Education = Freedom
Our
deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are
powerful beyond measure. – Nelson Mandela
I am somehow stuck on the topic of education this week...we have a combined tutorial every Thursday together with all of the other community group members and our supervisors, where we discuss our experiences, relevant topics and issues that we have come across out in the community. Whilst I was sitting there, listening to everyone’s personal opinion on different matters concerning the community, I thought to myself how absolutely ‘freeing’ education really is. It gives us the ability to interrogate different topics and themes on a whole different level in a highly conducive environment. It strikes me every single time how much my fellow student friends have grown (in all aspects) during these past years that we have been together!
hen hearing the word ‘education’
most of us immediately think about the ‘main stream’ education that the schools
or tertiary institutions provide. This may be true to a certain degree. Visiting
Brown’s school and RP Moodley school (which are both schools for children with
special needs) however, has opened my eyes up to a whole different type of
education! It was so refreshing to see how a schools curriculum was structured according
to the needs of its pupils!
When I think of my own school
days, I remember being given a choice of certain subjects that our school had
to offer that did not interest me a bit or where totally out of my league. I
battled on because school is what defined everyone according to their
intellectual standing. Sam Chaltain on the TED x Sin City talk that I have
attached, calls this system an assembly line. I love his talk as it highlights
three very important questions that we really need to think about.
2. What are the skills of free people
3. What does it really mean to be free people
The old schooling system might
have worked for our forefathers but as the world is changing and gaining a more
democratic focus, so our education needs to also keep up with the constant
change.
Take a look at what Sam Chaltain has to say!!
Very true. Do you think that the teachers and child minders who grew up in a different schooling system, are always equipped and on the level of creative ability to be able to structure their classrooms differently? What does it require to offer an environment where you are facilitating and catering the needs of all different kinds of abilities and individuals?
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