My foundation; I will defend the Starehe system

Starehe prefects system, both in my time and before, did not lack critics within and without. At one of the prefects’ seminar at Lenana High School, a captain from a reputable school in the city confronted me with a claim that the Starehe system does not prepare its students for contemporary democratic institutions, that our system promotes absolutism and concentration of power in hands of a few, mostly bright students. He called the system aristocratic. I conceded that though our system might have its flaws and shortcomings like a prefect may sloppily overstep his authority or a captain may assume that he is always right in making decisions, our system has, for 50 years, proven to be the best of all.

In my time, I measured the success of our system not by the number of ‘A’s we harvested in KCSE—though academic performance could arguably be a credible yardstick with which to distinguish one academic institution from the other, or the number of students who attended 'working party'—though overflowing punishments lists could be a symptom of an ailing system; but rather, I measured the success of our system by the magnitude of students' involvement in the day to day running of the school. Did a student bring 'burgers' on the breakfast table? Is a student ready to put out a fire, in the event of one? Is a second former able to administer first aid to a fourth former in case of a minor accident in the fields? Where the answer was yes, I, as the School Captain, was motivated to move on.