African governments like to document their march to development with dramatic statistics on education, but the truth is education often hurts Africa more than it helps. African school systems, grafted on to Africa from Britain and France, produce too many parrot-like rote learners who refuse to dirty their hands. They are of little use to developing economies that need creative men with initiative and the will to work hard. Moreover, in some countries, the supply of educated young men exceeds the number of jobs. Cities like Lagos, Nigeria, have thousands of schooled young men who can't get a white collar job but refuse to take any other. Despite this, African governments continue to expand their education systems and spout statistics...

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