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EDUCATION FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT Erskine S. Dottin

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EDUCATION FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

Erskine S. Dottin

EDUCATION

FOR

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

by

Erskine S. Dottin

Assistant Professor, Foundationsof Education.The University of West FloridaPensacola, Florida

A Paper presented at the Caribbean Studies Association's Annual Conterence

Basseterre,. St. Kitts, May 30, 1984 - June 2, 19b4.

I. INTRODUCTION

The call to rethink the kind of development and progress needed

in the post-independence Caribbean is loud and clear. The most timely

call comes from the developers of the Caribbean Studies Conference here in

St. Kitts. Alma Young, editor of the Caribbean Studies Newsletter notes

in the Winter 1984 edition: "The theme of the conference, 'Strategies for

Progress in the Post-independence Caribbean,' has become even more timely,

given the events of October 1983 in Grenada." "A bloody coup, the invitation

by the OECS to invade a sister state, the U.S. invasion--all demand that we

rethink the kind of progress that we wish for the Caribbean." The call,

however, is not new. The former Prime Minister of Trinidad, the late

Sir Eric Williams, writing in his seminal work, From Columbus to Castro:

The History of the Caribbean 1492-1969, some fourteen years ago stated:

Given its past history, the future of the Caribbean can

only be meaningfully discussed in terms of the possibilities

for the emergence of an identity for the region and its

peoples. The whole history of the Caribbean so far can be

viewed as a conspiracy to block the emergence of a Caribbean

identity--in politics, in institutions, in economics, in

culture and in values. Viewed in historical perspective, the

future way forward for the peoples of the Caribbean must be

one which would impel them to start making their own history,

to be subjects rather than objects of history, to stop being

the playthings of other people (Williams, 1970: 503-504).

To make one's history seems to suggest a process that is built on

some values base. The purpose of this paper is to lay out a values base

for educational development in the Caribbean--education for human develop-

ment. The purpose of education in this model is to: (a) enable persons

to be who they are; (b) assist persons to participate in decisions that

affect their lives; (c) enhance persons acquiring personal meaning of life;

(d) assist persons to be autonomous; (e) enhance persons' sharing with each

other; and, (f) assist persons caring for each other.

IF. Ultimate Aim(s)

ProfessorsRobert Sherman and Rodman Webb of the University of Florida

writing in an article entitled, "Liberal Education: An Aim for Colleges of

Education," point out that:

. .education in a democracy has two essential goals, the

first being socialization (the transmission of knowledge,

values, and methods) and the second being criticism (the

development and use of critical intelligence). The

socialization function deals with skill development and the

acquisition of facts. The critical function deals with the

systems of thought (the orientations, frameworks, theories,

or paradigms) that give a fact its meaning and a skill its

relevance. The socialization and critical functions of

education can be distinguished for purpose of analysis,

but they should not be separated in practice (Webb and Sherman,

1933: 24).

The point being made by Professors Webb and Sherman is that education

must be discussed within paradigmatic contexts. That is, educational aims

or purposes must be considered when discussing educational praxis. To put

the point another way, " ... change or any intelligent action, is impossible

to achieve without the clarification of aims.... 'To have an aim is to act

with meaning, not like an automatic machine, it is to mean to do something

and to perceive the meaning of things in the light of that intent'." (Webb

and Sherman, 1983: 23-24).

What should be the purpose of education in the post-independence Carib-

bean? The question of purpose or ultimate aim must be based primarily on

human value judgement. it must be answered more upon the basis of value than

upon the basis of facts. The means to achieve my ends (purpose), the how of

my educational system (curricular programs, methods, strategies, evaluation)

will or should be related to my beliefs about the ultimate aim of education.

(White, 1982: 161).

It is important to note here that one's values, i.e., value system,

usually dictate one's actions and operations. Similarly, societal values

and value system, ( the values to which most members are socialized ) are

justified, explained, supported, and operationalized through the institutions

in that society ( religion, education, family, government, etc.).

Since values seem to dictate our operations, then questions pertain-

ing to why we are doing what we are doing are related to value questions.

In other words, the why of things usually center on ends or purposes. Supp-

ose I believe the purpose of education is to enhance the development of

self-knowledge and self-growth, then the reasons I give to justify that be-

lief will be loaded with underlying values, and will contain assumptions

about reality, truth, and value ( metaphysical, epistemological, and axio-

4

logical assumptions ). We give reasons to justify our beliefs, we give ex-

planations when we want to show how something was caused.

