Kwanzaa Chapel

I attended Kwanzaa Chapel on Friday Dec. 10.  I know absolutely nothing about Kwanzaa, so the message was very eye opening.  Kwanzaa didn't seem to be a specifically religious holiday.  It seemed more of an opportunity for people of African descent to come together and celebrate their commonalities.  There are seven principles of Kwanzaa, and they are as follows:
1.  Unity
2. Self-determination
3. Collective work and responsibility
4. Cooperative economics
5. Purpose
6. Creativity
7. Faith
The speaker, Sheila Radford-Hill, challenged the notion that these are "universal" principles.  She said that each African American's experience is so different that an entire culture's variance can't be represented by simply seven principles.  She then went on to describe how, though they aren't all-encompassing, these principles really get to the heart of what the African American experience is all about.
I really enjoyed this talk.  I learned about Kwanzaa and thought critically about what a message like this meant to the education world.  The best I could come up with is that kids are all very different, and it's the teacher's job to demonstrate how their commonalities can help them build relationships.  Specific to music, each student will have different feelings or opinions about a piece, but it's important to talk about and celebrate those differences, and ultimately come together to perform the music.  Each person will "feel" it differently, but the collective effort and commonality of the notes are the shared things each musician can bring to the table.