My Teaching Philosophy (Part 2)

Knowledge of Self: Knowing Your Roots


Lost-Found Lesson #2 1-40
14. Who is the 85%?
Answer: They are the uncivilized people, poison animal eaters, slaves of a mental death and power. People who do not know who the true and living God is or their origin in this world and worship that which they know not. Those who are easily led in the wrong direction but hard to lead in the right direction.

In Western society, education has been defined as exploring the basics of different existing subjects (Literature, Science, Mathematics, History) and focusing on one career of choice, whether it be law, medicine, or Architecture. Most of my life I was educated under this Eurocentric educational model in both the Dominican Republic and later on the United States. These systems of education have always been problematic. Starting with the way the subjects are taught. Schools seldom involved students in learning about the histories of peoples from earlier periods of time; civilizations that have far exceeded our levels of technology, science, and the humanities. Their knowledge of these subjects allowed for a better understanding of earth and themselves. As a result, their philosophies were deeply aligned with their nature and reality of mother earth. Although not an ancient civilization, but an original people with like minds as the old societies, this would explain why much of the earlier populations in the Caribbean, like the Taino, were a peaceful people with a deep connection to their environment. In regards to the Tainos Christopher Columbus wrote,

"so tractable, so peaceful, are these people, that I swear to your majesties there is not in the world a better nation. They love their neighbors as themselves, and their discourse is ever sweet and gentle..I could conquer the whole of them with fifty men, and govern them as I please."

Through the view of Christopher Columbus one can see that peace was part of the daily lives of the Tainos, so deeply ingrained into their civilization that it was a spiritual process as well. The sun, water, trees, moon, were respected and praised by designated gods named by the Tainos. The creation of their technology was to please and live in harmony as suppose to destroy and enter wars with other countries for economical, social, and political power. Under the language of Western thought, one can say the Tainos were living in a socialist society.

Nowadays many students, specifically those from the Caribbean, do not know this material because history classes have been designed to only teach the history of the conqueror, not the conquered. Students learn about European History, Western Civilization and Thought, as opposed to learning about the Aztecs, the Tainos, the Mayan, the Incas, the Dogon, the Egyptians, and many other original societies. This is particularly important for students who come from these backgrounds and have inherited traits that are vital in their daily life, but in their current context cannot adequately apply them. These might be reasons why Black and Latino students in contemporary times find it hard to navigate through the current nature of their oppression. They do not know who they are, and are not aware of their roots. Original youth cannot identify with the history because it is not taught to them with a balance to their existence. In other words, creating a pedagogical methodology that relates to the way in which these students learn best is how the youth will learn their immediate history, meaning history that dates from European colonization and after, to their ancient history, where one can study where all original people can from.

In the current educational structure, subjects of the immediate history are taught in a way that is distanced from the reality of the students’ background. Teaching in ways that correlate to the students' placement in the world today will start the mental liberation of the 85%. Students should explore questions like; What were the events in history that have led me to be living in the New York City as an African-American? How did I inherit this identity? What does all this mean to me? I am an advocate towards the use of herstory within curriculums of social studies/history. It is a start in promoting lost values and historical knowledge to working class, immigrant and/or non-immigrant original students. This will start to reconstruct much of the established information that is incorrect and continues to separate all original people. Within the Nation of God and Earth, one of the lessons we are taught deals with the concept of separation and disconnection of oneself with our reality. The 7th degree of 1-14, explores the question: "Why does the devil call our people Africans?" Devil refers to the white man and Africans to original people of the modern-day continent Africa. This degree explores the concepts of the many ways in which the grafted white man has adapted his divide and conquer methods into the minds of all original peoples. This degree uses the example of Africa as one that has been deemed filled with people that are savage living a "jungle way of life." The devil purposely named it Africa to differentiate it from Asia, the original name of the entire planet. Hence, the reason original people around the world see each other differently. History is definitively the tool used in the educational realm of our children to continue this disconnection.

In my vision of education, students will learn civilization and the science of everything in life, which entails the overall concept of gaining knowledge of oneself. Learning the concept of civilization entails understanding of history. When one comprehends and lives out their birthright as a supreme being we can discard information which we can show and proof is wrong to truly be amongst each other as a-alikes. Simultaneously, we can naturally bring out moral and ethical values that make the original man and woman supreme. It is also important for white students (both upper and working class) to be aware of this information. In the 2nd degree of the 1-14th, the purpose of civilization is stated in the last sentence, which is to teach knowledge and wisdom to all the human families of the world. This includes teaching civilization to those we know to be other than ourselves--the grafted man. Throughout history, there have been few, but exceptional righteous white men who have worked towards living harmoniously with original peoples. Only those that can truly understand their nature as weak and wicked can attain this level of civilization. Teaching all the human families is a priority of my educational thesis.

Peace!