Frantz Fanon said this in The Wretched of the Earth: “To educate the masses politically does not mean, cannot mean, making a political speech. What it means is to try, relentlessly and passionately, to teach the masses that everything depends on them.”
How do we awaken the critical consciousness of a child, how do we fine-tune their motor skills, their psychological and social framework?
How do we make them aware of philosophy and poetry politically, with political reasoning, and where does their education start?
Our children in the northern areas are being left far behind.
There are telling questions.
Does education start in the home, the school, the church or society?
The oppressed are still oppressed.
The uneducated are still uneducated.
We are waiting for liberation from imperialist forces and colonialism.
Our children are waiting for liberation from the imperialist forces and colonialism.
Our schools are in disarray.
The education system is nearing collapse and the history textbooks are waiting to be rewritten by intellectuals of colour.
The question is how do we raise the child to become intellectually minded?
Is there such a child as a gifted child?
Is the gifted child born gifted or raised to be gifted, or is that child’s talents honed beyond the classroom through reading and writing?
What does it take to become an intellectual?
What will it take for us, every parent, every teacher, every school principal to turn our children into leaders, leading scholars, academics, theorists, intellectuals and modern-day philosophers?
Every child should be exposed to literature, poetry and philosophy and not just encouraged to devote their time to becoming gamers, and to exploring social media and apps.
Our children must discover their potential and in so doing they will inherit the best of us, the best of this world, and this planet.
Abigail George, northern areas
