Speech Delivered at the 92nd Commencement of Bassa High School Buchanan, Grand Bassa County Saturday, August 19, 2018 Dr. A Joel King 
 
The Honorable Superintendent Grand Bassa County, members of the Legislative Caucus, Mr. Supervisor of Schools, other county officials, Mr. Principal, Mr. Vice Principal, staff, members of the Parent Teacher Association (PTA), other officials of government present here today, graduating students, student body, friends and families, well-wishers ladies, and gentlemen. 
 
I feel indeed gratified and immensely honored to speak here today at the graduation class of 2018 and to share in the 92nd commencement ceremonies of my ‘alma mater’. If you had told me this was possible, when I graduated in 1975, I would have suggested otherwise. It was through the Grace of God, knowledge achieved at this school, hard work, and determination that made it possible. 
 
So today, the focus of this speech will be on: “challenges to continue the journey don’t give up!”
 
At this time, I like us to pause in a brief moment of silence, to pay homage to all of our great school administrators and teachers who have gone on before and laid the foundation for this school to continue. These include Hon. Philemon Harris, Eddie Harris, Dean Dalmedia, Philip Vacanarat Shadrack Saywrayne, Joseph Deshield, Dolly Horace and Prof Singh from India just to name a few. We also like to pause and honor a former ‘Turris Lucians’ as I call it, my friend and former classmate Judge Samuel Geevon Zor Smith who recently passed and the late Hon. David Jallah who also walked through these aisles briefly.  Thank you!
 
Before I proceed, I bring greetings to you in my official capacity as President of the Bassa High School Association, USA. We want to thank Principal Sheriff who cares so much for the children of this institution, the Vice Principal and staff and everyone who gives so much to the success of this historic institution. Our association and its leadership are committed to make Bassa High School (BHS) one of the best public high schools in Liberia. I know that we can do it together because we believe a well-trained and welloiled mind is the bedrock for the development of our country. So, we are proud of the work you are doing here with all of the headaches and reason[s] why we do our best to support you.  
 
We are committed to help because government doesn’t have all the answers and reasons why we are doing our part to do things like revamping this auditorium, renovating the bathrooms and enabled a “Science Lab”, paying monthly stipends to lab staff and remitting Christmas bonuses. We also want to acknowledge the work of the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) including Mr. Mamoud Tolbert and our liaison officer Mrs. Pailey for all that they do to keep us informed. To everyone else, I want to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts.  
 
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In our just recent convention in Maryland, USA we have tasked ourselves to laid out a vision for  the future of BHS which includes if possible building a new school in the future with help from the Liberian government because we cannot do this alone and because this school is owned by the people of Liberia, yea Grand Bassa County. If not, our goal is to upgrade BHS physical and peripheral facilities to conform to 21st Century learning environment. For example, replacing all windows (a former student who graduated in 1964 has pledged 50% of the costs of doing that), upgrading the computer lab, providing electricity to every building including the principal residence through solar energy, repainting all exterior structures, forming a small marching BHS marching band, purchasing a bus for school trips, upgrading the library, etc., etc., etc. 
 
What we need from you is your commitment to learning. We will fail to accept the fact that of over 200 students not a single person was able to pass the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSEC) successfully. We will work with the school leadership to see what we can do to prevent that from happening. We will also hold teachers accountable. We will tie allowances to performance. We will increase Christmas bonuses if student successfully perform on the WASSEC. Additionally, the scholarship committee of our association is looking into a process of supporting students at institutions of higher learning who are willing to return to BHS as teachers on a contractual basis. We think this is a good way to attract teachers who cares for the school. In the weeks and months to come, you will hear more about these.
 
So, at this juncture I will start by saying congratulations to you class of 2018! You deserve a round of applause. I know it has not been an easy journey. I have been there just as you are today! You have gone through a tiresome academic and professional voyage, one that can only be done successfully through hard work, commitment, diligence and determination. Yet, through thick and thin you did it! So I say good job, and again congratulations to you!
 
