The Question of Education

What we are creating in the name of education in most of our societies is based on a few core assumptions, which I believe are very questionable. Some of them are:

• Children are incomplete. They lack skills, knowledge and the required tools to fit properly in the society. They are like raw material that needs to be formed by elders to find the right shape.
• Children are born with different levels of intelligence. Some with higher IQs and some with lower. The main source of intelligence is in the head.
• Learning comes from the external world. The knowledge and skills are transfered to the student from the teachers, or the learning environment.
• Teaching, or the learning transaction is a one way road. It flows from the expert to the non-expert. From the teacher to the student.
• Education mainly happens in it’s own space; the school. It’s a process separated from daily family life.
• Children need to be equipped with ‘problem solving’ skills. As a measurement system, they are constantly given problems to be solved. The question is out there, created by the authority, you just need to find the right answers.

And many more…

Dancing with the crisis

How is the word ‘crisis’ perceived by you? Think about it!

For many people it’s associated with ‘a big problem’, and therefore something to be avoided as much as possible. And if it shows up, to be quickly fixed. Take the case of Wikileaks’ Cablegate as an example. Many know the case as a major crisis in the political world. How did the US government go around it?

Well, at first they tried to stop the information to be publicized, using many different strategies including legal threats to Wikileaks’ owners. And when the information was out, when the crisis showed up, Hilary Clinton was all over the place to fix the ‘problem’. The question is, how many times do you see those patterns of relating to a crisis around you? Avoiding and then quick-fixing?