The time for Garveyism is now – Golding
STEVEN GOLDING says he has approached the Ministry of Education about finally adding Garveyism to the curriculum in schools across the island at all levels.
After experimenting with students at the Hydel Group of Schools for a number of years, Golding told The Gleaner that he believes Garveyism is the key to developing more rounded students from the early-childhood level right up to the tertiary level.
“I have to give credit to the Hydel Group of Schools, which is the only school in Jamaica that has been bold enough to institute courses in Garveyism at both the primary, secondary and tertiary level, as a department and subject in itself,” he said. “I am amazed by how much these children have learnt and just how much they are excited about Garveyism. I have found a formula that works and that’s why this year was the first year that we invited the Ministry of Education to observe at our recent Marcus Garvey symposium held in February.”
TOO MUCH TALK
According to Golding, “For too long, people have been talking about we need to teach Garveyism in schools. We still have people saying it who don’t even know what Garveyism is, and they assume. Garveyism is a philosophy of a racial and cultural education that spans many subject matters. So there can be Garveyism in math, there can be Garveyism in history,” he expressed. “That’s why, for so long, they were baffled about where to teach it... they are trying to fit it in a box, from a lack of understanding.”
Although Golding thinks the road to getting Garveyism institutionalised has been hit with stop signs too often, he is pleased at the positive response he has received after conversations with State minister in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Floyd Green. Golding revealed that after witnessing the level of knowledge gained by several students from the Hydel Group of Schools, Green expressed the need for Hydel’s inclusion of Garveyism in schools to be replicated across the island.
However, Golding noted that for Garveyism to be included in the school curriculum and be effective, teachers must be trained in teaching it as they would be trained in teaching any other subject.
“It’s not fair to ask teachers to teach something that they themselves have never been taught, so what we have been doing is developing the field work to now get it (Garveyism) instituted in teachers’ colleges (which we have come a long way in doing), so that they can promulgate it in the schools,” he said.
TEACHING METHOD
“When we talk about teaching Garveyism to teachers, it’s teaching them a method where they align their curriculum according to the race and culture to which they are disseminating information. In mathematics, why should we be ‘bigging up’ Pythagoras, who is a Greek, and we don’t teach students about Imhotep, who designed the first pyramids?”
Golding believes that Garveyism being taught in schools could go a far way in ensuring that the legacies of Garvey and several of the nation’s other national heroes are secured.
“Marcus Garvey, Paul Bogle; all of them died for causes, but where are those causes today? We need to look into securing their legacies from a philosophical and educational point of view.”