News

Call to re-examine school curricula in region

01 July 2022

A prominent Black Studies scholar in the United States is recommending that school curriculums in Caribbean states undergo a serious reexamination to remove all attempts at miseducation.
Georgia State University Professor Joyce King said this miseducation has been perpetuated in education systems worldwide, including in the United States, and has contributed to what she described as a civilizational crisis.

The professor delivered the keynote address during The University of the West Indies Schools of Education Biennial Online Conference held from June 15 to 16 under the theme Reimagining Education for Global Sustainability.

“I ask you to consider how your colonial past may continue to hold a grip on education and the society where you are. The curriculum must change.”  Addressing the topic, “Education for Liberation Using our Ancestors’ Wisdom to Stay Human”, Professor King had other words of advice for the educators.

“We need to look at our culture, go back and fetch what we are risking by leaving it behind for success defined by someone else’s standards. We remember our ancestors to deepen our sense of identity, to seek to know, to clarify, to remember, and to understand the ways our fathers and mothers carried on the struggle for integrity and freedom in their time. A more hopeful future is possible when educators really love Black children and honour the heritage knowledge of all the children and families we serve.”

The overall contribution by the Black Studies scholar centred on lessons learnt from her experiences, how those influenced her work, her resistance to miseducation and what she called historical erasure and distortion.
She prefaced her presentation by stating that while the 17 targets in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals were laudable, achieving them will be difficult given the realities of black lives everywhere.
“We might indicate that education for liberation and human freedom is something that we can include in the goals of sustainability,” she added.

The professor issued a rallying cry of sorts to the educators when she repeated words she first uttered publicly in 2000 and which have been referenced over time, including in the book Black Education: A Transformative Research and Action Agenda for the New Century.

“To attack the roots of our miseducation, our cultural annihilation and economic subordination, we must undo the entrenched system of thought that has justified our predicament, as history has taught us our particular wrong is a reflection of the general state of injustice here and elsewhere that calls us to action.
“When we take a global perspective on these issues we’re talking about preparing young people and teachers to realise that our struggle is a struggle for the benefit of humanity.”

During the conference, many papers were presented and discussed on a range of topics including, Re-conceptualizing Educational Leadership and Student Wellbeing for Global Sustainability, Breaking Barriers to Inclusive Education, Inclusive Education and Psychological Wellbeing through Schools, and Engendering Cultural and Indigenous Practices in Education.
 

Return to all news