There is something called taking responsibility for and correcting one's flaws. In this case, if I may ask a contrarian question, did the banishment of Karanga (stupidly renamed Shona) extend beyond the school's perimeter fence all the way into the homes of the affected pupils or students? Education must never ever be confined to the figuratively and literally narrow spaces of schools. Every home is a school. Historically, parents and elders are not only custodians of indigenous knowledge and values, no: Fundamentally, they are teachers charged with transmitting said knowledge and values to the young and callow of mind. As parents and elders, we cannot abandon our roles and expect a wonderful result out of the whole thing. If we choose to surrender these responsibilities to our schools, which are Western in both principle and practice, why must we be surprised if our children come out of these schools badly disoriented and inevitably much to our displeasure?
Please, if given the opportunity, let us sit down with the youths. Teach them their history, we must whenever the opportunities arise. Let us tell them folk stories in our languages. Regale them with ngano dzaTsuro naGudo. Let them understand the logic behind our spiritual practices. The flaws and positive aspects, let us assiduously explain them to the young. Ask them to be active learners. The youth can think, and think spectacularly well, too. There is nothing wrong with giving them a voice, which is anathema in our formal schooling system. In them, we might find ways to deal with the flaws of our spiritual systems. It is, after all, the young mind that is more likely to see and lead the reformation of a social structure that has to be changed to fit with the prevailing conditions. This, quite clearly, is not going to happen in schools where the primary purpose is to teach pupils and students to learn to pass examinations, even if it means doing so by rote --- zveku-crammer zviye izvi.
This brings me to the nonsense of special times dedicated to parents and even the remembrance of one's history. I call all of this nonsense because in each and every home, everyday ought to be mother's day and father's day. Honouring one's parents need not be an occasional event, frankly speaking. It ought to be a daily routine, and one that is not necessarily a burden on one's conscience or a cause of loss of one's money through purchasing a bunch of sweet-smelling but, nontheless, perishable flowers.
If we want to remember our own history, we need not assign one pitiful month out of the twelve months of the year for that objective. Make every month Black History Month, using the black ethnic group as an illustrative example. If we are serious, every month ought to be a month we recognize our own history. A month is not even adequate. The same can be said about doing so on a weekly basis. A week is not enough. If we can call out, in supplication and gratitude, the name of Jesus Christ before every meal or, in the case of the African Muslim, pray five times a day while facing Mecca, a place our ancient ancestors never heard of, making every day Black History Day is not asking much out of ourselves. Before our meals, let us thank our ancestors just as we expect our kids to thank us for providing them with the food and drink in their plates and cups, respectively.
That, my fellow Africans, is an example of how we can revive the home as the place where our children can learn the languages of their ancestors, their history, their culture, their customs, their custome, their food, their heritage, social order, code of conduct, and so and so forth. Schools are not going to do this for us. Even if there was a formal curriculum designed to teach our children all this, the demands on the teachers and the pupils and student may be so heavy the whole thing may very well collapse under its own weight. Simply put, the time do accomplish this in our Western-style educational system will not be ample. It is a system designed or geared towards getting immediate results. Teaching at home, by contrast, is and has to be a lifetime experience. Saka izvi zvekuti kuPeterhouse chakuti chakuti, ngatisiyanei nazvo. Ngatigadzirisei patakaporonga uye patiri kuzviitira.
Ndatenda,
Ndinoera Moyo.
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