Does the intense and inhumane competition within schools reinforce the
individualistic philosophy of capitalism and reject the students desire to
be part of a greater community? If so, then grades or “scholastic
achievement” probably determines a person’s value in this system of
education. However, this should not be so. Does a high grade in a class
mean that the student has truly learned anything? Does a low grade in a
class mean that the student has not learned anything? Does confining
students to a rectangular array of seats allow for the greatest interaction
and sharing amongst the students and the teacher? Does it allow for all
students to see the faces of their fellow classmates and realize who they
are?
In an excerpt of a speech entitled, “Community-based Education: An Idea
Whose Time Has Come” given by Grace Lee Boggs, she stated that: “Instead of
lamenting the weaknesses of our communities, the time has come to turn them
into assets in the learning process. As I wrote in the Michigan
Citizen last August (1998), we need to engage our children in the
community-building process with the same audacity with which the Civil
Rights Movement engaged them in desegregation activities 35 years ago.
Classes of children from K-12 should take responsibility for planting
community gardens, maintaining neighborhood streets, recycling waste,
rehabbing houses, visiting and doing errands for the elderly, creating
healthier school lunches, organizing neighborhood festivals, painting
public murals, as a normal and natural part of the curriculum. The
possibilities are endless.
“This is the fastest way to motivate all our children to learn and at the
same time reverse the physical deterioration of our neighborhoods. It is a
wonderful way to nurture the desire of children to be of service and
provide opportunities for children with different talents to make a
difference and win the respect of their peers and elders. By giving
children a better reason to study than just to get a job or to advance
their individual upward mobility, it will also get their cognitive juices
flowing. Learning will come from practice which has always been the best
way to learn.”
Community-building should also be a part of the curriculum at colleges and
universities being that we as college students probably take the most from
the community and give the least back. This would show younger students
that just because you are an older student does not mean that you stop
connecting with the community you live in. Also, we would be able to learn
useful skills from the elder and younger members of our community.
In Living for Change: An Autobiography by Grace Lee Boggs, she
discussed her reflections and thoughts concerning the 17th Cuban Trade
Congress of the theme “Se Puede Multos Juntos” (Together We Can) in 1996.
She included some profound words spoken by President Fidel Castro of
Cuba:
“Everybody wants to be an intellectual, a university graduate. It is a
vice, an invention of the devil. The Soviets built huge columns, consuming
skills they could have used to build three factories. Who is going to plant
the potatoes, bury the dead, sweep the streets? In some schools they have a
different janitor to wash the floors, the windows, the doors. There are at
least 800 parts of the body. Do we need a specialist for each one?”
What is an expert or a specialist? Should we strive to be specialists or
strive to gain a general knowledge of the “web of life” and how all of us
are a part of it? Why do we place all of our faith in people who have
only a limited, narrow-minded view of life? We should realize that every
action has an effect on every living thing, directly or indirectly, so our
view of the world should include all aspects of life and we should strive
to be more open-minded as well.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once wrote: “In a real sense all life is
interrelated. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality,
tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects
all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you
ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I
ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.”
We should stop thinking of our fellow classmates as the “enemy who wants to
receive a higher grade than me” and start thinking of them as human beings.
We should value the whole life form, and not its body, mind, or soul
separately. We can then begin reteaching ourselves and our children
understanding, compassion, humanity, and respect for all living things, not
just humans.
Irucka Ajani Embry knows that all workers worldwide must be paid a living
wage and can be reached at [email protected].
