The importance of little things
It’s so encouraging that the Ministry of Education is distributing dictionaries to basic schools. However, it reminds me of the proverb about horses and water-drinking. Does the Ministry have any magic wand to make students acquire the habit of using a dictionary?
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It is said that you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. It’s one thing giving pupils and students dictionaries, and quite another getting them to use it, especially as most of the adults around them can’t be seen as role models for that. One doesn’t need to do a survey to conclude that Ghanaians generally have little interest in using a dictionary.
It shows in the astounding wrong use of words even by journalists, writers and public speakers, not to mention misspellings, notably on public signs everywhere. It points to a society that has little contact with that invaluable reference work and essential companion of wordsmiths, the dictionary.
And that’s not the only concern. Some of the text that appears on official websites, presumably approved official information that is presenting Ghana to the world, is in some cases simply shocking! The language is so atrocious that it makes one wonder at the calibre of people who write them – as well as those who should be monitoring those sites.
Earlier this year, I had cause to write in this space (the column of February 12, ‘Online, public face of ministries: carelessness galore!’): “I wonder how many of our Government ministers, and other officials, take the trouble to check occasionally the information on their official websites. The findings of recent browsing sessions I undertook point to a lot of shoddy work, outdated reports, ignorance and sheer carelessness.”
Nevertheless, as I said, it’s a very positive move on the part of the Education Ministry which last week reportedly took delivery of 2.5 million dictionaries for distribution to public basic schools across the country. “The acquisition of dictionaries, valued at GHȼ70 million, forms part of initiatives by the ministry to invest in basic education in order to have holistic improvement in the performance of pupils,” the Daily Graphic reported.
Minister of Education Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyeman said: “The purchase of these dictionaries is pivotal since it is the source of good English, which is used as the medium of instruction. It is a good source of vocabulary building, comprehension, and for spelling and pronunciation.”
But perhaps the Ministry itself should be setting a good example, also by getting other ministries to improve on their online text to serve as good examples to the youth, especially those it wishes to introduce to dictionary-use.
What I find strange is that nobody seems to be checking the governmental websites so that when errors are pointed out they can be speedily corrected. For instance, some glaring mistakes in the information on the Ghana Government site highlighted in this space more than six months ago, in the issue of February 12 cited above, were still there at the time of writing this article on August 21.
The following are some excerpts from the article of February 12: “Even the list of the Ministers on the Government’s site has the heading “MINISTERS OF STATES”! Does Ghana have “states”? It also has the middle name of the Education Minister as ‘Nana’, instead of ‘Naana’.” August 21 finding: no change!
Another from February 12: “As for the Interior Ministry, it seems they cannot decide whether their name should be ‘Ministry FOR the Interior’ or Ministry OF the Interior’. On the main list of ministries, it says ‘Ministry FOR….’, but its site says “Welcome to the Ministry OF…’. So which is correct?” August 21 finding: no change!
Yet another example: The name of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts Minister is stated as Elizabeth Ofosu-Agyare on the official website, but almost everywhere else, including tourism sites, her surname is usually stated as ‘Ofosu-Adjare’ So which is correct?
Maybe the errors are still there because to those in charge of the Government’s online texts, or the ministries concerned, such things don’t matter; they view them as little things. However, to my mind, ‘little things’ do matter. They give an indication as to how the big issues will be handled. Some eminent personalities from America have expressed astutely the importance of ‘little things’:
Benjamin Franklin (1706 –1790), a Founding Father of the United States, scientist, publisher and diplomat: A small leak can sink a great ship.
J. Willard Marriot, businessman and founder of Marriot Hotels: It’s the little things that make the big things possible. Close attention to the fine details of any operation makes the operation first class.
Lawrence D. Bell (1894 –1956), airplane engineer: Show me a man who cannot bother to do little things and I’ll show you a man who cannot be trusted to do big things.
It is noteworthy that it is in the country noted for big things and global achievements that most of the apt sayings about ‘little things’ are found in reference works.
And in Ghanaian culture, even in matters of the heart, romance, and ‘little things’ have a central part. As a Ghanaian proverb puts it: So many little things make a man love a woman in a big way.
If the Government’s official site, where people go to verify information, such as the names of ministers and ministries, are themselves presenting inaccurate information, what conclusion are people to make?
All the same, as stated, it’s great that the children are getting dictionaries. The next thing is to ensure that they actually use them. Thus it would be better still if they could learn from the example of adults around them.
A dictionary-use practice also indicates a concern with getting things right, which is a habit the youth need to cultivate in order to get ahead in life.
The Government’s official sites should take the lead in setting a good example in being meticulous, making sure that information for public enlightenment is carefully checked and well-presented.
However, at present there is little evidence of this. But ‘little things’ do matter!