The Education System Needs A New Design For Our Children & Future Generations
Does anyone find it interesting that as we grow up, we have programmed in our heads that when we have kids they must go to school? That’s one of the things I know I’ll think about when I eventually have kids. Our future generations are created because of US, right now. And they start as us being parents and choosing what we do with our children as they grow up. Do we homeschool them, un-school them, do we send them off to the schooling system that most all of us participated in, do we create something new for our children? These are questions we all must consciously ask ourselves before even considering having a child.
As I grow up, I realize I want children but I don’t want to send them to the schooling system that I had. Although I am so happy with the way I turned out, I would never allow my child to be put through the bullshit education system that I had. No doubt the teachers did a great job at their job (some of them), but a lot of it is indoctrinated teachings that the system that is in place wants us to have plastered to the inside of our brain so we can serve them in society.
Children are our most prized possessions in this world. They are curious and want to learn about life and then we grow up into who we are today. Just imagine how the future generations could create more impact in the world if our education system was shifted and pushed into a new system that served us as a whole.
This is something that I know, I will bring forth with Awake Alive Aware. There has got to be more of a spotlight on the children of our planet and the education system of which we choose to give to them. I’ve always been a super curious person in all aspects of life, I’ve never left my child phase of curiosity and I wish to bring this to the schooling systems. I like to learn about everything & anything, one thing school never allowed me to do. I had to learn what they wanted me to learn or I didn’t graduate. We have the right to learn about anything and everything and especially learn about the daily things that happen in life everyday that wasn't taught to us in school:
- How Do We Connect With Our Emotions?
- Conscious Communication
- Body Love & Acceptance
- Sex - Genitals- Pleasure
- Menstrual Cycle
- Nutrition/Health
- The Media/TV/Subliminal Programming
- Conscious Mind/Subconscious Mind
- Business/Entrepreneurship
- Study Of The Stars & What Fucking Planet We Are On
- Money - Cryptocurrencies
- Plant Medicine - Pharmaceuticals
- Death/Birth/Natural Birth
These are just some subjects that come to mind. School has got to transition from talking about the surface level BS, to getting raw and uncut with our children to know what this world is and the obvious scenarios that happen in everyday life. Obviously there are stages where certain subjects come in as they grow up and you wouldn’t just throw everything on them immediately, but this is something that I know needs a lot more attention in the world. How you raise a child is most likely how they will raise their child, and that is also how you raise the world of humanity.
I would love to hear your thoughts or ideas on things you have considered when having children and deciding what schooling system to put them in. Also, any ideas on how we can actually create this change together? What's your thoughts on the education system & do you think you learned what you needed?
Thanks for reading!
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I agree but it is not about the teaching and feeding things, some schools in the world have created wonderful artists, musicians, painters and sportsmen.
Oh yes I totally agree with you there! I just think there needs to be better subjects in the school
I have also thought a lot about this, though I don't have children yet. I think there is a lot to object to in the standard public school system and in many other types of schools, but I don't go as far as some do to want to throw out the idea of school altogether. Many have made the claim that the public school system was designed to create workers, learning things by rote, not questioning anything, being quiet and obedient, etc. as if the state is in the business of training future drones. I think that in many ways this is a fair criticism. Schools teach regulation of one's time and one's body, and obedience to authorities who are given the power to tell you what to do and where to go. If this power is put into the hands of someone who is burnt out, unimaginative and jaded, and who sees all of the students as drones, this is going to be terribly destructive.
Many things that I can criticize about the school system are double edged as far as I am concerned. What I mean is that even in things that I criticize I can also see a positive flip side. So every culture varies in the degree to which it prioritizes the individual or the collective. Japan is an example of a place where the collective far outweighs the individual. One sacrifices self in order to support the common good. The United States is more and more the opposite. There is less and less a feeling that we are all part of a collective, that we're all in it together and have a bond we share as citizens of the same country.
So you can say that one of the Cons of public school is uniformity and conformity, the risk of getting rid of children's individuality by leveling off differences, asking children who don't fit in to the existing blueprint to try harder to suppress authentic parts of themselves that don't fit in with the majority. You might think there could be no Pro side to this issue, and if you definite it this way, I can't see one either. But I do miss the sense I had as a child that across the country we were learning the same things, the same historical and cultural touchpoints, reading and writing English in a standardized way, with many of the same holidays and traditions. It's the feeling that no matter what different ideas and backgrounds we have at home and our individual beliefs and destinies, we all break for juice and crackers mid-morning. We all take a recess and run around and get some of that energy out. We all respect the school principal. We wear costumes on Halloween and bring cupcakes when it's our birthday. We learn to take turns, not interrupt, and how to work in groups with each other. Then again, others may say that it is exactly this type of cultural normativity that has made people from different cultures, beliefs and religions feel left out or invisible in school and that the shared sense of country and culture was merely an illusion. This subject is so vast that I just realized that I can't possibly express everything about it in the space here and I don't want to cheapen it by giving it short shrift. So I'll leave off here.
The bottom line is that I think all children should be allowed to explore and play and to be taught to think for themselves and defend their arguments. I think children should spend time with each on their own and learn how negotiate social groups, make up rules and standards among themselves, figure out how to take turns, solve problems, tackle challenges. I think they should all learn basic math, science, language, art, and music skills, and be acquainted with the key events in history (and learn how different people interpret them and learn to think of their own interpretation.)
I believe there are schools that accomplish these things, but they are the exception, not the rule. Homeschooling can accomplish many of these things as well, though I think extra attention has to be paid to making sure the children get to spend time with other children outside their family.
