As a child I have always wondered if I really belonged in the school! (Is the feeling mutual my friend?)
I was mostly scared in the classes because I want very good at studies. I have got beatings from my teachers, especially from the Math and English teachers. I believed I was no good for studies and nothing worthwhile that I will be.
Well, it turns out there many who thought that way and figured out what they were really good at and contributed.
It looks like, every country on earth at
the moment is reforming public education. There
are two reasons for this. The first of them is
economic. People are trying to work out how do
we educate our children to take their place in the
economies of the 21st century? How do we do
that given that we can't anticipate what the
economy will look like at the end of next week, as
the recent turmoil is demonstrated. How do we
do that?
The second is cultural. Every country on
earth is trying to figure out how do we educate
our children so they have a sense of cultural
identity so that we can pass on the cultural genes
of our communities while being part of the
process of globalisation? How do we square that
circle?
There's a third reason which is created by the Covid-19 pandemic recently and that is related to the emotional aspect of a person. Children are frustrated, parents have no clue and the schools are still puzzled as to what should be the best way out for education to continue. In a bargain like this, the tension has built up. People have less options for entertainment and exposure. As a result, the emotional balloon of people is at a breakpoint and it needs an immediate and assured release of tension. But the irony of our education system is that it doesn't really educate people to give an 'empathic listening ear' to those in need. Our parents, educators are at a loss in situations like these.
We also try to educate every child in a standard way. The structure as we follow at schools, the curricula etc is of a "production mentality". Not everyone fits in the same mould and if we try, as we do, the children loose the interest in education. Then we try to use different strategies to get them focused to "our way" of education.
The arts
especially address the idea of aesthetic
experience. And aesthetic experience is one in
which your senses are operating at their peak,
when you're present in the current moment, when
you're resonating with the excitement of this thing
that you're experiencing, when you're fully alive.
An anaesthetic is when you shut your senses off
and deaden yourself to what's happening. We're getting our
children through education by anaesthetising
them. And I think we should be doing the exact
opposite. We shouldn't be putting them asleep
we should be waking them up to what they have
inside of themselves.
Schools
are still pretty much organised on factory lines;
ringing bells, separate facilities, specialised into
separate subjects. We still educate children by
batches; we put them through the system by age
group - why do we do that? Why is there this
assumption that the most important thing kids
have in common is how old they are. It's like the
most important thing about them is their date of
manufacture. Well I know kids who are much
better than other kids at the same age in different
disciplines, or at different times of the day, or
better in smaller groups than in large groups, or
sometimes they want to be on their own. If you're
interested in the model of learning you don't start
from this production line mentality.
Well, we need to prepare our children to solve bigger problems (like climate change, population, Individual responsibility and the social sickness of exclusion etc.) than just producing things. We need better humans of us than just Engineers, Managers, Doctors etc.
Educators have the most critical role to play, the role of "making a Difference".
~Inspired by a talk at RSA, by Sir Ken Robinson
