September Carnival: The Mis-Education of the Negro in the 21st Century
Posted by Asabagna
In an effort to have more focused discussions over at Afrospear, we are starting a monthly carnival with rotating topics. As I understand it, the way a carnival works is that those who wish to participate, post an essay on the topic on your blog page and forward the link to us at Afrospear@hotmail.com. We will post all the links and then have a discussion on the essays which have been submitted.
I am re-reading “The Mis-Education of the Negro” by Carter Woodson. The first edition was printed in 1933. I am stunned by how many of the issues he discussed then, appear to be relevant today…. in 2007.
It has inspired me to submit for the first topic of our monthly carnival, the issue of education with the Black/African community. Some questions to consider: Are we currently suffering from mis-education? What is your opinion and/or perspective on how our young are being educated? Are they being mis-educated and if so, what are the dynamics and results of this process of mis-education that you see? Does education have the power to change our lives and if so, do we, as a people, truly value and take advantage of that opportunity? What solutions and/or strategies do you propose to the education dilemma which is facing our community(ies)? It would be beneficial and enlightening to hear from different regions of the Diaspora and from the Motherland itself.
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For the monthly carnival
by EJDoshi
I am going to jump on the diversity wagon because I think it is the ONLY way we can overcome the issues we all face in this country. And when I speak of diversity I am speaking of economic, ethnic, cultural, and gender diversity. How can we overcome the alienation and ignorance that allows us to continue to feed the illusion that we are all different unless we can come together to solve problems? I am in favor of opening our ears to the sounds of grief AND joy, chaos and true silence. But I say this with a caution. It is the hardest thing we will ever do. The reason for this is that we will make mistakes and be misunderstood and find conflict just as soon as we learn something profound. Until we look at the pain we cannot heal. Please lets not have African American Education for African Americans and by African Americans. This limits the healing and does not allow others to learn. Just as America as a country needs to learn how to be a leader and rise above its privilege and nationhood, African American Educators need to lead by rising above the pain of being marginalized and tap the absolute power of the soul of love of humanity and gratitude for the earth and bring to light strategies that reveal the potential of humanity.
The Children of today need to love their teachers and this happens when their teachers understand them. The teachers need to develop curriculum that is appropriate for the age of the child, NOT what is hip and cool in the media. Children need powerful archetypal stories that speak of the evolution of the human being not as represented by one ethnicity but by ethnicities throughout the unfolding of humanity. Children need to play and pretend and create when they are young. Teachers need to be artists, craftspeople and storytellers- HEALERS. For these children are being poisoned by the media and by the violence that materialism incites. Young children need to be surrounded by beauty and truth. They need to develop the skills that their hearts inform their hands so that when the age of reason unfolds in them they receive their lessons with a strong sense of compassion.
Young adults/adolescents need their teachers to be someone in the world and to be, above all, people of integrity. If their teachers are going home at night to watch television and do not have a rich life of their own outside the school it is a lost cause. The young people of today can see us very clearly and what we are up to no matter how hard we try to hide it. Let us speak to them of revolutions and of remarkable people. Let us give them opportunities to discover the wonders of science and mathematics first hand, (not by rote). Let them learn the speeches of very great and wicked people so that they can take measure of the world. Let us do all this so that the adolescents can be inspired to make something of themselves and be proud to do good work for the benefit of all humanity.
3 comments:
You have said here, the honest truth. I wish this would come back into learning, to replace what No Child Left Behind, has left behind.
How to obtain that diverse student body is an elusive project? I don't think a child has to learn in this kind of environment, but it prepares him for the world.
I think most important is the teachers.
Teachers need to be artists, craftspeople and storytellers- HEALERS.
Our fist priority in any school system would be to find a way for the community to get those kinds of teachers and support in the classroom.
When we are different than others in a learning envireonment it allows us to educate our compassion. It is too often that children are schooled with those that share similar economic, cultural and ethnic backgrounds and become apathetic to "the other".
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