About a little over 40 years ago, I walked these isles as you do today. Never did I know that one day I would stand at this podium as a keynote speaker at a BHS graduation ceremony. When I graduated with all that knowledge, the only thing I can remember was a deep sense of anxiety and eagerness to face the world, with hope and dream of a better tomorrow. My entire focus was the University of Liberia and nothing could change that. All my friends were headed there and so was I. I knew from early in my pursuit that education was the only way out of a country with limited opportunities even though it was much better in those days then it is today. I knew I had to do this when my father closed his Bank of Liberia account with only $200.00 US dollars to send me to Monrovia. I cried because of my father’s love for me and the confidence and trust he had that one day I would make it. That dream may be lost for most of you because as I stated earlier, it was a different Liberia. But, don’t you ever give up! Live your dreams no matter how difficult it may be. If your dream is to be a medical doctor, claim it daily even if you don’t have food to eat. For the Bible says in Proverb 23:7: “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
 
But let me say that I was also fortunate to be a part of an in-group, friends both active in our association that had a similar worldview about the relevance of acquiring knowledge. We were a highly competitive bunch. We were the smallest but the
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toughest and most resilient group of basters. Failure wasn’t an option. Unlike today where most students are influenced by social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.,), it was about finding something to eat and hitting the books. 
 
Let me tell you a little about this Bassa High School.
 
During those days (in the 70’s), we had no option but to study hard because failure was a disgrace not only to your parents but the school at large. I mean you would be laughed at, if you botched or failed.  
 
To imagine how it was, we had dux of the failures and dux of those who passed. Imagine that! But remember it wasn’t all about academic excellence or doing well in school also.  Your behavior as a student was equally important. It was possible that you could perform well and fail. A friend recently reminded me that BHS operated like a college. He was right. It was also very competitive to enter BHS. I can remember taking the entrance exam in the eighth grade coming out of SDA School. The exam was eight pages long. So, I think the students of today have it very easy and yet, you are giving your teachers hard time. When I speak to Principal Sherriff and he tells me the challenges and difficulties faced by administrators and teachers, I often find myself thinking, how things have really changed. 
 
I think some of it has to do with our attitude as a nation. It concerns me when students advocate slogans like: “that book we will eat” and “book no book we’ll vote for you.” Declarations like these suggest a lack of value in education. If we care more for the future of our country - because the leaders of tomorrow are those sitting under the sound of my voice today and walking the streets and in the villages of our great country with no hope for the future - we must encourage learning and continuous learning not only for our youths but adults as well. 
 
We have watered down and diminished the value of education as a nation in all of its facets. We talk about growth and development but how is that possible without sound education to create the skills needed to succeed in the 21 Century? We talk about expanding our economies and creating opportunities but we invest little in creating core competencies and our dynamic capabilities. Education policy isn’t something you bury under the rug, some sort of ‘pixie dust’ that somehow through some magical means it will all fix itself. It is not possible. Human capital development requires investments and sound thinking and should be forefront of any nation development paradigm – nothing more, nothing less. To show how education can speed development, India about 25 years ago was a poor, slow-growing country now it has the third-largest gross domestic product (GDP) in the world with regard to purchasing power parity and is projected to be the fastest-growing major economy in the world in 2016 (with 7.6 percent growth in GDP). 
 
By World War II, growth and development in Liberia was equal Japan. How we got it so wrong? Yes, we had Civil Wars but so was Rwanda. In 1994 it was torn apart by brutal genocide that killed nearly one million people. Like us, everything was ruined. Today, the country has a stunning success story and a model for Africa across major health, education and economic indicators. Yes infrastructure development is important but
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you need educated people with the ‘know-how’ and skills as well to do the work or else others will do it for you at ten times the cost. So today, I’m proposing that even though we are having challenges attracting good teachers into our classrooms, we can leverage technology to fill the gap. I like to continue that discussion with anyone who likes to. No string attached because like health, I think good quality education is a human right for all.
 
We are too small a nation for the amount of resources we have garner and where we are in terms of the Human Development Index (HDI), child mortality rate and education just to name a few. It pains me when you hear about teachers and school administrators asking students for something to pass. We understand the economic challenges Liberia face but such behaviors garner disrespect and limits interest in learning because teachers can be bought. This is why government must invest in creating and improving well-being: education, health, and nutrition and paying teaching well. 
 
We must also learn from global education models that are working. For example Norway who has one of the prized educational system in the world much higher than the US. This is because the country invests in education and makes teaching an attractive career choice.  Their policy makers understand how important it is to overall economic growth to have a trained workforce. One way they do this is by recruiting the best and the brightest from colleges and universities across the country and pays them competitive wages. I think we can also do this first by improving the standards of our colleges and universities and making education an attractive career choice so people graduating from these institutions of higher learning can find it an appealing career option. You can also reduce over crowdedness in government or government being the only employer.
 
