Africa of the 21
st
century; which is confronted
with the tension of Euro-Christian civilization, Arab-Islamic Invasion and her
indigenous World-view. While the first two civilizations have wielded
considerable influence on the minds of Africans, the third has an impact that
seems not only to be waning but intellectually on the defence. Thus, certain salient
questions need to be asked. They include: Why is the African indigenous Worldview on the decline? Does the African culture possess nothing significant for
Africans? In the light of the foregoing, this study situates its argument on
proverbs within the African indigenous thought system. This is as a way of
providing an explanatory justification for the presence of a tool for moral
development that is authentically African. This study concludes that an inquiry
into African proverbs will contribute to the moral development of the African
mind through acquaintance with the indigenous language.