New Education Principles 101 Textbook: New Education Principles 101 will revolve around a list of Educational Priorities and selected online essays. Find essays by scrolling down this page. Instructor: Mba Mbulu
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Class #1
EDUCATIONAL PRIORITIES
(1) We have to prepare educators and teachers who are not afraid or ashamed to act Black and promote a Black reality, a Black world view.
(2) We must establish an independent educational system that revolves around a Black Studies system of education and stresses the importance of an independent Black Power base.
(3) Those of Us who teach within the traditional education system must be daring, creative, assertive and conscious of the legitimacy of Our uniqueness.
Class Assignment
Read the essay on New Education Principles that follows. Be able to relate that essay to the educational priorities listed above. Also be prepared to respond to the following questions.
(1) Why does the condition of balance or unbalance come into play in the education arena? In your opinion, is that a valid factor to consider? Explain.
(2) Do you think it is important that Black individuals become "the smartest, the most capable, the fittest and the most efficient?" Are Black students likely to acquire those attributes and use them to the advantage of Black People if they are educated within the traditional United States educational context?
(3) Can education be used as a genocidal tool? In your opinion, has it been used in that manner against Black People in the United States?
(4) What is your concept of Black Studies? How can Black Studies become a viable primary education reality in the Black community? Does thinking of Black Studies in this light open your thought processes to new probabilities?
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Essay #1: An Introduction to New Education Principles
I am going to talk a little about education in this essay. That term is so tainted that I hesitate to use it, but for the sake of clarity I must.
Education is the process that encourages and enables people to imagine an ideal and intelligently seek that ideal. In a balanced world, education would help individuals develop to their fullest and make individuals socially responsible to the point where they no longer feel the need to be led... they would develop the confidence to lead themselves. This self leadership, which is what self-government is actually rooted in, makes anarchy possible. Anarchy, contrary to what we have been led to believe, is the ideal social arrangement. Why? Because it eliminates all hierarchies, it rids elitists of any claims of legitimacy and it is characterized not by a bunch of hoodlum-minded cowboy personalities, but by an abundance of socially responsible individuals and a small number of socially responsible institutions.
Unfortunately, We do not live in a balanced world. We live in a world of gang mentality nations and individuals, in a dog eat dog world, in a world where the assumption is that people are not capable of intelligently governing themselves, in a world where differences are perceived as threats and lead to attacks, and most importantly, in a world that assumes that conflict will dominate human interactions. We live in a world where there is a continual climate of conflict. In this world, this unbalanced world, the smartest people, the most capable people, the "fittest" people and the most efficient people are those who adapt to the dictates of conflict and learn to manage it most effectively. Education then, for Black People in this unbalanced world, must have the objective of making Us aware of what We need to learn and do as a People in order to become the smartest, the most capable, the fittest and the most efficient.
Black People are, for the most part, a balanced people. We cherish certain ideals and long for, even yearn for a balanced world order, and establishing a balanced world order should be the primary objective, the most important objective of Our educational process. However, the most immediate objective of Our educational process must be making Us the smartest, the most capable, the fittest and the most efficient operators within this unbalanced world, within this continual climate of conflict. That involves making Us aware of Ourselves as a politically unique unit that is under constant attack, making Us aware of Our right and obligation to resist those who attack Us, and making Us understand that We can best protect Ourselves by establishing Our own government and promoting Our own interests and well-being. Any education that fails to recognize and address Us within that context is not just miseducation, it is part of somebody's campaign to promote genocide among Our ranks and against Us as a People.
In order to reach Our ideal of a future world that is balanced, We must first develop the ability to dominate the unbalanced present. It is the role of education, Black education, to develop that ability within Us and among Us.
What is this Black education called? It is called Black Studies. Black Studies is a learning system that is made up of formal and informal courses and processes ranging from history to calculus to genetics to child rearing and family-making and community-making and all other disciplines, and they all have as their basis Our Black essence, Our Black values, Our Black concerns, Our Black objectives and Our ideal of a balanced world order. Black Studies is not an offshoot of white education, nor is it a knee jerk reaction of Black individuals who have been dominated by another race of people. Black Studies, like all other present studies, is one of the natural consequences of this unbalanced world order. Until this state of unbalance is effectively neutralized, it is the duty of Black educators to nurture Black Studies, to see that Black Studies reaches maturity and completion, to sing the praises of Black Studies to each and every Black individual and to continually teach each and every Black individual from a foundation that is based on Black Studies principles. This teaching can be attempted from several different contexts, but the most logical context is that of Black Nationalism because Black Nationalism is in harmony with the principles of equality, individual development and self-government.
Before concluding this essay, let's take thirty or so seconds for comparison-contrast purposes. Let's try to ascertain what the educational objectives of white studies are. We will see that those objectives hinge on several hierarchies, neither of which is representative of people in general. We will also see that the development of the individual, in and of itself, is not a legitimate concern of white education. We will see that big business has one concept of education, government another and elitists yet a third; and that each pushes and institutionalizes its concept at the expense of the public. Each of these concepts is being addressed in a separate essay.
I will conclude by stressing that anything is possible. Black Studies, or education for those who prefer that term, must encourage Us to imagine healthy possibilities, to create circumstances that can convert those possibilities into probabilities and to construct institutions that enable those probabilities to develop into real world realities. Black Studies is not a small part of Black People's educational process--- quite to the contrary. Black Studies is the learning system upon which Our education must be based. We must be serious about it, We must promote it on Our own terms and We must institutionalize it at all costs.
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