Why it is common knowledge that shortage of qualified teachers is also a Sub-Saharan Africa problem, we must learn to find solution to our own problem. I think education policy and decision makers can begin by understanding the problem and the best way to do that is to ask ourselves questions that form the debate. For example, what accounts for our education system being a mess and what can we do about it? I also think that we look at solving problems from a development economics lens.  That is, bringing researchers and policy makers together to explore new ideas and ask compelling questions in how to solve Liberia's more pressing needs. 
I think that taking a comprehensive and systematic approach to problem solving; looking across a broad range of policy challenges and choices (e.g., education) and what can be done to address those. In essence, constructing long-term engagement with Liberia's best and brightest including development partners (policy makers and knowledge creators) to collaborate and work together, generate ideas, ask the right questions to inform policy; a kind of collective action.
This new model is what is required to move us forward.  We need to bring everyone together challenging each other to make the case for an improved education system. A kind of all hands on deck approach to problem solving.   We must also understand that feedback and criticisms as to policies, not yarning, fable, or noise making are good
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and healthy for public discourse. In doing so, we must be civil and talk to the issues without vulgarity and ostentatiousness. We must also draw on the data and research to understand indicators like gross enrollment and retention rates, and examining the performance of the education system in terms of access, quality, equity, and resource allocation and utilization and to inform policies. Let the data drive decision-making.
Liberia can do this. I have been fortunate in my public life to engage and interact with Liberians from some of the finest institutions around the world who would like to be engaged to move their country forward. This was strength in the Tolbert administration – engaging Liberia best and brightest.
 
Let me digress and say to the parents of the graduates I want to say thank you for a fabulous job. Seeing your child or children graduate here today is a big achievement and would not have been done without your support. Thank you!
 
To the graduates (class of 2018), I want to also thank you on your awe-inspiring achievement. Now that you have scaled one big hurdle, you would be looking forward to taking the next step in your academic career. My prayer and prediction for you are that you will make great progress in whatever you set out to do. In the meantime, I would suggest the following: 1. Make a difference  2. Knowledge is never wasted 3. You have a purpose – fight for it
 
Making a difference is about doing little positive things in your life and the life of others like providing encouragement when someone is down. Zig Ziglar was an American authors who is often quoted as saying: “when you encourage others, you in the process are also encouraged because you’re making a commitment and difference in that person’s life.” Encouragement really does make a difference. If each of us can make a difference, together we can change the world. So, class of 2018, pay attention to your well-being; take care of yourself even as you take care of others.
 
Don’t leave here thinking you have acquired nothing. That everything you have done here is a waste. Knowledge is never wasted as stated earlier. As Albert Einstein is often quoted as saying “wisdom is not a product of schooling but the lifelong attempt to acquire it.” You can never stop learning. It is a continuous thing. So make a promise today, to yourself that no matter how difficult it gets for you, promise yourself that you will keep on keeping on.
 
Remember, each of us has a purpose in life as Fredrich Nietzsche once said and I quote: “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” Roy T. Bennett personified it as: “believe in your heart that you’re meant to live a life full of passion, purpose, magic and miracles. Each of you has those if you strive for it. 
 
There is not one iota of doubt in my mind that BHS that has prepared you with a broad range of academic knowledge. And, because of that, you are better off to face the challenges that lie ahead. Our country and the world are better off because of the knowledge you have received. So, now, you should go out with urge to change your
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country for the better. Follow those who do right. Refuse those who do wrong. Don’t follow those who are in it solely for what they can get for themselves. Let your sense of changing the world be routed with genuine love, selflessness and compassion for your country, our country, because after 171 years and one of Africa’s oldest republics we have fallen back to being one of the four poorest countries in the world. My prayer is that we don’t fall into taking the last place. 
 
As you leave here today, also ask where do you see yourself in another one, two, three, four, and five years. This creates a mental map for providing you focus and direction in your life. It will help you define success and happiness. It will help guide you through some of the most difficult times and that you won’t spend your time climbing the house of success but finding that your ladder is leaning against the wrong house (Thomas Merton). 
 
Promise me as you go out today that you will believe in you! As Mahatma Gandhi a former Indian activist who was the leader of the Indian independence movement against the British rule is noted as saying: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
 
Thank you so much for listening and once again, congratulations! May God Bless ‘Turris Lucis’ and this wonderful country, Liberia.