What does your education mean to you?
Every time I see a child, I am amazed at their sense of wonder, curiosity and their insatiable thirst for knowledge. Leave a child alone with a toy and he/whe will have a great time…they are so immersed in the moment that nothing else matters. And if you snatch that toy from them, they will scream. Children live with so much energy and vigour that by the end of the day they have a sound sleep.
I think the schools of today make education a boring experience. The rote, bookish knowledge that we gain in schools cannot substitute for life-skills. What use is an education in the classroom if it does not teach us to respect one another, if it cannot teach us basic courtesies, if it does not teach us empathy? What use is such an education if it does not inculcate in us the need to help one another. If all our education is just to get a job and earn a living then I think it does not serve its purpose.
Our education has not found a way of creating a fun environment wherein learning can become an enriching experience. Our classrooms like places of work make it mandatory for children to sit on desks and tables in a classroom. Wouldn’t a colourful place with lot of games, pictures make learning more enriching for children?
Today’s teenagers show total lack of basic courtesies – like offering seats to the elderly or pregnant women. They get involved in gangs and exhibit uncontrollable anger. This can be attributed to the lack of a well-rounded education. Our education has to instill the right values from early childhood. These values have to be reinforced at home too so that it becomes a part and parcel of growing up. If we have not learnt to wish our neighbour, to exchange pleasantries and enjoy living with people of different backgrounds then our education has not served its purpose.
In my view, our education should bring out the leadership quality in us. It should give us
.. the strength to act in accordance with your own values amidst obstacles
.. the sense of what is right
.. confidence and enthusiasm
.. adaptability
True education should bring about social cohesion, communal harmony and entrepreneurship spirit. It should help us to unite for a common cause – like the alleviation of poverty, removing corruption and other social ills like gambling and addiction.
Interesting links:
Ken Robinson on TED talks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY
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Buds Academy
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My Kaleidoscope 
This is a great post…children learn through interaction,roleplay and hands on activities..you have expressed these beliefs so well..an unstimulated child becomes bored and once a kid is bored they must be stimulated in other ways…Eliza Keating
Yes! This is what education should be about.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t appear to be happening. There are many young people educated to be ready for the world of work and all the restraints it contains, with scant regard for the greater aspects of humanity like fun for its own sake, compassion and the use of their own wisdom. When they leave school/college and can’t get the work they were trained for, they are left adrift.
I don’t think it’s too late as adults to try and recover some of that child-like wonder that is often buried in the day-to-day challenges of making enough to pay for the roof over your head, bills and food. Let’s pay more attention to how children live. We may learn something.
I don’t know, I disagree. I like your ideals of education, within the current political system throughout the western world they would have a rather positive effect, but I’d say that education achieves its purpose completely, that is, to make us into workers, people who understand the value and virtue of following rules, of letting authority make desicions for us, of taking what rewards we are offered and not believing we have voice enough to ask for, I daresay, what we deserve. Read The Underground History of American Education. You can find it at http://mhkeehn.tripod.com/ughoae.pdf
I’d also add to your list that people should be taught to use their senses from a young age, to really observe things, to really hear, etc. and philosophy and logic should be taught from a young age also. Children should know how to solve problems before they face them in their teens, not know as in already have the answer, but know as in apply methods of analysis, formulate a logical plan of attack and execute, standing back afterwards and finding out how successful they were, whether, for example, they still feel alienated, or have improved their grades, whatever, etc.
Thanks for your comment
I do agree with most of what you have to say, I am a teacher myself. However; school systems are NOT the place to teach about basic and common courtesies. That is something that is taught from a young age in the home environment and fostered at school.
One of the main reasons I refuse to work in any modern/Western countries is… political correctness and the sillyness surrounding it. It is like modern education is too touchy feely and encourages students to try to be the same with no original or creative thinking. Rather teaching about independence and relying on ones own brain to solve problems and gain experience they resort to the instant gratification method of wanting answers at their finger tips and not having to work on it to figure it out for themselves.
I agree with you, the “Mary Poppins” form of education where you have to find and discover the fun in every job is gone from education and replaced with a dry and boring educational system throughout the world.
Education starts at home and a good foundation can be offered by the parents. Then the student will find it easier to differentiate the real from the unreal. Education is much broader than a classroom and self-learning, peers, and the environment play a big role in a well-rounded education. Thanks for your comment.
It ought to be recognized that the aim of education is not to produce leaders, as most assuredly not every student will grow up to become a leader. However, with a good education all students can learn how to employ reasoned thinking and make good decisions, regardless of which profession or occupation they choose to pursue. .
What any good education provides students with is the habits of focused attention and concentration, the ability to follow arguments, and the ability to distinguish the important from the trivial and to grasp new concepts. Critical thinking skills help students clarify goals, examine assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluate evidence, accomplishes actions, and assess conclusions.
Although not everyone can become a leader, education can serve to make us better people with some civic sense and empathy for each other. Thanks for your comment.
Education should instill some practical skills and not train one to become a clerk…
I do believe that education begins at home and should instill in us some values for life without which life will be a selfish & mundane. Thanks for your comment.
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