Assessing the Potential Benefits of Expanding the Ancient African Educational Proverb “It Takes a Village to Raise a Child” to “Can Village South Africa Improve South Africa's Underperforming Education System”

Purpose This article was triggered by many allegations about the failure of the South African education system after 1994 and. The allegations have been worsened by the inclination of educational and other leaders (including our immediate past and current president) to still resort to the adage “It takes a village to raise a child” as a solution to the national problem of an underperforming education system. In the 1960s, McLuhan pointed out that the world had become a “global village” where people are no longer isolated in small communities as they are increasingly exposed to modern communication and other influences. I took the liberty of modifying McLuhan's idea of a village to a country and to investigate the suitability of the South African national environment in the role of raising a child. Because the term village has become inappropriate and obsolete in this context, I believe it is appropriate to believe that countries are now logically responsible for fulfilling the roles of the erstwhile villages in education. Design/Approach/Methods A literature review seemed appropriate as a research method to gather data to assess the suitability of the national environment for children's education. Information that emerged in the recent past was deemed most suitable as the situation now may not reflect literature from longer ago. The main data sources were newspaper and journal articles, research reports, and national and international informative publications. Findings The current national environment in South Africa is unlikely to contribute significantly to the improvement of the education of the country's children. Originality/Value The article applies McLuhan's views in an expanded form to apply them to a country instead of a village. It also provides information that developing countries might want to re-examine.