111. Dependence and Aims

The late Sir Eric Williams points to a critical variable for Caribbean

development, i.e., breaking the dependence on the outside world. To him, the

dependence is not only economic, " it is also cultural, institutional, in-

tellectual and psychological." He went on to indicate:

Political forms and social institutions even in the politically

independent countries, were imitated rather than created, borrow-

ed rather than relevant, reflecting the forms existing in the

particular metropolitan country from which they were derived.

( Williams, 1970: 501 ).

The critical concern. here is that the Caribbean has been dominated by

European and North American powers. Williams in the introduction to his

book, From Columbus to Castro, begins with the poignant statement: " For

over four and a half centuries the West Indies have been the pawns of Eu-

rope and America.'" ( Williams, 1970: 10 ).

If the educational structures may thus reflect practices and ends of

European and U.S. systems, then it is imperative to look at the aims of

education for each system in order to check the underlying philosophical

assumptions and the educational implications.

1V. Aims Analysis/European Model

An individual's perceptions of the purposes and functions of schools

is developed around a set of abstract beliefs, propositions, and assump

tions having to do with the nature of human beings, with the nature of soc-

iety, with what constitutes the good life, with how individuals relate to

the ultimate reality, and with the purpose of life. Out of these beliefs,

propositions, and assumptions is generated a statement that describes an

educational program based on those beliefs, propositions, and assumptions.

The European purpose of education as demonstrated through systems in

the British Caribbean can be perceived as the development of the intellect.

This educational aim has a long history, which can be found in the writings

of the early Greek scholars and philosophers. It is based on a dualistic

view of the world - the realm of material things and the realm of ideas. In

the natural order of things, the value of ideas, that is the domain of the

intellect, ranks above that of the material. One discovers changeless prin-

ciples of the universe by applying procedures characteristic of the intell-

ect, namely rational processes.

This position distinguishes between education and training. Education

has to do with developing the intellect in order to be able to deal with ab-

stract ideas. Training, on the other hand, is learning how to do the mundane

things associated with day-to-day living - preparing for a job, being a good

citizen, consuming wisely, being a responsible marriage partner, and so on.

These latter elements should not be associated with true education, accord-

ing to this educational aim. This position presupposes that education is not

for everyone - not everyone has the cognitive capacity to engage in thought

of a higher order.

When members of a society are socialized to this value position, then

their educational institutions will exhibit an hierarchical arrangement. If

the majority of members of that society were stigmatized, i.e., as slaves,

6

by the developers of this value position, then one should anticipate a kind

of intellectual elitism on the one hand, and on the other hand, members of

the stigmatized class never being credited for any great ideas - ideas that

serve in validating knowledge about the nonmaterial domain of values and

metaphysical principles.

Since becoming a member of the "philosopher king" class is the educa-

tional goal, then an outcome could be, as in the case of Barbados, the

schooling system inculcates a distaste for menial labor. Consequently, an

island based on a monocrop economy of sugar cane, i.e., agriculture, has to

import labor from neighboring islands because menial labor is perceived as

inferior by the schooling population.

Other educational implications of this educational aim in the Caribbean

may be seen in the 10+ examinations which are used to track students by

homogeneous groups; students reared in the Caribbean being taught European

history at the expense of West Indian history; curricula that support the

absorption of prodigious amounts of information; a high degree of reliance

on the wisdom of great minds of Western Civilization to give direction to

contemporary Caribbean problems; and the strict dichotomy between liberal

arts education and vocational education. For example, physical education is

not considered part of the academic curriculum at the prestigious Latin

Grammar Schools.

Of course, present realities are causing adaptations to this basic Eu-

ropean model in the Caribbean. For example, adjustments to the General Cer-

tificate of Education examination process. Nevertheless, the argument here

is that this educational aim is not conducive to Caribbean educational de-

velopment.

7

V. Aims Analysis/U.S. Model

The U.S, aim of education has to do with the responsibility of the

school for the development of learnings essential to the preservation of

the culture and the transmission of those essentials to oncoming gener-

ations of young citizens.

What is being communicated in this educational aim is the idea that

there are some essential elements of the culture that need to be passed on

from one generation to the next if the society is to survive.

