CCT FINAL ESSAY

Colombian schools should allow other types of beliefs?

            Colombia schools still unify the Catholic religion as the only one and do not take into account the great ethnic and ideological diversity that exists in our country. According to Giroux, (2015): “Educators need a new language for addressing the changing context and facing issues and issues facing a world”. As Giroux states, educators should evolve through adversity. Technology is one of the main challenging issues that is taking part in the field of education. So, educators most play with the variables of technology, in order to fulfill the lack of awareness about the constant changing in the field of education, and in the context where they will teach.

In one hand, educators should have new ways of facing the great amount of ethnic diversity of their students. Also, they ought to be aware that each pupil was raised in a different context. Besides, taking this into account educators should have a flexible curricular model in order to be neutral in the classroom because in this way the bias of the educator will not influence in his students. On the other hand, some educators are indifferent to this type of principles because most of them follow standardized curricular models and focus on fulfilling their duties without taking part in the contextualization of each them.

According to McLaren (2003)

 From the perspective of critical educational theorist, the curriculum represents much more than a program of study, a classroom text, or a course syllabus. Rather, it represents the introduction to a particular form of life; it serves in part to prepare students for dominant or subordinate positions in the existing society (pág. 86)

 However, as McLaren states, curriculum represents an important role in forming lives because it serves to prepare people for certain roles in society. Also, they are going to carry out those roles in society throw all their lives.

Colombian schools still taught just the Catholic religion as the only one that exist across the country. According to Exteriores (2017) “Las principales religiones en Colombia son el catolicismo (87,3%), el protestantismo o Evangélicos (11,5%) y grandes conglomerados de miembros de La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días, Adventistas del Séptimo día, á, Judíos, Musulmanes, entre otros”  In one hand, it means that there is a large percentage of people who profess Catholicism. Also, there is a very low percentage of people who profess another type of beliefs around our country. But it does not mean that all people should assimilate this conception because of the number of people that believe in Catholicism. On the other hand, the education system in our country should improve its curriculum models to teach religion in schools, through different pedagogies in order to provide a diverse education and not a unified one.

 “Se garantiza la libertad de conciencia. Nadie será molestado por razón de sus convicciones o creencias ni compelido a revelarlas ni obligado a actuar contra su conciencia” (TÍTULO II CAPITULO 1. Artículo 18) So, this argument goes, that Colombians schools should not take for granted that each of their students has the same ideological setting because each of them have been raised in different context. Also, educators should know that: “Se garantiza la libertad de cultos. Toda persona tiene derecho a profesar libremente su religión y a difundirla en forma individual o colectiva. Todas las confesiones religiosas e iglesias son igualmente libres ante la ley” (TÍTULO II CAPITULO 1. Artículo 19). In addition, (TÍTULO II CAPITULO 1. Artículo 20):

“Se garantiza a toda persona la libertad de expresar y difundir su pensamiento y opiniones, la de informar y recibir información veraz e imparcial, y la de fundar medios masivos de comunicación. Estos son libres y tienen responsabilidad social. Se garantiza el derecho a la rectificación en condiciones de equidad. No habrá censura”. 

            According to the Frankfurt School (Giroux, 1983, p.19)

 It also rejected the mainstream sociological notion that culture existed in an autonomous fashion unrelated to the political and economic life processes of society. In their view, such a perspective neutralized culture and, in doing so, abstracted it from the historical and societal context that gave it meaning.

.           It means that each individual has a different conception of what surrounds him because he has been subjected to a specific context. Furthermore, religion is one of the most relevant bases of any society in the world because it imprints for life an ideological identity and lifestyle to each of the individuals that are part of it.

For example: in the Hindu religion their followers, most of them are vegetarians and do not consume beef due to their beliefs, they must treat animals well. In addition, cows are considered by them as sacred animals, and they are allowed to wander wherever they like, even though busy traffic. (Animal Ethics. 2010)  

            According to the Frankfurt School (Giroux, 1983, p.20)

Culture, like everything else in capitalist society, had been turned into an object. That is, under the dual rationalities of administration and exchange, the elements of critique and opposition, which the Frankfurt School believed inherent in traditional culture, had been lost. Moreover, the objectification of culture did not simply result in the repression of the critical elements in its form and content; such objectification also represented the negation of critical thought itself.

            So, taking this fragment into account, faith has become a business. What does it mean? For example, in Colombia, churches do not pay taxes. So, some people have taken advantage of that, and they swindle a lot of people, making them believe that they are doing donations for the neediest people.        

            In addition, from the beginning, the Catholic religion has always been rooted in Colombian society and has taken part in transcendental decisions of the country. But what about the culture and indigenous customs of our country? According to Jimeno (1992)

Around 500 thousand indigenous people live in Colombia, which belong to about 81 different ethnic communities, with 64 different languages spoken and belonging to 14 linguistic families. The biggest group of indigenous people are "los paeces". Nearly 100 thousand paeces inhabit the southwest of the country, on the two flanks of the Cordillera Central in the department of Cauca.

We have a large diversity of ethnic communities and we just forget about the great importance of those people for our culture because sometimes we used forget our own roots that bind us to this place.

