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Educators Want Schools To Embrace More Christian Values
Published: Monday | March 17, 20141 Comment
Reid
Rhoma Tomlinson, Contributor
A number of prominent educators are calling for a revolution in the education sector, which would promote lessons in morals and sound Christian values to the top of the academic agenda.
The educators believe that while Jamaica has been doing well in expanding the knowledge base of students, not enough attention is being paid to the spiritual side.
The chairman of the National Council on Education, Dr Simon Clarke, who has served the local and international education sectors in a number of capacities, traced the history of the nation's school system since the 1960s. He says there has been great effort to expand knowledge and improve skills, "but where I think some degree of slippage happened is in the area of personal and social development. These were left behind".
He cited the 2001 terrorist attack in the United States, noting that "the men who flew the plane into the towers were all well-educated, but something was lacking - that humane element … ".
Clarke believes schools should be deliberate in exposing students to the "whole persona".
"We're made up of different components - the physical, the mind, and the spiritual component. The spiritual is that which links the person to a wider source of knowledge. We're doing well with the physical, but it's that third dimension, the spiritual, that we need to focus on. I'm not saying that schools must indoctrinate or push any particular kind of denomination, but they must accommodate and make them (students) sensitive that life does not stop with what we can see."
CONTROVERSIAL CRUSADE
Opposition Senator Ruel Reid, who is principal of Jamaica College (JC), agrees.
He came under fire last year for holding a one-week evangelistic crusade for his students.
The crusade set off a firestorm of controversy, with supporters arguing that Jamaica was a Christian nation and the school needed a moral compass. Others, including human-rights advocate Yvonne McCalla Sobers, said the move was inappropriate, and chided Reid for infringing "on time set aside in a government school".
But Reid insists his school has seen healing.
"Transformation was needed in morals and values, and so on, which required some radical approaches. We needed to re-socialise. Based on some of the experiences we were having at JC, we thought this was worthy of implementation … . JC has now normalised as a school. My boys are now more loving, caring, respectful, productive. It's not a one-off thing. They have continuous devotion and we open every session with prayer," he said.
Reid said he strongly advocates this brand of moral education and Christian values in the school system. He said if education is to provide national healing, it must address issues of respect, peace, and love.
ADDRESS PHILOSOPHY
But chair of the Department of Teacher Education at Northern CaribbeanUniversity (NCU), Jacqueline Hoshing-Clarke, believes it is the philosophy of education that must be addressed. She insists that NCU's philosophy of education is what makes its programmes unique.
The institution defines education as "more than just the pursuit of a certain course of study", but "the harmonious development of the physical, the mental, and the spiritual powers".
She says this philosophy pushes her teachers to see themselves as inspirers, character shapers, and not merely as imparters of academic information.
"Education must change character. It's supposed to change behaviour. The learner comes in with baggage of different kind. Education must change that behaviour and help it to become what it should be. The Christian component makes it so unique, because we take it from the point of view that all humans were created by God … . It helps the teacher in training to understand that each child is made in God's image. They must show the child the purpose for which he was placed here. Academics is a broad, broad thing," she said.
The call for a greater injection of morals into the classroom is not new.
Clarke told The Gleaner that back in the 1990s, a committee from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation was charged with looking at all the things that needed to be fixed in the global education sector.
"But first, they had to define what education was, and after much research, the team came up with four fundamental tenets. They said in a nutshell, 'Learning to know, learning to do, learning to be, learning to live together'. Education must do all this, if it is to be effective."
Educators Want Schools To Embrace More Christian Values
Published: Monday | March 17, 20141 Comment
Reid
Rhoma Tomlinson, Contributor
A number of prominent educators are calling for a revolution in the education sector, which would promote lessons in morals and sound Christian values to the top of the academic agenda.
The educators believe that while Jamaica has been doing well in expanding the knowledge base of students, not enough attention is being paid to the spiritual side.
The chairman of the National Council on Education, Dr Simon Clarke, who has served the local and international education sectors in a number of capacities, traced the history of the nation's school system since the 1960s. He says there has been great effort to expand knowledge and improve skills, "but where I think some degree of slippage happened is in the area of personal and social development. These were left behind".
He cited the 2001 terrorist attack in the United States, noting that "the men who flew the plane into the towers were all well-educated, but something was lacking - that humane element … ".
Clarke believes schools should be deliberate in exposing students to the "whole persona".
"We're made up of different components - the physical, the mind, and the spiritual component. The spiritual is that which links the person to a wider source of knowledge. We're doing well with the physical, but it's that third dimension, the spiritual, that we need to focus on. I'm not saying that schools must indoctrinate or push any particular kind of denomination, but they must accommodate and make them (students) sensitive that life does not stop with what we can see."
CONTROVERSIAL CRUSADE
Opposition Senator Ruel Reid, who is principal of Jamaica College (JC), agrees.
He came under fire last year for holding a one-week evangelistic crusade for his students.
The crusade set off a firestorm of controversy, with supporters arguing that Jamaica was a Christian nation and the school needed a moral compass. Others, including human-rights advocate Yvonne McCalla Sobers, said the move was inappropriate, and chided Reid for infringing "on time set aside in a government school".
But Reid insists his school has seen healing.
"Transformation was needed in morals and values, and so on, which required some radical approaches. We needed to re-socialise. Based on some of the experiences we were having at JC, we thought this was worthy of implementation … . JC has now normalised as a school. My boys are now more loving, caring, respectful, productive. It's not a one-off thing. They have continuous devotion and we open every session with prayer," he said.
Reid said he strongly advocates this brand of moral education and Christian values in the school system. He said if education is to provide national healing, it must address issues of respect, peace, and love.
ADDRESS PHILOSOPHY
But chair of the Department of Teacher Education at Northern CaribbeanUniversity (NCU), Jacqueline Hoshing-Clarke, believes it is the philosophy of education that must be addressed. She insists that NCU's philosophy of education is what makes its programmes unique.
The institution defines education as "more than just the pursuit of a certain course of study", but "the harmonious development of the physical, the mental, and the spiritual powers".
She says this philosophy pushes her teachers to see themselves as inspirers, character shapers, and not merely as imparters of academic information.
"Education must change character. It's supposed to change behaviour. The learner comes in with baggage of different kind. Education must change that behaviour and help it to become what it should be. The Christian component makes it so unique, because we take it from the point of view that all humans were created by God … . It helps the teacher in training to understand that each child is made in God's image. They must show the child the purpose for which he was placed here. Academics is a broad, broad thing," she said.
The call for a greater injection of morals into the classroom is not new.
Clarke told The Gleaner that back in the 1990s, a committee from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation was charged with looking at all the things that needed to be fixed in the global education sector.
"But first, they had to define what education was, and after much research, the team came up with four fundamental tenets. They said in a nutshell, 'Learning to know, learning to do, learning to be, learning to live together'. Education must do all this, if it is to be effective."
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