#tha1520Culture

 In the black culture we are dogmatic when it comes to our children or anyone perceived as young or under us to question us. For example, we tell our child to do something, perhaps clean their room.  Our child says the word that would get us in the 70’s or 80’s smacked in the mouth, “why”!  We then say or repeat what we’ve been told or have learned, “because I am grown and said so!”  Herein lies the problem, in enforcing our dominance we block the child’s ability to learn. Maybe the child is being stubborn but maybe, just maybe he doesn’t understand why the task is required. 

We are taught to do just as instructed and the results will (be innate) be the correct ones. However, this fly’s in the face of how knowledge or “learning happens. True learning or pedia (deep learning in Greek) comes from questioning the questions. Let me explain!  In the religious study of Jesus, he never gave answers but asked questions.  Those questions forced his audience to think.  Not just think but allow that thought to create action. Dr Malcolm Webber says that an effective leader needs to be able to think and act in order to lead. Therefore, when we do not allow our children in the culture to question us, in an appropriate way, we are stifling their growth. 

This is directly opposed to or in conflict with how we were taught. As blacks in the culture, we were not allowed to deviate or question what the powers that be say to us. Be it the slave master or the government, we as people were not allowed to say, why!