Education is....part 2

I like quotes. I have always found them more fascinating than just reading history. Real people saying real things that hold so much meaning in very few words. They make me think. They make me want to learn more: about the person, the situation, why they are timeless. The words above are by our students. The words below...well read for yourself.

So I have started this second blog about education with some quotes by old guys, dead guys, American, British, Indian, Greek, black and white guys. I saved the women for last, don’t worry. Please take a moment to read and ingest their words, then my words, then more words by others.

 “The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn and change.” Carl Rogers was a humanistic psychologist believed that for a person to "grow", they need an environment that provides them with genuineness (openness and self-disclosure), acceptance (being seen with unconditional positive regard), and empathy (being listened to and understood).

“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it”. Aristotle- Greek philosopher

“The great aim of education is not knowledge but action.” Herbert Spencer- British philosopher and sociologist

“The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.” Sydney J. Harris -American journalist

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.” Martin Luther King, Jr.-activist, pastor, Nobel Peace Prize winner.

“Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.” Malcolm Forbes- American entrepreneur

“The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth.” John F. Kennedy- politician

“The foundation of every state is the education of its youth”. Diogenes- Greek philosopher and cynic

The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence. Rabindranath Tagore- polymath (look it up…I did), poet Nobel Peace Prize winner

“Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.”  Robert Frost-poet 

“The mere imparting of information is not education.” Carter G. Woodson- African-American author, journalist and historian

“The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives.” Robert M. Hutchins- American educational philosopher

“Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another.” Gilbert K. Chesterton- English writer, poet, philosopher, dramatist, journalist, orator, lay theologian, biographer, and literary and art critic…hmmm pretty sure that’s not covered by a test.

Right education should help the student, not only to develop his capacities, but to understand his own highest interest. J. Krishnamurti- philosopher, speaker, writer

My turn: As with all my writing, I started in one direction and wound up here instead. I was going to talk about schools that are harming students and schools that are doing some amazingly innovative things…next time.

Education is about inspiring young people to take chances, be innovative, inclusive, supportive and collaborative and become compassionate human beings. Education is about allowing people to identify and develop their skills and talents in a safe, loving environment. It is not about memorizing facts and figures. It is not about performing on tests created to judge what you don’t know, not what you do know. It does not happen with standardized curriculum, in large classes, or small classroom or with punishments and shame.

It happens with high expectations, flexibility, structure, and consequences. The sharing of information and the tools of discovery. At the end of the day is it more important for a student to recite the names of presidents, or states and capitals or multiplication tables? Or is it more important to observe and discuss the actions of those leaders, the tactics, and strategies that led to the development of state systems and how numbers exist and play a role in the existence of life itself? Tools to find answers, creativity to form their own questions, thinking outside the classroom or the exam.

Standard curriculum should include community service, social justice, human rights, practicing art, music, dance, and drama from around the world, second language fluency, book clubs, science exploration, technology applications for global solutions, land use and conservation, mechanics, and business practices. These would give our young people all the basics we have relied on and believe to be important: math, language, history, science, tech, but through creative, problem solving, question based, thought-provoking, hands-on collaborations that have the capacity to open their minds, focus their actions toward others, and create solutions to real-world problems, while appreciating the beauty of the world around them – outside their door, outside the classroom, outside their state, outside their country.

A few quotes from some amazing women. Please if inspired by any of these words, look up the speaker. Read more about them. Open your mind to their ideas…some are quite old and some are new and courageous and bold.

“My mother said I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy. That some people, unable to go to school, were more educated and more intelligent than college professors.” Maya Angelou amazing human being, Nobel Peace Prize winner.

“…education deserves emphatically to be termed cultivation of mind which teaches young people how to begin to think.” Mary Wollstonecraft, 18^th century author, feminist

“The highest result of education is tolerance.” -Helen Keller, American deaf & blind lecturer, winner Presidential Medal of Freedom.

