A Northwestern University professor told students Wednesday to move toward African-centered education in order to break down Eurocentric attitudes and racism.

Dr. Safisha Madhubuti, a social education and social policy professor, said education should be provided from an African-American viewpoint.

“In America it (African-American education) is particularly necessary due to the fact that the entire American history has been intertwined with racism,” Madhubuti said.

She said this type of education is a reactionary response to racism and a “natural framework of reference for the affirmative development of the community.”

Many movements, such as the Cultural Literacy and Paideia Movements, do not acknowledge the contributions African-Americans made to contemporary Western society, she said.

“(These movements) do not stand on strong political or ethical morals,” Madhubuti said.

Students need to be exposed to Afrocentric society, she said.

School curriculums should include dialogue on different views of historic experiences, she said. Students must critique learning to find the “truth of education,” Madhubuti said.

Madhubuti co-founded the Institute for Lifetime Education in 1969. The institute provides a model for community-based education.