THE MISEDUCATION OF THE PRINCE HALL MASON

I was wondering the other day: what are the things we as Prince Hall masons have got wrong or not completely correct? What things can be worked on and need fixing?


1) History: A lot of us lack a sense or zeal for history. History is not too deep or difficult, it is simply recognizing where we as Prince Hall masons have come from and come through. It should be something elementary every Prince Hall should understand, from the Charter of 1784 down to the history of your own lodge. A lot of our grand lodges don't have historians, and a lot of those who have historians grimshaw their histories providing completely wrong information and some pointing in the complete wrong directions for their members to search. A lack of proper records-keeping and archiving by some of our GL's have resorted to some of us resorting to other means of retrieving information about our own grand lodges/lodges. A few of our grand lodges have libraries and archives, and even fewer allow their members access them. A lot of our lodges' archives are not always safeguarded and insured thereby when they get lost, or destroyed by nature, our generations have lost a chance to learn about who we are or where they come from in the craft. Also I'm not sure if majority of the membership seems to be nonchalant about these kind of things. Speaking of membership...

2) Membership: I understand, to a certain extent, Freemasonry is a business. It is in the business of making good men better, and in this business, money is key. However, the need for money to run our lodges and grand lodges, but it seems to me that a lot of our bodies close their eyes to the sorts of men we bring into our fraternity just because their money keeps the light on. This is a growing challenge all over the world with our frail fraternity where we have more members on the roll answering to being called a mason rather than being made masons themselves. They have cheapened the brand that we call freemasonry. Their characters are relatively unknown and hardly vouched for. Some are the victims of a troublesome society and imperfect upbringing to where the craft could have honed them into better people, they are not those sorts. The tools of freemasonry are used to make perfect stones out of rough ones..not sand. Perhaps with better education from their older members, they would not have been this bad. One needs time to grow in this craft, but a lot of men come into the craft with a stubbed foot. And these people are allowed (once again thanks  to the almighty dollar) to go through the other masonic bodies without even a chance to understand the degrees or bodies they belong to already...and once again, education would have fixed this, but ...you know...let's make that number 3.

3) Education: Poor education of candidates leads to having lackluster masons. Masons who get dropped after their first year of getting raised...masons who are all about talking and not about working for their lodges. Not only do they lack in terms of ritualistic work and masonic education but basic education as well. I have been in lodges were the grammar of those brothers as young as I am was atrocious. I am not saying this because I am some sort of grammar expert (clearly I'm not) but I have no problems in pronouncing some words like...say...eavesdropper. There is a critical flaw when you allow in a brother with no proper education gain access to the complicated and allegorical science of freemasonry. There's gross misinterpretation and misdirection of the brother especially when no one sits him down to teach him. There's a big problem when he walks around saying he's a mason  with a shirt that reads "THE LORD IS MY SHEPARD"....A past grand master of my grand lodge once stated :

"None should be admitted into the mysteries of Freemasonry who are uneducated. None should be accepted for their money alone, but for their internal qualifications; their moral and educational qualities. Education is power; it moves the great levers of nations; it makes men better citizens, better mechanics and better Masons; it prepares one for the race of life. An uneducated man is unfit for the mysteries of Masonry and is completely out of place in a Masonic lodge"

Moving on. When we are sure of the members ability to learn and proactively seek information and learn and be open-minded...there should be a structured masonic educational process. Most of our lodges and grand lodges lack that. How are we going to effectively educate our masons without any sort of curriculum?