WHEN children learn, they have to be at peace.
They have to understand. It is cruel to teach them as if they do not have the capacity to think.
Each thing they are taught has to make sense to them, then it can be said they have learned something. When they understand something, they are able to use it.
Children have an intrinsic interest, a great interest in the world they live in, it is their home and they want to be at peace in it, to feel so special in it.
They want to understand how it works so that they too can work in it; create their own world in it.
They are interested in it; watching and learning should enable the children to ensconce with reality, to touch it, smell it, feel it, hear it; they must reflect on it, cogitate, introspect and test various theories to arrive at their own conclusions which make sense to them; that is learning. And when they have accomplished this, vanenge vadzidza.
They have to understand everything that surrounds them; it is a thirst in them. They have to figure it all out, to construct in their minds how it works, how it all holds together.
The interest and energy is there, the questions are there, they already are pursuing them in their own special ways, using their intelligence. They are totally engaged and the school can, and should, give them a boost.
Operant conditioning is for rats, not for humans. When a rat does something so that it gets a reward (Skinner’s Stimulus Response Theory), it is entirely different from what goes on in the human mind.
A human being does things for purpose, he is a purposeful being. This means that in whatever a human being does, there is a reason.
Thus for children to learn, there must be a reason they appreciate. A child understands when there is a reason to learn something, when there is a purpose.
If there is no reason, the child does not ensconse. The child can hear but may not remember, after sometime he/she goes out to play, and that is the end of it.
Paulo Freire once said that teachers are the most preposterous beings; they just get into class and start talking when no-one has asked any question. Freire meant there must be a reason, a purpose to teaching and learning (Freire: 1985).
When children do not learn what is meaningful to them, they do not ensconse, and when they do not ensconse, they do not make it, and when they do not make it, it is said they have failed. But what have they failed? To learn things that are not meaningful? They have failed to learn what is unintelligent.
They are not permitted to think, so they fail?
They are not permitted to understand, so they fail.
Thus to pattern the learning of humans after the behaviour of rats is incorrect; it is obduracy because humans are not rats, because the purposes of humans and those of rats are worlds apart.
What then is surprising is that instead of seeking to understand what went wrong in teaching and learning such that intelligent beings do not make it, the supposition is made that there is something wrong with the learners; the teaching and learning tools are exonerated, the children are labelled unintelligent.
And it is concluded that the best way is to force it down their throats, repeat , repeat and repeat again; coach them, drum it into them, in the end they pass the exams, but what have they learnt?
The curriculum is the culprit, the curriculum is not correct. It teaches about what is not real in the children’s lives, but they have to be at peace, they have to be at home with the curriculum.
When a curriculum constantly tells lies, there is a problem. When it tells children nothing in your world is correct, that to learn about your country is wrong, but to learn about other people’s countries, that there is a problem with your own foods, your lives and lifestyles but other people’s lives and lifestyles are good.
Kuvepo zvakadaro zvinoreva kuti vana vanotukwa kuti havana kukosha pavari.
Like everyone else in the world, our children love themselves, because to love yourself and your own is a natural condition; self-hate is an abnormal psychological condition.
And therefore it does not work, no-one feels at peace when he/she is denigrated and no-one learns when he/she is not at peace.
Nzungu dzambuya dzinokosha, mabarwe ambuya anokosha, kwambuya nasekuru kunonakidza. Zvose izvi zvikava mukudzidza kwavo, vana vanonzwa zvidzidzo zvavo.
If you teach about how to make life easy for mbuya, the children will be invigorated, if you teach them how solar can be used so that mbuya can see clearly when she cooks at night, you will have won their hearts.
They will spend hours and hours on such a project; they will invest all their hearts, all their love, and this accomplishment will mean much more than any exam grade.
So children will ensconce when something is meaningful to them. Then, your science will make sense, your history will make sense.
If you cannot be at peace with your mother, your father, your grandmother, then who are you?
If you do not know your totem, then who are you? If you do not know your grandfather’s name, then who are you?
What about the history of our family? Where do we come from? What is our name? Who are the family heroes? What are they known for? What is our family specialty?
Are we Mutsikapanembiri, the fore-bears of excellence?
Are we Shumba/Mhondoro, the undefeated, the great protectors?
Are we Madzimbahwe kwaMambo, the rulers of Zimbabwe?
Tiri verufura mushukuru weGona, the fore-bearers of spring, the great dawn of life?
Izvi zvinoshingisa vana kuti mumwe nomumwe ane zvikosheso paari.
What child can fail to feel good, to feel special, and to learn? Would poetry be such a chore? Would history be about amassing cold meaningless ‘facts’? Would science be so dead if such were the curriculum?
Extra lessons, weekend lessons, holiday lessons, coaching classes, are not necessary; kugomadza vana. With the correct curriculum everyone will learn, and enjoy it. They will excel without being treated like rats. When they are treated like the intelligent beings they are, they will make it.
How can we help our mother so that she isn’t always having a headache about relish; hence how to improve the raising of free range chickens, how to ensure that our goats do not miscarry and the herd grows faster, how can we grow rabbits and how to grow our garden so that all flourishes with minimal water, the simplest form of drip irrigation, raising fish at home in a small pond?
With all this, their mother will be secure about relish. Children love their mothers and they will always want to help them and this is one sure way of ensconcing the children.
We still have grannies who make the best clay pots and basins. Children are mesmerised when they watch their grannies, aunts or mothers craft these special utensils.
They would love to learn how to do this and it is a special craft to teach. Incredible beadwork and special basketry is made in various parts of Zimbabwe.
What child does not want to create beautiful things? Children can be taught to make the best fishing nets so they can help their fathers, how to maintain them and how to conserve fish.
When children are masters of their own lives, they can learn anything, anytime, as long as they have a sure footing in themselves.