Education

Education

Today, Saturday (July 9), we went to the Africa institute of South Africa, and had a lecture by a doctoral candidate and researcher, Neo Lekgutla. His current research and political advocacy encouraged a shift in the educational curriculum to be more inclusive. He argued that the current South African curriculum, which has not changed even with the end of apartheid, continues to be very Eurocentric. He then proposes an “Africa-centered curriculum,” which “does not imply that students will learn only about African issues, but will learn about other cultures.” This, he argues, would provide a more realistic picture of the current South African diversity, instead of focusing on a European/White-centered curriculum.

As a Chicano/a Studies major, the issue of Eurocentric curriculums is close to me. I grew up learning about White people’s experience in the United States, and unless it was “Black History Month,” would we then learn (minimally) about the experiences of other important members of our national identity.

However, our curriculum is designed to compliment the Educational institution which is guided by a White Supremacist ideology. In order for power to remain unchallenged, people of color, queers, and womyn, should not be aware of their history. The history of both struggle and resistance. If marginalized communities knew of their historical legacy and potential, the status quo would not only be challenged but entirely defeated.

The lecturer however did not think that there should be a new curriculum developed. Rather, he suggested that the curriculum should  include African history as well as European/White history. This liberal/conformist perspective, however, does not challenge the status quo entirely. It merely provides a temporary solution to a larger problem, which I would argue is the lack of access to education for most poor people and communities of color (both in the United States and South Africa).

Black lesbian scholar/writer and activist, Audre Lorde, exclaimed “the masters tools will not dismantle the masters home.” Thus, while it is important to understand that the educational system needs fixing, and thus providing a more African-centric curriculum will empower a few students, the larger problem is with the institution itself. Perhaps, then, we must not find temporary band-aid like solutions to these problems, but find innovate answers that will ameliorate the entire problem all together.