NEXTLEVEL EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION INT’L CONFERENCE SHANGHAI, CHINA 2019

A tale of tales, "EDUCATION, THE GREAT EQUALIZER": he began using this phrase when he observed that coming from a poor family did not stop him from being the best in his class. As his level of education increased, he got recognized based on what capacities he had developed over time and what value he brought to the table in dealing with real-life problems. When he began to work in the same institution with children of the rich because he was the best graduate, his contributions were always so valuable that they could not be ignored if solution was the focus of the team. He thought he was the first to use the quoted phrase until he stumbled upon the writings of a late American Educator, Horace Mann who lived and died when his grandfather was still a boy.

Shortly after he discovered Horace Mann, he came upon another heartwarming gold mine from the heart of one of the longest serving Education Secretaries of the United States who could be describe as a disciple of Horace Mann though they did not live in the same generation. He served as Education Secretary from 2009 to 2016 during the presidency of Mr. Barrack Obama. Arne Duncan is his name and he wrote:"Too often, the difference between a life of promise and a life in peril hinges not on a student's potential but on the quality of the local public school; students who receive a poor education, or who drop out of school before graduating, can end up on the wrong side of a lifelong gap in employment, earnings, even life expectancy" He gave further flesh to this idea, explaining the decision that Americans must make about education : "… Americans have a choice to make: whether we will allow education to be a wedge that widens inequality or whether we will use its power, as Horace Mann envisioned it, to create opportunity for all".

Here, we add that not only Americans but all of humanity is faced with this same unavoidable decision to harness the enormous 'pluripotent' energies of education either for good or for evil. We do not deny human limitations in terms of resource scarcity nor claim that education solves all problems of inequality and injustice. However, we do strongly assert that from experience, provision of descent education for all, yields good but any tilting to an unacceptable degree makes education produce a monster-like idea that keeps the society grappling with the widening gulf between the rich and the poor, environmental degradation and threat to sustainable development. Inequality has been celebrated for too long and this has led to enormous wastage of human resources.

NextLevel Education Foundation International 启望国际教育基金 is an educational organization with board members in Nigeria, China, Canada and the United States of America. NEFI is Motivated by the idea that "Education then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men, the balance-wheel of social machinery" – (Horace Mann, American Educator 1796 – 1859). By the instrumentality of competency based Lifelong Education, she aims to facilitate removal of educational barriers, optimization of human resources and value addition to individuals, institutions, communities and countries. This conference organized by the Educational Foundation in collaboration with Nigerians in Diaspora Organization (NiDO) East China with support from the Consulate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in Shanghai is meant to harness ideas from reputable scholars towards enhancement of potentials of individuals to contribute to the global problems faced by education. Join us on Friday May 3, 2019, arrival at 12.30 pm, starts at 1pm and contribute your thoughts during the interactive session.