In an ideal world, how do you think education should be
organised?
What priorities do you think it should reflect? and who
should be responsible for ensuring that it is of a good quality?
In
an ideal world, all members of any given society should be familiar with the
metanarrative(s) that structure their world. We are going through the fourth
industrial revolution and the technological force that fuels its unfolding is
changing and challenging our ideas of who we are and where we are going. The
global village is a reality and we should have the tools to overcome the
adolescence of our species. William Gibson once said, “The future is
already here — it's just not very evenly distributed.” I feel a laudable
purpose of education would be to prepare people to be active members of a
global community whose main purpose is to improve the well being of all while
exploring the ever-expanding universe. It
is very interesting to notice how organizations such as the World Economic
Forum call for an emphasis
on mostly soft skills as the foundations of our operating system for the 21st
Century. I think they are pointing on
the right direction and their suggestions actually goes hand in hand with the Agenda
2030 from the United Nations. Governments should do a better job at
informing their societies about the changes we are going through and the
necessity to change our myopic views and come to a general agreement about
where we want to go and what we have to do to get there.
1. How has your experience of school shaped you as a
learner, and as an adult?
2. In what ways do you think your own schooling could have
been improved, and what priorities do you think are the most important for
schools today?
I
think my experience at school came short when it comes to delivering a sense of
community and historical awareness. Most of the learning I consider meaningful was
incidental. Basically, school unintentionally provided a physical space where I
could get together with other people my age and learn by imitation how to
perform the social roles expected in the socioeconomic context I was born into.
There was no sense of transcendence
whatsoever. In regards to formal academic input per se, I was exposed to what
somebody for reasons unknown to me had deemed relevant. Learning fuelled by curiosity did not find a
friendly niche at school. Education was
analogous to complying to a set of rules and repeating information on command.
I
feel my schooling could have been more meaningful had it shown me the relevance
of being an active member in my community. It should have shown me how align my
abilities and interests with a social project. I was never explicitly taught
soft skills which I consider to be the foundation of a vibrant and healthy
society. Luckily, I joined the boy scouts when I was seven years old. That
experience kept me on the right track since the ethos that structures the
institution points towards helping children become a positive force in the
community they are part of and the world at large. Even though I am not part of the Boy Scouts
anymore, I can safely say that they planted good seeds and helped me become the
kind of person I am today.
In
regards to formal education, it is my belief that schools should make sure
students understand the historical development of humanity and see society as
an organism of sorts that can be intentionally improved for the betterment of
all. This, I feel, would provide students with agency, sense of belonging, and
purpose. Students should comprehend that we have no ultimate answers and that,
with the means and scientific understanding we have at hand, we are doing our best
to come up with a narrative that helps us navigate space and time as our
imagination unfolds.
My
father has always been a role model to me.
He’s a hardworking man who does what is right. Even though he barely
finished high school, he took his learning in his own hands. There were always
books at home. He would dive into them and looked almost mesmerized. I
decided I needed to know the fountain he would often visit.
Becoming
an avid reader totally changed my life. It literally prevented me from going
rogue. We used to live in a rough
neighborhood in Bogotá. Many of the kids I grew up with ended up dead, in jail,
or addicted to drugs. My dad knew it was not the best environment to raise his kids, but it was the only place we could afford. This situation didn't turn him bitter. Actually, he was the first stoic I
met. He never complains about what fortune brings and takes away. Nietzsche’s
amor fati (love your destiny) has been his motto. He usually says he feels
grateful for having the opportunity of experiencing life with its ups and downs. Most of the lessons I have learned
from him were never intended as lessons to begin with. When I was a child, I would just observe
the way he reacted to different challenges in life. That was how I learned to accept the mystery
we are part of and live a virtuous life.
Another
teacher that comes to my mind is my third grade philosophy teacher, Aurora
Esguerra. I fell in love with philosophy
because of her. She provided me with
tools to assess different discourses and taught me not take anything at face
value. We would have conversations
during recess and was the first adult to tell me that my making impersonations
of other teachers was not something to be punished for. She told me that humor is one of the best
tools against grandiosity and that we shouldn’t take ourselves so seriously. She never patronized me; if fact, she would
listen to me attentively and point at flaws in my arguments and wait patiently
for my response. She was the first
teacher in secondary school with some sense of humanity. We were not just her
students; we were members of a community of practice where empathy, respect,
and tolerance were at the core.
These are the questions and answers for Week 2:
1. During
your own education, how has your "intelligence" been assessed?
The
approach I have been more exposed to/subjected is quantitative assessment. Basically, you are exposed to some input that,
in most cases, you are supposed to either memorize to then paraphrase in a test
when it comes to an academic subject, or just perform the desired behavior if
it is an observable skill. In the
former, feedback and/or ongoing assessment are usually absent. In the latter,
even though sometimes there is immediate feedback, the stress is put in the result
and not the process.
2. How
has this affected the educational opportunities you have been given?
Because
of my academic success, I was able to access what people traditionally call a good
public secondary school and a good public university. I learned to play the
academic game as it was presented to me.
Public
education, to some extent, provided me with some tools to play the job market
game. I landed a good job and was able to pay for a Master’s at a private
university. Just like in any other country, a lot of people still believe that
getting a diploma from a renowned private university means you have been
properly educated. I know I did.
Currently,
I feel technology has democratized education. We get to learn whatever it is we
want to learn online, in most cases, for free.
The question now in not that you don’t have access to education, but how
to use your time to turn your life project into a reality by means of turning
learning into action and vice versa.
3. What
judgments have people made about you that have been affected by an assessment
of your "intelligence"?
I
was explicitly/implicitly taught that good grades meant intelligence. People
would tell my parents that I was intelligent because I did well at school. My
parents would proudly nod. I felt then the responsibility a.k.a. pressure of
studying hard to get good grades. That was the name of the game. I kept doing
well while my passion for learning faded silently. I was told I was “intelligent”
and I believed it. People would say that I had been born with a “gift”, that I
had a lucky academic star, an Aristotelian intelligent essence of sorts. It
never occurred to them that my academic success was the product of my passion
for learning.
4. Do
you consider yourself to be a "learner"? why?
I
consider myself to be a lifelong learner. It is a concept that has been around
for some years now and I like it. It
means we are an ongoing process whose dynamism depends on our hunger for
learning and learning how to learn. It is an empowering and humbling endeavor
that allows me to navigate the oceans of uncertainty we all live in. It is a
kid of self-actualization game tied to something greater than ourselves. It is
your passion put to the service of the betterment of the different communities
you are part of.
Question:
Based
on your experience as a learner, what do you think you will be able to get out
of this course? And what ideas do you already have about the future of
education?
I
feel this course will provide me with a better-rounded view of the ecosystem of
approaches surrounding learning. I will be able to incorporate some of the
ideas shared in the lectures, readings, and forums into my own practice. I have
been working as a facilitator for more than twenty years and have experienced
the organic nature of the teaching/learning complex and how it is informed and
shaped by contributions from different disciplines ranging from psychology to
neuroscience.
In
regards to the future of education, I feel the exponential rate of change we
are experiencing calls for a different focus. I read a World Economic Forum report
released earlier this year where after analyzing the impact of technology in
the workforce, they have concluded learning institutions should provide people
with adaptive skills that will help them better navigate the changing world.
Interestingly enough, the emphasis is put in soft skills and metacognitive
strategies. The world is changing fast and
so is our identity as species. We as educators should provide our students with
tools that will help us all create a new narrative of purpose, a new chapter in
the book of life. I could not be more excited.
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