Ubuntu Philosophy
Posted by Trésor KayumbaWhen we concluded what was described by 5th graders as an “interesting, creative and wow” book, A Gift From Childhood, we invited parents to participate in a reflective conversation about some of the most profound themes in Baba Wagué Diakité’s book. Our communal conversation involved students, parents and Head of School, Sharon Lauer. During this discussion we explored concepts that we consider to be critical to our development. We spoke about gender roles and the impact of culture and tradition in our lives … including the perplexing question of the relevance of tradition in an age of digital grandeur.
We used the age old South African philosophy of Ubuntu to guide our conversation. Ubuntu emphasizes our shared humanity and means “a person is a person through other people”. By using Ubuntu as the foundation for our conversation, we acknowledged that we are a community and that success comes not through individual effort alone, but also through the collective. This notion was true when we shared and reflected on the fundamental themes in A Gift From Childhood with parents and with each other.
Ubuntu is a philosophy we embrace all year in our 5th grade community and it is a doctrine we hope to be guided by.
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