Deciphering Traditional African Education in R.S. Peters’ Education as Initiation

Abstract

In this theoretical paper, I examine education in traditional African societies in the context of R.S. Peters’ (1966) conception of “Education as Initiationâ€. Philosophers of education have developed a concern and insight into the notion of education primarily by addressing the question of conceptual analysis:  what do we mean by education and add a justificatory question: how do we know that education is valuable? Traditional conceptions of education have viewed education as the process of initiation of new entrants into the practices of a given social group. This paper focuses special interest on the extent to which traditional African view of education is defensible within the R.S. Peter’s conception of education. I draw some philosophical insights by interrogating some perspectives on indoctrination and initiation in the understanding of the notion of the aim of education.