       Furthermore, there are others communities across the country. “Precisely in Cauca, between Paeces, Guambianos, and Yanaconas, emerged in 1972 the first contemporary indigenous protest organization. The Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC)”. (Jimeno, 1992) Moreover; “los Wayuu is a society of transhumant herders with some 73,000 individuals which live in the semi-desert lands of the Guajira peninsula, they are characterized as being a matrilineal society” Jimeno (1992). Los Wayuu are the second largest religion community in Colombia. In addition, they have a system of descent, inheritance, and residence. Furthermore, los emberaes are inhabitants of the humid jungles of the west of the country, they are characterized by farming in the vicinity of rivers. (Jimeno, 1992)

            According to Jimeno (1992)

Los paeces, los wayú, los emberaes and nariñenses indigenous represent 56% of the Colombian indigenous population, while the rest is divided into 77 different groups. Moreover, the inhabitants of the Amazon have a lower number of inhabitants but with such as great variety of ethnic groups. Although, they share many cultural aspects, differ in their language and in the relationship with the national society. The Amazonian indigenous people are estimated at 50 thousand inhabitants, with about 50 ethnic groups and ten linguistic families. The great linguistic variety that concentrates the area is without a doubt exceptional

Through this fragment, we can realize the great cultural and ideological diversity that our country has. In addition, Most of the time we are ignoring these themes that are not relevant because sometimes it does not catch our attention or maybe we are just no interested to know our cultural background. Furthermore, the media always bombards us with current issues, but they have never taken part on the creation of spaces on television, in order to talk about our ancestral roots and all the customs that these communities have. Besides, these customs have passed from generation to generation because in this way those communities survive through time.

Thanks to these communities we have a different worldview about the conceptions of our Colombian history. It means that we cannot let these customs get lost because they are essential for our identity as individuals and we represent our country thanks to that identity. Sadly, “nowadays, some indigenous people are in a situation of impoverishment. Others bear the effects of the tension and violence generated by the presence of armed groups near or within their territories” (Jimeno, 1992). This problem has always been immersed in the indigenous communities and they have always been harmed by these armed groups. In addition, it is known of several cases of abandonment by the state to these indigenous communities and everything is due to the indifference of ourselves.

According to (Jimeno, 1992). 

Faced with the substantial contradiction between indigenous and non-indigenous cultural dynamics, there is still a little an official indigenous policies have achieved. However, the important thing has been to gain ground in two fundamental political elements: In one hand, in legitimizing the possibility of the existence of cultural diversity within the national State. On the other hand, the recognition it is still too general on the indigenous territories

As Jimeno states, there is still a duality and difficulties for indigenous communities to be recognized once for all by the state. They also demand that their territories have priority because for them it has a great significance and those places are part of their culture and traditions.

According to (Jimeno, 1992)

Based on these two political elements, in the recent discussions on the reform of the Constitution, the indigenous people and a group of experts on the subject achieved the recognition of the Colombian nation as pluricultural and multiethnic. And the adoption of norms that enshrine particular rights of the indigenous. (…)This, however, is just one step in a long way; some norms on political and administrative circumscription, territorialities and bilingual education were left in the new Constitution subject to becoming reality through particular laws, still to be specified.

 Thanks to the recognition of the Colombian state as a pluricultural and multi-ethnic state. Finally, it can be recognized through the Colombian constitution that each individual is in the capacity to profess their ideologies freely. In addition, schools must assimilate that their students are individuals who can have diverse cultural, religious and ideological conceptions. Besides, the Constitution of Colombia of 1991 is present to support those rights. Unfortunately, the cultural identities of students who attend an educational institution are still not taken into account. The only solution that is kind of viable is that schools implement a class, in which students use didactic and pedagogical models and methods. The activities consist that student takes part in the awareness of another world view of the different conceptions that exist in Colombia, and worldwide. In this way, students would be prepared for a world that is completely diverse in any kind of aspect. Also, this gives them the opportunity to feel comfortable with themselves and not afraid of being proud of their cultural background that makes them different from others.

           

      

 

REFERENCES

Darder, A., Baltonado, M., & Torres, R. (2003). The Critical Pedagogy Reader. New York: RoutledgeFalmer.

Exteriores, M. d. (Mayo de 2017). exteriores. Obtenido de exteriores: http://www.exteriores.gob.es/Documents/FichasPais/COLOMBIA_FICHA%20PAIS.pdf

Giroux, H. (22 de 10 de 2015). Youtube. Obtenido de Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAxj87RRtsc&t=924s

McLaren, P. (2003). The Critical Pedagogy Reader. New York: RoutledgeFalmer.

Animal ethics (2010, junio 29). BBC. Retrieved from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/hinduethics/animal.shtml

Constitución Política de Colombia. (1991)

Giroux, H. (1983). Critical Theory and Educational Practice. ESA 841, Theory and Practice in Educational Administration. Retrieved from: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED295320.pdf

Jimeno Santoyo, M. (1992). Los indígenas colombianos, hoy. Su situación real, problemas y alternativas. Revista Credencial Historia, (33)