A late maverick Nigerian Musician, Fela Anikulapo Kuti released a song with that title, “Teacher, Don’t Teach Me Nonsense”.
Experience has taught me that we are all Students of Life, learning things as we age. We ALL have Teachers, Parents, Lecturers, Pastors, Influencers, Friends etc.
We are also self-taught on some things: there are people who taught themselves how to play musical instruments, there are people who taught themselves how to use some computer applications; people teach themselves how to use some tools etc.
Personally, I learned a lot of stuff by watching some tutorials on YouTube.
Some lessons we learn are GOOD, some are BAD: that is why we have to be sure we are learning the right things.
In the Book of Genesis, God taught the couple NOT to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. “When you eat from it, you will die”, God told them.
But they were taught something contrary! The Serpent taught them they would NOT die if they ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil! He painted a different picture to Eve: “God KNOWS that when you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God…” He covered POISON with Chocolate Cream: he taught them NONSENSE.
Some years ago, a friend asked me if I had ever smoked shisha. I told him no- I don’t smoke cigarettes. He said, “Harry, shisha is NOT like cigarettes- it contains no nicotine! It’s just flavored smoke!” Same M.O. with the Serpent: covering POISON with Chocolate Cream!
In the Book of Jeremiah, we read: “…They have taught their tongues to LIE” -Jeremiah 9:6. They taught themselves how to lie- in other words, they were self-taught.
Going further in that Chapter, we read: “…They have followed the Baals, as their ancestors taught them” -Verse 14. They were taught to follow Baal by third parties: their ancestors.
I took some kids aged 10-12 on a fishing expedition in 2022. As we walked to the river one of them said, “I HATE TINUBU!” I was shocked! This kid will not vote until 2031, but he has apparently been taught HATRED for a Politician, most probably by his parents. Now, they wouldn’t have sat him down to have a conversation with him on it, he must have picked it from listening to their conversations. There are FORMAL ways of teaching, there are INFORMAL ways of teaching.
A lot of the NONSENSE we are taught is because we don’t know how to sift information: we simply swallow what we hear, especially when the Teacher is someone we look up to. I once heard Pastor Sam Adeyemi say he once preached in Church and said, “The Eagle is the highest-flying bird on the Planet!” Now, he had heard this preached for over 30 years and he simply believed it. But when he preached it in his Church, someone looked it up on Google and told him he was WRONG! I was impressed by the kid who HEARD him and CROSSCHECKED to CONFIRM the info.
When I was younger, I was in Church and the Pastor said “NOBODY called God FATHER until Jesus!” That was a Teacher teaching NONSENSE: Prophet Isaiah called God FATHER in Isaiah 63:16.
We will save ourselves a lot of problems when we learn to CROSSCHECK things before we swallow them- especially when they are from people we look up to. That was what made Scripture call the Berean Christians NOBLE.
Apostle Paul came to town and entered the Synagogue to preach. The town had been agog since the banners were placed all over: APOSTLE PAUL STORMS BEREA! He came with a lot of reputation as a Man of God. The synagogue was packed full. Paul came out and picked the microphone…
He preached a strong message and got a thunderous ovation at the end! But guess what? When the people got back home, they crosschecked his message to confirm if it was true! They cross-referenced what Paul said with Scripture, Google and all Search Engines to be sure Paul did not teach them NONSENSE!
As Africans, we believe a lot of NONSENSE. When I was 10, my mother cooked lunch one Sunday- Rice and Stew. She had served the Rice in a cooler and was on the dining table, the Stew was warming on the stove. I was too hungry to wait: I dished some Rice for myself and went to the kitchen to dish some Stew for myself. My mum followed me and knocked my head as I was about to dish the Stew! I asked her why. “It is a TABBOO for men to dish stew from the pot”, she taught. I asked why. “If you do, you will be sterile!”
Now, imagine my 10-year-old mind hearing that. It didn’t make much sense! So, I asked, “mum, how does dishing stew from the pot make a man sterile?” she knocked me again! “How DARE you question your mother!”, she said…
30 years later, I clocked 40. I threw a party and my mum and siblings all came over to celebrate with me. I brought up that dishing-stew-from-the-pot incident. “Mum, I know you won’t knock my head again- at least not at my 40th Birthday Party. So, I ask again: how does dishing stew from a pot make a man sterile?”
Everybody laughed! “Harry! You still remember that!” I replied, “Actually, my head remembers those 2 knocks and it wants closure…” Then my mum said, “Well, that’s what MY mother told ME as a kid- and in our days, you don’t question your mother!”
That was a classic example of “Teacher, Don’t Teach Me NONSENSE!” My mum swallowed what her mum told her WITHOUT asking questions. She simply took it as TRUTH: mummy is ALWAYS right!
A mother took her 3-year-old daughter to school to start a new session and noticed she had a new classmate- a Black kid. Her daughter had never seen Black people before, so she was worried how having a Black classmate would affect her daughter. After a week, she decided to have a talk with her daughter about it.
“I noticed you have a new classmate, Darling…”
“You mean Amani! She’s my new Best Friend! I like her!”
Mum was shocked! She asked, “Do you notice something different about her?”
Her daughter replied, “Yes! She wears glasses!”
The 3-year-old was too young to be taught RACISM. But give her 15 years, she could be a White Supremacist- she would have been taught NONSENSE by Society!
The question now is, what are YOU learning? Who is YOUR Teacher? Are you sure you are not being taught NONSENSE?
Scripture says, “All your children will be taught by the Lord and great will be their Peace” -Isaiah 54:13
The best Teacher to have is God Almighty Himself: with Him, you can be sure you wouldn’t be taught NONSENSE.
Shalom,
Haruna Daniels