 |
| "12" (CC BY 2.0) by Inti |
I always find it intriguing how through history we have learnt so much about the best way to do things (through trial and error) but these "truths" often become fragmented and disjointed and the signposts we were once so accustomed to seeing have long since fallen into disrepair. We don’t pass on these gems. Some time ago I wrote up these 12 things that I think education should provide. Many wonderful writers have spoken about them so I still stick by them.
1. It should help you discover and exploit your strengths
The learning opportunities you get to access should begin to give you a real sense of what you are good at and provide you with the platform and opportunities to exploit them.
2. It should judge you not on how you answer questions but on the questions you ask
Your educational experiences should give room for you to ask questions, to ask WHY things appear to be the way things are and for you to get feedback on your curiosity.
3. It should teach you HOW to think not WHAT to think
We are not machines or vessels to be filled with all kinds of stuff where we are told to jump and we ask “how high?” We need to be free to solve social problems and think in radically different ways that enable us to meet life head on without fear that we are ill-equipped for the task ahead.
4. It should challenge you academically, emotionally, socially and creatively
We should be using our academic opportunities more effectively; subject matter is simply a tool. It is through challenging times that we grow and academia can play a role in this. Your education should value all aspects of learning though. Not just the academic.
5. It should involve your whole community
There is so much to be gained from working directly in your community. Your education should present you with real life challenges that enable you to have a real impact on other people’s lives for the better. You should be valued for your contribution in ways that recognise everything you do regardless of your academic capacity at a particular point in your life.
6. It should give you choice as to where, how, what and when you learn
It is important for you to take responsibility for your own education. It should open up new avenues to help you get where we want to go, not prescribed routes as if we know what is to come.
7. It should give you the opportunity to access other people’s skills and experience and enable you to share yours
It is important for you to be able to access other people’s skills whether through projects or challenges where you can access real life learning opportunities.
8. It should develop an ardent desire to better understand both yourself and the world around you
The world and the various cultures within it carry important moral and social information vital to your future selves. Your education should inspire you to reflect on your actions and to learn this vital awareness. You were born with this curiosity.
9. It should give you opportunities to collaborate with other people
Collaboration should be a central component of the learning experience. Your education should provide multiple opportunities and strategies to collaborate with other people developing communities that produce new connections and ways of working that set courses of education cannot provide.
10. It should enable you to reflect and learn from your mistakes, and value the learning gained from making them
Mistakes are positive things. If you do not stretch yourself and reach for something without first falling you will never really achieve very much. It should free you up to try and not be afraid to fall.
11. It should spur you to act
Making the decision to act is vital. Your education should not hold you down it should liberate you. If you are left feeling powerless then something has gone wrong with the system. What are you going to do?
12. It should give you access to knowledge and wisdom of ages past so that you can bring them to bear on the problems of the future
Mankind has learnt a great deal about itself over the years but it often continues to make the same mistakes. Your education should give you access to the knowledge and wisdom of ages past that is relevant to your life. It should point the way and help you sift out and lay aside the things that are not.
I wonder if in time we will remember what education should really do? We do some of these things but many are not really included. We say they are but they are not for every everyone. It is my ardent hope that we wake up and recognise that it is time to focus on what really matters.
John Hassall, Founder & Creative Director, JOHASS
0 comments:
Post a Comment