Classical Christian Education in Africa a Holistic Change

Introduction

An ancient Chinese proverb says, “All men are born equal, but they are educationally different.” This traditional wisdom of the ancient encapsulates an altruism that spotlights the distinction between nations that are progressing and those that are regressing, between nations that are developed and those that are underdeveloped. Societies that are concerned about their future, therefore, invest heavily in the education of their young people, as another well known adage says, “If you are planning for a year plant rice, if you are planning for a lifetime plant a tree, if you are planning for posterity educate a person.”

This essay stems from the concern that the secular progressive approach to education, and especially its watered down version, a colonial relic, that is been run in Nigeria is grossly inadequate to propel the country toward meaningful development. Thus, I seek here to make a case for a trans-generational investment in Christian education as a contribution to national development. I will, therefore, discuss the holistic approach to education in traditional African societies, the key features of Christian education, and the Christian school and nation building.

Holistic Education in Traditional African Societies

When African peoples lived in traditional societies, the education of young people was done in a holistic fashion. By holistic approach I mean that concerted efforts were made to prepare and equip the individual with every necessary knowledge, skill and orientation for living in the society in which they were raised. This involved helping them to socialize and integrate into the general culture, have an ethical and moral compass for life, be oriented towards the spirituality of the culture, and being helped to acquire the skills necessary for survival in the physical world. All this began in the early stages of enculturation at the nuclear family level, but continued through the extended family setting and other larger societal structures like age-grade fraternities. Simply put the education of the young in the traditional African society was integrated, not compartmentalized, community-based, not individualistic; hence the African saying, “It takes a whole village to raise a child.”

The westernization of African societies has had both positive and negative implications. The transplanting of secularized and post-Christian progressive educational approaches of Western countries in the last century into African societies has denied these latter societies the ethical and moral moorings that had undergird the development of the former. The implications of this are manifest in the magnitude of moral decadence and the monumental corruption that is plaguing every facet of most African societies. This is why a truly Christian education has become imperative for the re-vitalization of our societies.

Features of Christian Education

The rural-urban migratory trends that characterized our continent in the last 100 years are having the unintended consequence of destroying traditional communities in which children were raised. Urbanites no longer have the “village” that would raise their children. Besides, those who work in Western-type economies spend more than a third of their day away from home. If children have the nine to ten hours of sleep they need per day, they would be fortunate if they are able to spend two meaningful hours with their parents per day. Children are, as a result, left to be raised by teachers (at school where they spend at least one-third of their day), other children (nannies or house girls), and televisions or other electronic media. The Christian school, therefore, becomes a critical factor in providing the “new village” that will furnish the child with its socialization platform, ethical foundation, spiritual formation, and life skills.

Early childhood education is crucial because it is the point at which children receive their life and world views—the framework through which they perceive reality, the world, and their place in it. World view is determinative of how a person lives. The Christian school imparts a biblical world view, thereby laying a solid foundation for moral probity and integrity.

Furthermore, it is also important that even the knowledge about the physical world (whether in the humanities or in the sciences) be acquired from a Christian perspective. The person learning in this kind of context is able to understand the Creator-creature distinction, which is very foundational for wholesome human relationship to the created realm. Such an understanding affords one the right perspective on the divine mandate given to humanity at creation (Gen 1:28). An inadequate understanding of the Creator-creature distinction leads to either of two things: the worship of creation, or the abuse of creation. Examples of the worship of creation abound in almost all traditional societies. This phenomenon is returning to advanced economies in different forms such as extreme leftist environmentalist activism, extreme animal right advocacy, and new age religions. Abuses of creation are also found in almost all societies. Examples of these include the depletion of the ozone layer and increasing the toxicity of our atmosphere by the huge outputs of carbon emissions, deforestation, and other activities that are resulting in desertification and the diminution of natural watersheds and the concomitant attenuation of surface water supply sources.

A proper understanding of the Creator-creature distinction makes one to be neither an abuser nor a worshiper of the earth. It makes people to understand their role as stewards of God’s creation, and to use in such ways that are both sustainable and renewable.

The Christian School and Nation Building

I find no words to describe my perplexity at the level of decay in the moral fabric of the Nigerian society today. This spirally degeneracy has brought us as a nation to a dangerous precipice. Such a turn of events cannot continue forever. Looking ahead, I can see three possibilities any of which could be our lot in a short time to come. These include a total dissolution of the polity as we know it with the concomitant abysmal chaos and breakdown of law and order; a radical revolution that will bring untold massacres and turmoil; or a true spiritual awakening that will sanitize and transform the polity. My prayer is for the last of these options. The Bible says, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people” (Prov 14:34). We have seen the reproach of sin as a nation—Nigeria that in the past was a darling of the world has become a laughingstock among the nations. This is where the Christian school becomes an imperative.

A truly Christian school orients its students to understand all of life as service to God. Such students would, therefore, view their vocations as calling, thereby obliterating the secular–sacred divide, the bane of contemporary societal degeneration. When this happens, we will be keeping hope alive for the next generation, even if ours is a wasted generation. In this direction the classical Christian Education curriculum offers the most viable option for social renewal.

Conclusion

That Nigeria is in desperate need of change is no secret. Yet our national leaders are either completely clueless as to how to initiate it or they lack the integrity and the will power to charge forth with it, even though it was the change mantra that was used to entrap the populace into the quandary they have found themselves in at the moment. However, all hope is not lost. The church of Jesus Christ remains the abiding hope of the world. More particularly, classical Christian education offers an alternative that will rebuild our communities from the ground up for true transformation.

Dr. Cephas T. A. Tushima is acting Director of the PhD program at Jos ECWA Theological Seminary, Nigeria. He is also an adjunct professor at Eastern University, Pennsylvania.