Hi everybody,
lately, I've been discussing a lot with my students about the concept of education. Well, discussing might not be the term: I admit I have been lecturing. The topic: education and freedom.
The question is: is education freedom, or is it taming?
On the one hand, we will all agree that knowledge is freedom. Without basic skills, which you usually learn at school, you're lost.
However, and this is something most of the students have agreed on, most of the knowledge they receive is useless and meaningless, rapidly forgotten after a tedious exam.
Discussing, we've come to realise that school is ABOUT EVERYTHING EXCEPT LEARNING!: there's textbooks, projects, tests, support material, educative resources, assessments, homework, teachers teaching, students listening... a long list of things created to improve and evaluate learning, but, does someone EVER REALLY LISTEN TO THE STUDENTS?? Do they really learn things?
In my opinion, they learn to obey, to be efficient, to categorise knowledge into useful/useless, to hate rules that many times they don't understand, but eventually abide them... They learn to be competitive, and that life is hard and the weakest subjects will not be successful, and no-one will care. Good students learn that your work deserves a reward, like Pavlov's dog, and that nobody does anything for no prize (or price). Bad students learn to live in a system that ignores them and tells them they're not necessary for society, that if they don't study or work, they're DOOMED.
The problem, basically, is that school is preparing our students to SERVE A SYSTEM, THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM.
LUCKILY, MANY TEACHERS ARE STARTING TO BE AWARE OF THIS. Students are not tools, nor "human resources", nor "future workers". First, they have to be educated to be free, critical and happy.
Watch the clip of "The Wall", by Pink Floyd (click on the picture below). Things have changed a lot since those days, and school has become something else, of course, but there's still some truth in it.
Quique
lately, I've been discussing a lot with my students about the concept of education. Well, discussing might not be the term: I admit I have been lecturing. The topic: education and freedom.
The question is: is education freedom, or is it taming?
On the one hand, we will all agree that knowledge is freedom. Without basic skills, which you usually learn at school, you're lost.
However, and this is something most of the students have agreed on, most of the knowledge they receive is useless and meaningless, rapidly forgotten after a tedious exam.
Discussing, we've come to realise that school is ABOUT EVERYTHING EXCEPT LEARNING!: there's textbooks, projects, tests, support material, educative resources, assessments, homework, teachers teaching, students listening... a long list of things created to improve and evaluate learning, but, does someone EVER REALLY LISTEN TO THE STUDENTS?? Do they really learn things?
In my opinion, they learn to obey, to be efficient, to categorise knowledge into useful/useless, to hate rules that many times they don't understand, but eventually abide them... They learn to be competitive, and that life is hard and the weakest subjects will not be successful, and no-one will care. Good students learn that your work deserves a reward, like Pavlov's dog, and that nobody does anything for no prize (or price). Bad students learn to live in a system that ignores them and tells them they're not necessary for society, that if they don't study or work, they're DOOMED.
The problem, basically, is that school is preparing our students to SERVE A SYSTEM, THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM.
Watch the clip of "The Wall", by Pink Floyd (click on the picture below). Things have changed a lot since those days, and school has become something else, of course, but there's still some truth in it.
Quique
maybe we could change the order:
ResponderEliminarIt should be happy, free and critical, and always in a respectful way. Great clip!