The final idea is about education. The root of this word is ‘educe’ coming from latin ‘educo’ meaning to bring out or draw forth. Our current concept of public education however leans more toward systematic indoctrination.
The social engineers of the 30′s had to design the public education system around what the leaders of industry were doing. It is basically a training ground for factory workers who learn to do their work, don’t make mistakes, keep their head down and listen to the boss. This wasn’t a conspiracy, it was a necessity in order to facilitate our next step in growth. The problem is that it is no longer working because the model is outdated.
The public system is the de facto standard education. It teaches us to not only become good factory workers but also to function as consumers of culture rather than creators of culture.
Our brains are organic problem solving machines and the interface that organizes sensory inputs from chaotic wave patterns into a coherent reality structure. Try and say that five times really fast!!!
So here the idea:
There is only ONE problem on this planet and that is a mindset. There isn’t an infinite amount of problems to stress about and solve.
Rather than relegate ourself to the notion of “that’s just the way it is” and train ourself to function as a robot we could become child-like to the world around us again. School doesn’t necessarily need to become Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium but it does require a shift in thought.
We basically have to discontinue the plan of keeping people dumb in order to get them to do the shitty things that smart people don’t want to do. Yes, we are all in this together and each have something amazing to contribute.
The following are what I see as the foundational pillars for a revitalized education plan:
1. Curiosity and play. The neural activity in the brain of a curious and playing human being is off the charts compared to a passive brain.
2. Critical thinking. Differentiating between opinion and fact is essential. The internet is filled with shitty information and we all know what opinions are like.
3. Creative thinking. “Imagination is more important than knowledge”, so sayeth Einstein. Innovation and invention applications for the creative mind. This is where we become creators of culture and see time as art. The human being is an experiential artist.
4. Language development. Children under the age of 7 can learn up to 11 simultaneous languages so why isn’t this a global standard? What happens to our brain when we create new languages?
5. Emotional awareness. I.Q. means nothing if we are unaware of our emotional responses to experience.
One thing I typically felt about school was that it wasn’t engaging all aspects of the human being. I like the idea of having a project focused learning environment. What I mean by this is that we could easily learn math by building a house as opposed to sitting in a desk.
We could become so much more creative and intelligent as a species but we are not yet smart enough to facilitate ourselves in activating that potential. The beauty about this educational model is that we can start right now to activate it in our own brain. We don’t have to tear everything down and start from scratch. We just need to recreate our world from the inside out starting with the only thing that we actually have control over… our brain.
April 5th, 2011 at 12:51 pm
Wow, I so completely agree with you, especially about how math is taught. Of course that is of great personal interest to me because I teach math at a university. One of the courses I teach is to future teachers, and my main goal is just to help them see the playful, creative side of math and get past their fears that it is hard or boring or just about memorizing formulas. But it is a constant struggle- I am often criticized by faculty in my department who think I should stick to traditional ways of teaching math. I also have been involved with curriculum development for the Nova Scotia Department of Education, and that has been a frightening, futile experience. Some educators obsess over whether we should say “dot” instead of “decimal”. So I often feel like I am banging my head against a wall. Now my approach, to preserve my sanity, is to make it more personal- to talk to anyone who is willing to listen- parents, kids, anyone with an open mind. I try to talk about what I do as a mathematician, especially activities that involve math and art. But, as you say, the main problem is the mindset. I try to stay hopeful.
I especially like that you have included the emotional awareness component. That is such an extremely important part of learning, even math. Especially math- because people like me do math because of the excitement, the euphoria, the joy of it. At the same time, there are struggles and frustrations but society is so set on wanting things to be quick and easy.
Great post- thanks for sharing!
April 5th, 2011 at 2:00 pm
I love the idea of the five proposed courses and if this school existed in my timeline, I would have made sure to get thrown out of the other formats to finally land there.
April 5th, 2011 at 8:05 pm
Amen Brother, amen.