Dear Editor,
It is with great concern that I witnessed the ignorance and indifference of our nation's children about matters of historical importance. This was most evident during the period reserved for celebration of our national heroes.
We cannot blame the children for being ignorant unless we have provided the opportunity for them to be enlightened. This is the area in which I think we have failed our children. The same lack of effort we put into making a meaningful impression on these young minds is evidenced by their lack of regard for our national heroes and heroine.
The names of our national heroes are simply names to them. When their names are invoked there is no appreciation of the selfless contribution that these people have made to our beloved country. They also see the way we treat National Heroes' Circle and National Heroes' Park.
From my interactions with students I have gathered that Paul Bogle's march through Stony Gut is not accorded any significance , so it is more than a stretch to expect them to relate the historical context to our present struggle for equality for poorer Jamaicans. Marcus Garvey's mobilisation of millions of people worldwide around the cause of empowerment for black people would be a remarkable achievement even today, through the use of social media, which was non-existent during his time. As we have made technological advances, we seem to be marching in lockstep with disregard for our nation's history.
I learned some aspects of Jamaican history by being exposed to literature owned by my father, who is an educator. I was further exposed by attending Munro College, where we had the use of a large library that would rival our public libraries. I was lucky, but education of our children should not be based on luck. My point is that, not every child will have parents who are socially conscious or attend a high school that has a library with extensive literature, but every child attends a school and this is where we can reach everyone. Emphasis should be placed on structuring our curriculum to capture the minds of our students from an early age. Jamaican history should be a mandatory subject from early childhood to high school, and should not be conflated with Caribbean history, which is also important, but provides a wider context. Until we have Jamaican history as a structured part of our schools' curricula we will continue to have Heroes' Day celebrations that are mere functions of habit where people dress up like our national heroes without even knowing why the are considered heroes.
Until then, we will continue to have the majority of school-leavers wanting a job, but not understanding their place in society and how they will contribute to a strong, independent Jamaica. We cannot expect our children to be proud of Jamaica and want to contribute to nation-building if they don't know why they should. We owe them the opportunity to find among themselves a next generation of heroes.
Ryan Channer
ryanchanner@yahoo.com
Youth ignorant of our heritage
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It is with great concern that I witnessed the ignorance and indifference of our nation's children about matters of historical importance. This was most evident during the period reserved for celebration of our national heroes.
We cannot blame the children for being ignorant unless we have provided the opportunity for them to be enlightened. This is the area in which I think we have failed our children. The same lack of effort we put into making a meaningful impression on these young minds is evidenced by their lack of regard for our national heroes and heroine.
The names of our national heroes are simply names to them. When their names are invoked there is no appreciation of the selfless contribution that these people have made to our beloved country. They also see the way we treat National Heroes' Circle and National Heroes' Park.
From my interactions with students I have gathered that Paul Bogle's march through Stony Gut is not accorded any significance , so it is more than a stretch to expect them to relate the historical context to our present struggle for equality for poorer Jamaicans. Marcus Garvey's mobilisation of millions of people worldwide around the cause of empowerment for black people would be a remarkable achievement even today, through the use of social media, which was non-existent during his time. As we have made technological advances, we seem to be marching in lockstep with disregard for our nation's history.
I learned some aspects of Jamaican history by being exposed to literature owned by my father, who is an educator. I was further exposed by attending Munro College, where we had the use of a large library that would rival our public libraries. I was lucky, but education of our children should not be based on luck. My point is that, not every child will have parents who are socially conscious or attend a high school that has a library with extensive literature, but every child attends a school and this is where we can reach everyone. Emphasis should be placed on structuring our curriculum to capture the minds of our students from an early age. Jamaican history should be a mandatory subject from early childhood to high school, and should not be conflated with Caribbean history, which is also important, but provides a wider context. Until we have Jamaican history as a structured part of our schools' curricula we will continue to have Heroes' Day celebrations that are mere functions of habit where people dress up like our national heroes without even knowing why the are considered heroes.
Until then, we will continue to have the majority of school-leavers wanting a job, but not understanding their place in society and how they will contribute to a strong, independent Jamaica. We cannot expect our children to be proud of Jamaica and want to contribute to nation-building if they don't know why they should. We owe them the opportunity to find among themselves a next generation of heroes.
Ryan Channer
ryanchanner@yahoo.com
Youth ignorant of our heritage
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