A careful analysis of this aim reveals that what is essential is an

economic reality which is ensconced in a metaphysical assumption of a"free

market: That is', buying and selling, prices, production and profit, are

all predicated upon the result of a natural law of supply and demand. This

natural law is based on the assumption that reality and truth can be glean-

ed from the laws of nature. Thus, systematic study of nature, according to

this position, will yield a priori knowledge. Truth is then produced from

scientific endeavor; truth applicable not only to nature, but also to human

nature, the human enterprise.

Alvin Toffler, author of the book entitled, The Third Wave, calls

this "indust-reality." He contends that " it is precisely from this indust-

real image of the universe, from the assumptions buried within it, that

some of the most potent of our personal, social, and political behavior

patterns have come." ( Toffler, 1980: 113).

Objectivity, measurement, and standardization are the passwords in this

educational model. Concern for mastery learning, minimum competency testing

for state and national assessment are evident in this educational purpose.

This position offers a world-view of the operational world of American in-

dustry and business. The competitive, corporate organization that provides

8

each citizen, not only with his/her financial means, but also with his/her

status, style, and motivation of life.

The educational implications of this model are seen in the current pro-

ject by the Jamaican government to have American organizations develop

training skills for its unemployed youths - skills that meet business and

industry criteria. Another example of the adoption of this educational aim

in the Caribbean is in Haiti where members of the impoverished class are

being inculcated in the profit methods of capitalism as a device for social

change.

V1. Model for Human Development

The educational aim of this model is to produce effective human beings.

The key concept underlying this point of view regarding the purpose and

function of education is the sanctity of the individual person. It is the

individual human being who creates his/her world, and the educational pro-

gram should facilitate that process. This educational aim for human devel-

opment may be operationalized along six dimensions:

1, To help 'persons to be who they are.

A definition in Jet Magazine captures the need for Caribbean populations

to be who they are. The definition in the magazine was for an Afro-Saxon

who was described as " a black West Indian who feet are in the West Indies,

whose head is in the British Parliament and whose rear end is usually in

America," The message here is that the Caribbean populations especially

those of the former British territories, are made up predominately of persons

of African descent. Thus the educational aim should be to enhance this pop-

9

ulation being authentic. That is, it should help the population to sort out

whether their ability to speak English well makes them Europeans, or whether

cultural origins are critical to their understanding themselves, i.e., being

real.

William Buckley, the infamous conservative in the U.S. uses the West

Indian to show that while Afro-Americans have generally fared poorly econ-

omically and socially in the U.S, West Indians in general do well in the

U.S.. But are Afro-Americans really different then from Afro-Caribbean people?

Or were circumstances, i.e., degrees of freedom, the variable that may exp-

lain Mr. Buckley's perception?

As Paulo Freire showed in Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Frantz Fanon.in

Wretched of the Earth, Albert Memmi in The Colonized and the Colonizer,

educational curricula developed for oppressed peoples by the oppressor is

not conducive in enhancing the oppressed being who they are.

II. To help persons-to participate fully in decisions that affect

their lives.

To participate fully means to shape and make what should be. The educa-

tional aim in this context is to help people. to make choices from their own

actions. Botkin, et al., captures the point this way:

Participation is practicing roles. To avoid being ascribed roles,

it is necessary to be prepared to approach the widest possible

range of roles Education and training can lead to richer par-

ticipation by opening a greater number of roles. The ideal in par-

ticipatory education is that every pupil should have the chance

to play the role of president, captain, and leader, as well as

citizen, supporter, and follower, so as to experience as many

10

different kinds of roles as possible. ( Botkin, et al., 1979: 32 ).

Education for effective participation can be operationalized through

programs in which schooling and work are more closely integrated in order

to bring together theoretical training with the practice of living; an out-

come of which is responsibility.

111. To help persons acquire personal meaning of life.

if education in the Caribbean is going to have an aim of human devel-

opment, then the focus cannot be simply to get people to pass examinations.

Life in its broad ramifications must be the focus instead. Botkin, et al.,

raise two questions which they suggest are inextricably tied to the sur-

vival and development of humankind. One of those questions is:

... whether what we call progress is perhaps so hectic and hap-

hazard that world populations are utterly confused and out of

step with the waves of change it causes for better or for worse.

The idea implicit in this question is that, though highly ad-

vanced in other ways, modern men and women are as yet unable to

grasp fully the meaning and consequences of what they are doing.