“Computers can do all the left hemisphere processing better and faster than the human brain. So what's left for the human brain is global thinking, creative thinking, intuitive-problem solving, seeing the whole picture. All of that cannot be done by the computer. And yet the school system goes on, churning out reading, writing, and arithmetic, spelling, grammar.” -Betty Edwards, American author, researcher, artist

“A quality education has the power to transform societies in a single generation, provide children with the protection they need from the hazards of poverty, labor exploitation and disease, and given them the knowledge, skills, and confidence to reach their full potential.” -Audrey Hepburn, humanitarian, actress

"The principal goal of education in the schools should be creating men and women who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done; men and women who are creative, inventive and discoverers, who can be critical and verify, and not accept, everything they are offered." - Jean Piaget, Swiss philosopher and scientist

Oops the last one is a man…and wow he thinks just like me- found the quote after I wrote the blog…let’s all embrace this idea and create a new way to educate. Let’s Educate to Change.

Too Much

Too much fear, too much food, too much hate, too much violence, too much water running down concrete sidewalks.

Too many cars, too many opinions, too many words, too little said.

To little connection, too little kindness, too little empathy, too little curiosity, wonder, awe.

Reverse culture sock has been a problem in the past. Being overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of stuff available to us- the ease in which people buy and spend and waste. For the first time in years, I am not heading back right away: I can’t focus on the simpler life I have in Gulu- walking, talking, connecting. I am alarmed and saddened by friends and family who support a venom spewing old man, who has never worked for anything a day in is live, who hates women, and degrades and ridicules everything I old to be sacred- love, service, compassion, kindness.

I believe in people still. I have seen those with nothing give everything and those with everything give nothing. I started on Facebook as a way to share my travels with family and friends…to stay in touch. I now have friends from around the world. But it is not a place of kindness or intellectual exchange, and the negativity is too much. I will stop using Facebook for the time being. I will be on messenger, WhatsApp and for my local friends my phone number is 541-613-6216….at least for now. Let’s have lunch, or go for a walk, or just sit in the park. Turn off the TV, put down the computer and go talk to your neighbor…don’t judge them, don’t judge anyone…who are we to judge? Live by example in kindness. 

The Sun and Moon

If you cry because you miss the sun, your tears will not let you see the moon ….African Proverb

It has been a while since I jumped into the unknown. It was sad to leave my home in Gulu this week; my friends, the familiar shops, restaurants, streets, and most of all my pigs. But if I let my tears prevent me from seeing the adventure before me I will miss it. I took an unfamiliar walk to an unfamiliar town, with unfamiliar shops, restaurants, and languages…I spoke three! I passed the refugee camp set up for the families fleeing conflict in Burundi…the children, maybe 30 or 40 came running over to the improvised barrier (a piece of string tied to trees), they wanted to shake my hand, to greet me, to touch my skin, to smile and say “bonjour”. The young man with them told me they like whites and they would be starting to learn English on Monday. Together we taught them to say “I’m fine” in response to my greeting and “goodbye” when I left. It is the first time since I first walked on to Mother Teresa Primary School three and a half years ago that I felt that kind of joy that comes from knowing you are in the right place, right now.

In the shop I found another young man who had enough English that I was able to do my little shopping. He sent me next door for milk where the three ladies had only Kinyarwanda, so we used sign language and smiled a lot. There was no milk, but I did buy some water.

Rwanda is so different from Uganda and Gulu, there are no outside venders, no goods displayed outside the shops, no people just lazing around or playing cards. It is quiet, peaceful, orderly and clean. The only thing that disturbs the calm are the big dump trucks the Chinese brought to steal the top soil and move it to the lake’s edge where they are growing rice, I hope the hippos eat it all. This adventure, creating and teaching in Rwanda will allow me to keep all that we have built in Gulu running. I will be paid for the first time in two years, my housing and food provided, so the students in our program can go to school one more year…and maybe we will have enough to send them all to programming camp next year.

There is a lot to learn in my new country and Gulu will always be my sun; but for now I am seeing the moon... and the stars.