I stopped in McDonald’s in Savannah, Georgia, a couple of years ago, on my way to do a workshop with the seniors at the historic Beach High School. I got a quick cup of coffee and Danish and realized the place was filled with our senior citizens. Many of them appeared to be 70, 80 and 90 years of age, about 30 in number. I got a seat close enough to hear the conversations going on and was astounded at what they were talking about. It was a deep discussion on ancient African civilization. Going through dates of the great Pharaoh’s and how the Egyptian civilization had an impacted on Western civilization and the rest of the world.
I was wearing a business suit and tie at the time and made eye contact with the elders who were having open discussion in various groups. One of the gentlemen had looked at me and asked a question related to the topic, just to see if I would respond. I was able to answer each of their questions, so they invited me to sit with them. We introduced ourselves and continued in playing what I would call African Centered Jeopardy. I asked them where they had acquired this depth of knowledge and they all responded by saying it was what they had learned in school prior to integration. You could image the expression on my face in hearing this. The shock of learning that our elders were well educated in history and world events, many of them had not even completed the 8th grade.
I asked, with all of this knowledge you’ve maintained, why are you not sharing it with the students in school? They said, “we were never asked.” I could do nothing but shake my head at the response. Our elders hold such valuable information and we let it wilt away like a beautiful un-kept, uncared for, flower. The value of such knowledge as it’s said, is priceless, the wisdom, irreplaceable. We are all aware of the fact that those 80 and 90 dollars books used in our schools have a lot of misinformation when it pertains to our history in ancient times as well as current events. How do we incorporate our elders into the education process?
In schools across the country, elder teachers are encouraged to retire as soon as possible in order to bring in new blood at a lesser salary. However, if young teachers are not given an opportunity to learn ancient philosophy from the old and all of its tenets, it will be difficult for them to reach each spirit that awaits its time to be wakened. We are sleeping giants who have a purpose in being and it is incumbent upon educators to help children find their path. Is this based on financial resources or something else?
What do you think?
Peace.
Posted By: Dr. Okpara Nosakhere
Tuesday, December 9th 2008 at 7:48PM
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