“I am fine (with speaking English). After all, I am a distinguished professor of English and comparative literature at the University of California, in Irvine. So it’s not that I mind English, but I don’t want it to be my primary language, OK? This is how I put it: For me, and for everybody, if you know all the languages of the world, and you don’t know your mother tongue, that’s enslavement, mental enslavement. But if you know your mother tongue, and add other languages, that is empowerment.” In order to provide appropriate feedback to students, teachers must fulfill another role: to either have expert knowledge of the subject of study, or the readiness and eagerness to develop existing knowledge of the subject in a classroom setting.

A teacher who does not know her material, or does not care about it, cannot help students engage themselves in the material; nor can she break the information down into less complex parts. In Lee Sculman’s theoretical framework of Pedagogical Content Knowledge, teaching “includes presenting the material by using figurative language and metaphors” (Teacher’s) and thereby representing it in ways more accessible to students.

Furthermore, this representation of material should be in accordance with popular domains of interest to the class, when it is possible to transform the content in such a way without distorting it. By upholding personal relevance and transferability as core tenants of education, a large degree of responsibility is placed upon the student’s ability and eagerness to learn. The tenants assume that the student is mature enough to take his education seriously and to challenge himself.

The ideal student is self-motivated in fulfilling his own curiosity. He is developed enough in his thought to appropriately make connections between class content and personal interest. In essence, a relevance-centered education requires that the he is self-aware enough to realise his ability, talent, and limits; and to know when to ask the teacher for assistance. In one essay from “Decolonizing Language,” Ng~ug~i declares that writers must “be the voice of the voiceless. They have to give voice to silence, especially the silence imposed on a people by an oppressive state.” During his AP interview, Ng~ug~i discussed his concerns about Kenya, the “empowerment” of knowing your native language, his literary influences and his mixed feelings about the United States.

Ng~ug~i’s comments on subjects have been condensed for clarity and brevity. Copyright ©2025 Infospace Holdings LLC, A System1 Company. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site can not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with prior written permission of Answers. Trending Questions What is visiting card size in India? When did the french settle in India at first? How do people greet each other in Kerela?

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