Some ideas, like fine wine, improve with age.
Carter Woodson's book on The Mis-Education of the Negro, written in the early 1930's but published in 1990, is an example. Given everyone's interest in educating this country's youth, Mr. Woodson presents many timeless thoughts.
Even our last two chief executives have sought the title of "the Education President." Wouldn't it be nice if this nation felt it was dealing positively with kids' socialization, growth, and development?
Look at what Carter has to say. He taught kids for 40 years, "black, brown, yellow and white races in both hemispheres and in tropical and temperate regions."
Although he says that he "does not support the once popular view that in matters of education Negroes are rightfully subjected to the will of others," this narrative is not about black self-determination. It's about education. Woodson has lots to say, and his words were uttered long before there was such widespread concern over decaying educational standards and results. At least, folks weren't hearing about it so frequently in the media.
"The element of race does not enter here. It is merely a matter of exercising common sense in approaching people through their environment in order to deal with conditions as they are rather than as you would like to see them or imagine that they are."
Consider individual conditions. Isn't that a breath of fresh air?
Too often we develop initiatives based on racial lines even when we know certain group members are well-protected from the ravages of poverty and despair. Too often we talk about the plight of African-Americans but ignore poor hispanics, immigrants, whites, and others.
While educational successes often depend upon deploying approaches that are relevant to students' social and cultural factors, victories occur on an individual basis. We can't educate the white race, or black, or other. We merely educate those involuntarily born into one or another ethnic group.
As Woodson puts it, "the mere imparting of information is not education." He wisely adds: "It may be of no importance to the race to be able to boast today of many times as many 'educated' members as it has in 1865. If they are of the wrong kind the increase...will be a disadvantage..."
Life skills. That's what Woodson wanted. That's all that matters. Whether or not I choose to use my gifts astutely is my problem, not my schools', teachers', or administrators'. As long as I am prepared, that's all I or anyone can ask.
So it boils down to providing the same education in a different manner. Simple. But difficult. It may even sound to some like 'separate but equal,'
This has everything and nothing to do with race. Look first at the person's educational needs, and then look at the individual's conditions like race, social standing, and family status. The latter merely hints at how you educate, not what.
Woodson was clearly ahead of his time, as he "considers the educational system...in Europe and America an antiquated process which does not hit the mark even" for "the white man himself." He challenged blacks to follow their own path and not to travel the perfidious one that has been laid out before them.
Needless to say I'm not doing justice to Woodson's complete educational theory and I'm surely using only that which suits my purposes. What suits me is to promote the concept of educating the individual, not the race, class, or group. Yes, we teach in classroom environments, collections of kids, but teachers (and we're all that) connect with individuals not ideologies.
It's time to listen to Woodson's message. I doubt it'll ever go out of style.
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Fred W. Apelquist, III, M.Ed.
Approximately 600 words.
(c) 1997