by Motavenda Melchizedek
When we have the perfect match of the wise and noble teacher and the insatiable student, the experience of education can be one of the sweetest and most exquisite available to humankind.
When systems are intentionally designed and created for the purpose of educating there is much to consider. The objectives of the system and the nature and credibility of the information to be transmitted should be defined and made known to all involved. The ability and competency of the teachers and their needs as well as the needs of the students and what will be required of them should be considered and made clear. The adequacy of the environmental design to support each of these elements fully also must be gauged.
Education is a tool ripe with power and potential. And, like any tool, it can be used for noble or dark purposes. Depending on the objectives of the teacher and the directives they must follow from authorities dictating to them, education can be used to empower people or to mold them into compliance. If a teacher is unable to transmit knowledge without overriding the student’s nature, then not much is transferred beyond the lesson of dominance and the rule of submission.
We are preparing our children for something, but do we know for what? Is it to be unquestioning participants inside of a paradigm built largely upon the subjugation and exploitation of the life-force of other human beings and global supremacy? Is education here used to keep people disempowered enough and unquestioning in the face of what desperately needs to be questioned? Much of our existing systems seem designed to groom us to enter willingly into realities that would otherwise be repulsive to us. Often students are there to simply to master regurgitation.
In his 1693 treatise on education, the English philosopher John Locke considered the student, “None of the things they are to learn, should ever be made a burthen to them, or impos’d on them as a task. Whatever is so propos’d, presently becomes irksome; the mind takes an aversion to it, though before it were a thing of delight or indifferency.” (Some Thoughts Concerning Education, 1693). We should contemplate his compassionate words as we consider the fact that, according to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention in 2005, approximately 2.5 million children in this country were labeled with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and prescribed medication to get through class.
The earliest schools where designed to teach reading, writing and arithmetic, but education reaches far beyond the boundaries of these subjects. The function of education is as varied as the structures and environments in which the instruction is taking place. In the case of the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates (470-399 B.C.E), his students followed him about with a great thirst for knowledge. In both he and the 6th century B.C.E Taoist Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, we see great teachers from our past turning their students inward and seeking to empower them to think, learn and contemplate more fully and deeply. They taught their students to reason, but where does reason fit into our current design?
The essence of genuinely empowering education invites and requires awakening and nurturing the capacity in students to learn, and ignites the courage within to quest and the hunger to synthesize information and experiences that they will be exposed to through living life. If students are taught to discern and ultimately trust their own perceptions, they are able to move through life and be open to ingesting knowledge from countless sources and they are equipped to learn and grow into the future without losing themselves in the process.
When we consider the larger systems of education in this society, we should ask ourselves, “What kind of world do we want to create? What do we need to know and to develop inside of ourselves and within our children in order to bring forth such a desired reality?” If we do not consider the deeper and larger creations and outcomes of the systems we design and operate inside of, then how can we possibly find our way to a better collective destiny? Do we even know why we educate our children or what we are teaching them or why we choose the curriculums we do? What are we being educated for? Do we have a vision that is healthy and empowering for all mankind?
To a large degree, we seem to be simply using the structures we have created to prepare people for harvesting. To either be harvested or to harvest others. What is the teaching, and what are the lessons to be learned inside of a capitalist paradigm and where does it leave those who are not interested in learning how to compete and conquer and live off of the life forces of others? What about those who want to learn how to think and to question and to believe in themselves? Is there a place here for them of value inside of the existing paradigm? There does not to appear to be a place at the forefront for them. Empowering people to think deeply, to understand experiences, to question what seems flawed and false, is necessary to a changing world and vital to a holistic society.
In Plato’s (427-347 B.C.E.) “Allegory of the Cave”, the obligation of the one who discovers the truth is to descend back down into the darkness and to carry the awareness and the knowledge of the world of light with them. Their moral imperative is to work to inform the ones still dwelling in ignorance. It is not to use their position of power to dominate and exploit the less aware.
Have our teachers reached the proverbial “mountain top?” What do they want to teach us? The scope of the various arenas of education is massive and includes everything from the seemingly formless one-on-one teachings that take place within a mother and child relationship to large, concrete institutions of higher learning where students are encouraged to study and to consider the minds of those who have gone before them and to then develop their own philosophical voice. Just as an unhealthy mother can teach her child to be disempowered and unconscious, our larger collective systems can teach us things that keep us in darkness and leave us disempowered and stuck inside of systems of questionable integrity.
Times are changing, and the information age is giving outlets to voices which would otherwise be mute. Many people feel ignited and awakened to pursue the urge to drink of the knowledge that has become freed up and available to the masses now. We are hungry for education. There is no time like the present to begin a new dialogue about the state of our educational system.
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 is a federal law which is affecting all public schools in the country and many of the people affected by this legislation have input to give on the subject. According to the Executive Summary of the George W. Bush Whitehouse, the goal of this program is, “Transforming the Federal Role in Education So That No Child is Left Behind”. The stated aim of this undertaking includes improving English literacy, improving school safety, improving math and science skills and ultimately closing the gap in achievement among students through implementing and testing for proficiency and maintaining oversight. There is much debate over this initiative. Many question the ability of people so disconnected from these realities to design and impose a rational structure that is truly empowering to the “disadvantaged”. Perhaps this will ignite a long overdue social dialogue where we begin to ask ourselves some important questions and unfold into more vocal advocates for our own personal educational ideals.
We live inside of a consumer-driven capitalistic paradigm that is highly materialistic and this drives and defines much of our current stated set of educational values. What is granted money for research and what is deemed valid and worthy of study, is oftentimes dictated by the money and power elite of our culture. For these reasons, many people in our society equate education with loss of self. The 18th century philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote, "Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. One man thinks himself the master of others, but remains more of a slave than they are" (The Social Contract, Or Principles of Political Right, 1762). There has not been much room for consideration of the value of the individual in the systems we have designed and no one really wins unless we are all empowered and free.
Do we even have a visible public educational philosophy in this country? What do the teachers of our day have to say about the existing structures in which they must function and perform and what about the students? What is their experience telling us? Do we even care about how they feel? The vision seems piecemeal and nebulous at best. Yes, we live in a “land of opportunity”, but what shall we make of it? The boundaries are dissolving and we are less capable of denying our responsibility to rise up and become more whole and accountable when it comes to educating our children and ourselves and the larger world that we are effecting and are a part of. We must return to square one to consider the foundations upon which we will create our future and perhaps draw upon the wisdom of the early visionaries in the realms of education to do so.
Do we have a vision for ourselves, our children and our destiny that we can consciously weave into the existing forms and work with to educate and propel ourselves into a better place?
The educational structures we have in place now are not fatally flawed. These structures have been harnessed and used to transmit and perpetuate a multitude of agendas, some useful and empowering, and some unholy. Much of what has been manifested so far has been created without a strong input from society at large. Perhaps the inherent strength of the existing structures can allow for deep transformation in the times ahead.