( Botkin, et al., 1979: xiii).

if the educational system is geared to teach people to look for conver-

gent answers- to look for the answer rather than to look for divergent

answers, then the issues facing the Caribbean today, disorder, political

tensions, cultural identity, etc., will not be provided with solutions that

emerged from the acquisition of personal meaning. Learning will not be pro-

active in this context, but will take on what Botkin, et al., call, "main-

tenance learninq." That is, " maintenance learning is the acquisition of

11

fixed outlooks, methods, and rules for dealing with known and recurring

situations. It enhances our problem-solving ability for problems that are

given.lt is the type of learning designed to maintain an existing system

or an established way of life." (Botkin, et al., 1979: 10). While having

some value, it is not conducive to the Caribbean problematique, As the ly-

rics in the calypsoes suggest large portions ot the Caribbean populations

have become increasingly conscious of their servitude legacy, and of their

rights to impede or assist progress. Consequently, education that is hand-

ed to these populations from experts will be rejected.

1V. To assist persOnS to be autonomous,

Autonomy is the prerequisite of freedom, From it spring independence

and self-fulfillment, and without it liberty is impossible. Education in

this context mean freedom to learn rather than being taught; economic

security based not on blind consumption, but confidence in the society's

ability to fulfill basic needs of the population without undue dependence

on others; emotional strength which treats people as beings rather than

things and leads to lasting relationships; and finally it means political

power to determine ones destiny.

The authors of the report to the Club of Rome put the point this way:

" Autonomy as a goal ot learning for individuals is the attainment of the

capability to make judgements and decisions necessary to act with personal

independence and freedom. This does not mean that an autonomous decision-

maker can ignore external constraints." (Botkin, et al., 1979: 34). In

terms of formal education, autonomy derives from " the development of crit-

ical judgement." In order to enhance autonomy Botkin et al., warn; "The

12

transmission of otf-the-shelf knowledge, a method characteristic of most

schools ( in the Caribbean ) does not develop this capacity." (Botkin, et

al., 1979: 35).

V. To enhance persons sharing and caring.

Without autonomy community, i.e., caring for others, is impossible,

for the basis of community is the free association of autonomous individ-

uals. For example, Caribbean integration and community efforts politically

and economically, can never be legislated, nor can they exists in an un-

free society. Until persons are free and accept their responsibility, all

attempts at community are foredoomed. Consequently, the first step toward

having a sense of community must be self-liberation. From it comes freedom

which when tempered by education engenders responsibility. Only through

the free association of responsible individuals is community possible, and

only through caring for others can autonomous individuals find complete-

ness in the fellowship of a free society.

Sharing with others, cooperation, is illustrative of an autonomous

community. Cooperation, sharing with others, is a vital element of our

present day reality. However, most educational systems foster competition

as the fundamental rule. Strength is realized from the linkage of parts.

Competition does not reinforce, but lends itself to separation and frail-

ness.

Education for human development questions a way of life which assures

the most stock for the most cunning. Education for human development helps

mankind to transcend the jungle way of life in order to share the common

13

riches that cooperation and sharing with others foster.

V11. Summary.

The purpose of this paper was to lay out a values base for education

for human development for the Caribbean. From this values base, educational

programs, methods, strategies, and evaluative measures may be worked out

by Caribbean educators.

However, since the how of things educationally derive from the who of

things, then establishing first principles, so to speak, of one's values

base, or a priori assumptions and beliefs, is the critical imperative to

sound educational practice.

REFERENCES

Botkin, James W., Mandi Elmandjra, & Mircea Malitza. No Limits to Learn-

ing: Bridging the Human Gap. A Report to the Club of Rome. New York:

Pergamon Press, 1979.

Fanon, Frantz. The Wretched of the Earth, New York; Grove Press, 196j.

Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York; Herder & Herder, 1970.

Memmi, Albert. The Colonizer and the Colonized. Boston: Beacon Press, 1965.

Toffler. Alvin. The Third Wave. New York: Bantam Books, 1980.

Webb, Rodman B. & Robert R. Sherman. " Liberal Education; An Aim for

Colleges of Education." Journal of Teacher Education. Vol, xxxiv,

No. 4, July-August 1583, pp. 23-26.

White, John. The Aims of EdUcation Revisted. London: Routledge & Kegan

Paul, 19b2.

Williams, Eric. From Columbus to Castro: The History of the Caribbean 1492-

1969. London: Andre Deutsch Ltd., 1970.

Young, Alma. Caribbean Studies Newsletter. Vol. x, No, 4, Winter 1984,