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CHARACTER BUILDING

Gayong Academy: A Realistic Alternative to Today’s Education Dilemma

The Ritalin Reality
There is an education crisis going on in America today. Our recent presidential election attests to this fact, as both Al Gore and George W. Bush made educational reform one of their top priorities throughout the year. The statistics on America’s public education system are alarming. In some cities in America, high schools are graduating less than 50% of their students (The Heritage Foundation Website, 1990).Even more noteworthy is what is happening to children diagnosed with ADHD — Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Because of their diagnoses, many of these children receive behavior-altering drugs such as Ritalin. This drug has become so common that many in the medical and education professions not only feel it is being over-prescribed, but that it is reaching alarming rates. In the past five years alone, the number of prescriptions for Ritalin in the United States has jumped to 11.4 million from 4.5 million, according to IMS America, a health care information company. Furthermore, since 1990, the rate of Ritalin use has jumped 150% (The Detroit News Website, 2001). This country now uses five times as much Ritalin as the rest of the world. Dr. Peter Breggin, a Maryland psychiatrist and critic of psychiatric medications such as Prozac, describes the Ritalin phenomenon as “an incredible commentary on our society. Instead of addressing the basic needs of kids, we drug them,” Bregging said. “Better family life, educational facilities, spiritual direction, a safer environment, better television and videos – forget about it. Just drug ’em.”The Ritalin phenomenon is evidence that America is raising a nation of drug addicts. Some children, like Ben Evola, 13, of Lake Orion, Michigan, who has been using Ritalin since he was 7, have been on Ritalin for as long as they can remember, and will probably continue to take it for the rest of their lives. In response to the very real behavioral needs of our children, America is opting to embrace a quick pharmacological fix for its ailments, rather than turning to God-given responses that have been in existence for centuries.

One Alternative
Not everyone believes that drugs are the answer to our country’s educational dilemmas. Taqwa Gayong Academy in Paulsboro, NJ is a full-boarding home school for Muslim youth that focuses on orphans and young people from troubled backgrounds. Gayong Academy specializes in the type of young people frequently diagnosed with ADHD, mental retardation, and other behavioral problems. In public school settings, these youth are often placed in special education and/or subscribed medications such as Ritalin to calm them down and make them easier to control. Taqwa Gayong Academy provides youth with an alternative to a public education system that is turning many low-income, minority children into mere statistics. The Academy provides its students with a deen-intensive, comprehensive educational environment without the influence of drugs or special education to keep them “in line.” This unique Islamic education program includes a comprehensive daily schedule from fajr prayer in the morning to isha’ prayer at night. Moreover, with only 12 – 15 students at the Academy at any time, children receive the type of individual attention that they do not get in public schools. Gayong Academy welcomes the forgotten children – orphans, “troublemakers” and those with behavioral problems, including many inner-city youth. The co-Directors of Gayong Academy, Sulaiman Sharif and his wife Nurliza Khalid, run the school on their own, and strive to provide a family-like atmosphere that includes a nurturing, yet highly-disciplined environment. Gayong Academy “works” for these children because of the balanced, Islamically focused lifestyle that they live, which includes the physically demanding martial art of Silat Gayong from Malaysia. Silat provides the physical aspect of a highly balanced curriculum that also includes academics such as math, science and reading, as well as the religious disciplines of Islam. When Gayong students first arrive at the Academy, they become quickly indoctrinated into their new way of life. Many come from west Philadelphia’s unbridled inner-city environment, and are not accustomed to the structure and discipline that Cikgu (teacher) Sulaiman provides. At first, it is a difficult adjustment for some, but after a few weeks changes in the children begin to appear which can often be dramatic. For example, one nine year-old boy named Jamil who came into the academy grossly overweight, lost 35 pounds in his first three months. Another, named Kamar, classified by his former public school as “mentally retarded,” became one of the top students in the school within a span of a few months. In addition, he is no longer in need of the Ritalin prescribed to him by his former school. This is also true of the other students who were once on medication for behavioral diagnoses such as ADHD.

The Gayong Academy Formula
So what is it about Gayong Academy that leads to such dramatic results? Being a full boarding home school, Cikgu Sulaiman and Nurliza have a great deal of freedom in how they work. They are able to dedicate all their attention to the children, and do not have to deal with outside interference (except for concerned parents). Being a full boarding school also allows for continuity in learning, so that a positive environment, as opposed to the often-negative surroundings of their homes in the inner cities constantly surrounds the students. At Gayong Academy, the students do not have to deal with the pressures and lures of the streets and the dangers that come with them, instead, they are protected by Islam and two dedicated teachers who care about them. As a home school, Cikgu Sulaiman and Nurliza are able to run the Academy as they would a home with a large family. Living and teaching the children the Islamic deen is the central focus of the Academy, and because the students live there, they get to see it applied throughout the day in different situations. This experience gives the children practical learning, so they see how a jamaat should function. Discipline is a major theme within Gayong Academy. Many of the young people who attend the school come from families where the father is either absent or living outside of the home. For young black children living in precarious inner-city environments, not having the structure and discipline that a Muslim father brings can have negative consequences for his development. One example of this is that in the state of Colorado, for example, 85% of prison inmates come from broken homes (Independence Institute Website, 1999). Thus, having a caring male adult in a child’s life is critical to his or her successful development. For many of the children at Gayong Academy, Cikgu Sulaiman represents a strong male figure, and his reliance on discipline reinforces the proper conduct that is expected of Muslim men. The impact that Gayong Academy has on students is clear from the changes that the current group of students has undergone. One boy, Isaiah, was not Muslim when he entered Gayong Academy in September of last year. However, because his mother feared for his future in west Philadelphia, she did not mind him attending a Muslim school. She just did not want him “to become another statistic.” With this blessing, Isaiah has become Muslim (as all children are according to Islam), and his mother and other family members have commented that “they don’t even recognize him” when he goes home to visit, because he is so well behaved. In addition, after only a few months, Isaiah is receiving straight A’s in his Qur’anic vocabulary classes. Gayong Academy is a realistic alternative to today’s education dilemma because it enforces the Islamic lifestyle 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Its students are in no need of drugs and behavior-altering medications because at the Academy, Allah provides them with all that they need to become strong and successful Muslims. Even those who have been diagnosed with so-called “behavioral problems” such as ADHD, no longer require complex interventions like those prescribed for them in their previous educational situations. Gayong Academy, relying on Allah alone, provides its students with the attention, discipline and support they need to overcome their negative behaviors. In this way, Gayong Academy is a present-day example of why Islamic education has been so successful for centuries, and why we must return to it as the only realistic alternative for our children.

by Abdul-Lateef (Steven) Krauss Phd

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