Education lost its value when firepower replaced credentials as the path to power

Evidence

All this reinforced the traditionally uncentralized character and self-help ethos of Somali society. Where in the end everything depended on the protective (and aggressive) firepower to which individuals had access, Rambo was an appealing role model for the young in a world where the success stories were those of gangsters and entrepreneurs who had made it to become important faction leaders and warlords. Although a surprising number of private schools had sprung up in Mogadishu and even a few establishments calling themselves ‘universities’, education had lost its value as a passport to success. This decline had been in train in the Siyad years, and in the ruined capital in which the Arta government now set up its stall some of the most successful big men were illiterate. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 691 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The warlord economy made literacy worthless as a route to success; Firepower replaced education as the route to success in collapsed Somalia — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 691; Higher education now produces skills instead of ideals or emancipation. — Jean-François Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition: A Report on…, 359 (+1 more)

Related

• Firepower replaced education as the route to success in collapsed Somalia (similarity 0.93)
• The warlord economy made literacy worthless as a route to success (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Firepower replaced education as the route to success in collapsed Somalia #exemplifies (0.90) — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 691