Contradictions exist in every sphere of society and in every life form,

including human beings. The formal educational system in this country is

not immune to the contradictions present within the people of this

country.

What is education? What is formal education/schooling? How do education and

schooling differ? What does it mean to be educated? What does it mean to be

formally educated or “schooled”? Why should a person become educated? With

the moral breakdown of society that all of us have witnessed, why don’t we

start questioning the formal education system and what it teaches our

children? We don’t question the educational system, because if we were to

do so, then we would also be questioning the system of capitalism and

racism at the same time. It is imperative that each of us is educated on

the relevance of racism to capitalism, and vice versa. The European elite

felt that they should not have to do any work, so they had people shipped

to this country from Europe, who were either kidnapped or were incarcerated

in European prisons, for the sole purpose of developing the capitalistic

system in this country. They were considered inferior in relation to the

European elite, not on the basis of “race” or skin color, but because they

were usually of a lower class. However, Africans that were brought here and

indigenous peoples formed the other section of agricultural laborers in the

early beginnings of capitalism in this country. The Africans and indigenous

peoples were considered inferior by the elite Europeans and possibly by the

non-elite Europeans as well, on the basis of “race.”

In this country, all whites benefited economically and socially because the

whole economy of this country was based on the labor of enslaved blacks who

were laboring on lands that were stolen from the indigenous peoples, and

because poor and rich whites were socially acceptable because of their

“race.” This benefit incurred by whites was both direct and indirect.

I view education as the creative and imaginative pursuit of learning and

understanding of our environment, our relationship to it, and our

relationship to ourselves. I believe that this educational journey begins

while we are still in the wombs of our mothers and lasts through our entire

lives. It has been said that “when a person stops learning, they start

dying.” On the other hand, I view formal education or schooling as the

imposed thought forced on us beginning in our formative years and lasting

until post-graduate school, if that path is desired. It is based mainly on

the capitalist ideals of individualism and economic pursuit through the

exploitation of oneself and every living/nonliving thing, and that those

ideals are the basis of human existence on this planet.

The pamphlet entitled “Education to Govern: A Philosophy and Program for

Learning Now!” originally published by the All-African People Union

stated:

“Before the present system of education was initiated some two generations

ago, education was only for the ‘elite,’ to prepare them to govern over

their subjects. Then came ‘mass education,’ to prepare the greater majority

for labor and to advance a few out of their ranks to join the elite in

governing.”

In my past columns, I have been writing about different topics in relation

to the revolution that must take place in this country, and around the

world as well. The revolution to rid ourselves of capitalism and its

ideals. We must replace those ideals with humanity, respect, dignity,

compassion, and understanding for all living things. This revolution cannot

take place without education, the education of the masses so that we can

make the leap to not only make ourselves more “human” beings, but our

oppressors as well. We must also educate ourselves about how we will live

in a post-revolutionary society. I feel that all aspects of life are

inter-connected and inter-related, thus having a broad education which is

inclusive of the arts, music, mathematics, chemistry, biology, ecology,

anthropology, sociology, psychology, foreign languages, history, culture,

government, philosophy and etc. is vital to our survival as human beings.

Also, within this broad education, we need to have the opportunity to

understand how we fit into the greater community (of our neighborhood,

city, state, and world) by direct interaction with those in it. We have

learned that we as human beings learn best by interacting with our

environment.

Irucka Ajani Embry is studying civil and environmental engineering, as well

as Spanish, and can be reached at [email protected].