Very thoughtful, insightful comments! Love that you included a cultural aspect as well - as certain cultures (for example, Japan, China) - there is much more of a group mentality emphasis.
If we focus too much on rote memorization we lose that independent, free, ability to go outside the box thinking. (How else will we get more disruptive innovators?)
Yet, we do need to learn some basic essentials that often rely on memorization ...
Love these discussions! Keep them coming!!
Thank you! Definitely would like to keep discussing these things as we all own a share of responsibility in what the next generation becomes.
@teresachang - Agree! Its funny, I actually went to kindergarten in Japan and when I came to the states they told me I needed to retake it because they didn't think I was up to speed with everyone else, even though i felt I learned more in Japan kindergarten than I did in the states! HA
@clemdane thank you for such a thought response - I definitely agree with this comment. I believe the school was made for workers while on the other hand it does bring structure. But the structure that it brought was a lot for us to work for them and the system. Although I have seen within my own life that the structure the school system created for me, is also how I like to do my daily tasks, I like having blocks of time where I can focus on one subject and then move to the next. It is more left brain thinking, instead of Right brain - while on the other hand it never really put me in creative mode unless I was in Art and even then they told me I had to design this exact picture or I wasn't doing the right thing. I too believe there are some schools that do, create environments that connect individuals, but there definitely needs to be an upgrade. I would love to one day soon create a new schooling system that addressed all of these issues, while not shaming the other, but just putting a new light and creating a new way for children.
I agree. I think there needs to be a balance of Right and Left brains. I went to a wonderful school in kindergarten through Second grade where we had "classes" but there was also a lot of play and experiential learning. It was a private school in an old mansion that they had taken over and repurposed. There was a whole working kitchen and in Second grade we started cooking and baking things as a way of learning basic chemistry! It was pretty cool. And starting in kindergarten our music class consisted not just of singing songs together but of performing entire musicals! We were each given parts and had to "rehearse" and then perform these musicals, like Peter Pan, Pinocchio, Snow White, etc. It was so exciting! I was a child, so to me it seemed like we were really performing in a play like the big people who put on shows in theaters (my parents took me to a ton of theater.) We also had free reading periods, lots of recess, a wonderful art class where we drew, painted, made clay pots, did wood carving and linoleum block printing(!), and also classes in manners and etiquette, which I adored. When we learned math we had a physical representation of the progression of numbers printed on the floor from 0 to 10. If we were adding 5 + 2, one child would go stand on the 5 and take 2 steps. Then she and the class would see what number she was on - 7. Later it was even easier to learn negative numbers because on the other side of the 0 the negative numbers began and went down to -10. So if the teacher asked us to subtract 3, the child would walk three places towards the negative direction. It was extremely cool. We also had parades, festivals, costume days, etc. Those were 3 of the best years of my life. Apparently the founder had studied these new theories about experiential learning for children and she created the school based on these philosophies. This was in the 1970s. She was already 80 when I left there and I found out she died in 1983 at age 88.
I sometimes daydream about founding a school that is similar to that one. The only problem (ha!) is I have no background in education. Also, society has changed so much and become so knee-jerk and litigious about a lot of things that you probably wouldn't dare do most of the things we did in that school. More's the pity!
Woowww! Your school seemed so cool and very experimental! I would have loved to go there. The math I learned was so hard compared to the way you learned haha. I definitely dream about creating a school like that and adding a few things. I have no background in education either but where there is a Will there is a Way! I'm going to keep seeing where this can go lol
OMG, we have the same mindset :)
haha Im glad we do!!
Eventually, on this site, I am going to get around to solution posts! Right now I'm still in my cranky phase. When I do get there one solution offered up is what I'm calling The Four Pillars of The Global Commons Society, or The Earth Commons Society so as not to be labeled a shill by the flat earthers.
Education would be one of the pillars. Ecology would be a primary course as well as economy......The Rockefeller model of education and its master/slave ethic and unsustainability has to come to an end...
We need an education system and life system which teaches people how to become masters in any given area of interest. Socializing the creation of money would be a necessary condition for such a civilization.....
Well i would like to be part of these solution posts haha - Maybe team up and work together! I definitely agree the Rockefeller phase must end!
I agree, at school we are taught so many things which we may or may not (and mostly not) use later in life. And while we may be able to parrot forward history dates, we lack the basic life skills to for instance - make sure we don't repeat history!
Thanks for the share, resteemed.
Totally agree! Its crazy that its still going on for so long, but its us who needs to step up to the plate and create this change! Glad you enjoyed
Those who have children will have no choice but to put their kids to school and let them go through that conventional learning. Even if they are aware of the BS educational system. So the kids grow up scared to explore, pursue their passion, think outside the box, as they are only limited to only what has been instilled in their minds. They were only taught how to follow rules and conform.
Reminds of the movie 'captain fantastic'.
I think there are schools that allow kids to explore and learn to identify and pursue their passions, and think outside the box. These schools are are and it will take extraordinary effort on the parents' part to find them and make them available to their children. In many, but not all, countries homeschooling is another option.
May I ask why you think they will have no choice but to be put in those schools?
In some areas in the world, there is no other choice of schools, and most people really just want to put their kids in the conventional school. Say an artist, there's a 'starving artist' label and parents are afraid that their kids will be labeled as this, pursuing something that won't give them a good life in the end. People should understand that situations and educational system in some areas are not like in the US / Europe. And people still have the old school thinking. If you haven't lived, studied and been to these countries then I can understand.