On Sunday, August 15, I preached that Jamaica needed to add righteousness to its school programme as an integral component of the educational enterprise. The occasion was the 46th annual Jamaica Teachers Association Conference (JTA) conference church service held at the Emmanuel Gospel Hall, Buff Bay.
Righteous education is different from religious education. Religious education is designed to inform students about the various religions, their beliefs and practices. Religious education is supposedly presented in an objective manner with the aim to instruct about the main tenets of the faith. Hopefully, there will be a greater appreciation of different religions. That is all well and good. However, there needs to be a place for righteous education. The aim is to help people understand how to have meaningful relationship with God and their fellow human beings. This course will delve into spiritual disciplines such as prayer, fasting, alms giving etc.
Righteous education is not modelled after Bible Knowledge of old. It is not evangelistic or aimed at winning persons to a particular denomination. The early missionary educational effort had the downside of denominational rivalry, and one had to have denominational purity to be a principal of a denominational school. The BK approach was also intolerant of other religious faiths and displayed arrogance toward any thing that is not Bible based.
However, righteous education will allow persons to explore a relationship with God through nature and the environment. It will explain what the uniqueness of Jesus the Christ is. It will explore the role of revelation in religion.
Critical thinking
Righteous education is not a throwback to education of the past when Christian missionaries of the 18th and 19th centuries saw education of the enslaved as a tool to keep them submissive, and for them to give unquestioned loyalty to their supposed masters. Education was part and parcel of the plantation system of producing persons who would be more hardworking and honest in order to maximise the earnings of the planter class.
Even today that attitude has not changed. Persons will support sports as a means to allow young people to let off energy and avoid deviant behaviour rather than perceiving each child as made in the image of God and sports as a means of self-expression and self-actualisation. Similarly, some people support talk-shows as a means to allow people to let off steam. It is not based on a right of people to get accurate information in order to engage in critical thinking. Too often it is a means of public relations and a time for spin doctors to strut their stuff.
Our educational system is crying out for something more. Some have tried a "values and attitudes" campaign, some have called for character-building effort and others have called for a fresh start. It is a statement that education is not just the three 'Rs' of 'Reading', 'Righting' and 'Rithmetic', but it needs more. It needs another 'R' which is righteousness. As the proverb states, "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people."
Empowering people
This righteous education would also mean being engaged in critical thinking. It is being able to read between the lines. It is empowering people to understand the world and the systems that oppress and those that liberate. It is to have the ability to analyse data and engage in appropriate research. It is an education that puts a premium on perceiving all human beings as equal and treating all with respect, irrespective of race, gender, disability, colour and address. It is also to encourage persons to be just and fair in our dealings.
Devon Dick is pastor of the Boulevard Baptist Church and author of 'The Cross and the Machete: Native Baptists of Jamaica – Identity, Ministry and Legacy'. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com.