HUMAN in education
When we think about education, do we want to raise little humans or little computers? I think we all want little humans, but if you look at the current education systems, it seems like we are trying to raise little computers (although they would surely lose that battle against the real computers).
So how can you educate a human and still encourage them to learn? The answer lies in the question that children ask at a very young age and that we discourage or ignore. And that is a question: why? Today's generation in particular, if they are not given an answer to the question"why", they are easily labelled as lazy and uninterested, but in reality, they have no explanation for their existence. The question "why" must be connected to every subject, every topic that children learn, and the answers must be connected to the meaning of their lives. In this way, children feel from within that what they are learning has meaning and that they can use what they are learning for the benefit of others by using their uniqueness.
Every action in their life needs to be explained and given meaning, and if it is not, they simply will not do it or will do it sloppily. When they give meaning to everything they learn, practice or build, they thrive and succeed.
Teach a child “according to his ways”. The only authority we have in working with children is to first listen carefully to what stage of development they are at, what interests they have, and then respond to those needs with what we want to teach them. In addition to the text above, which refers to the motive of meaningfulness, the child only internalizes new knowledge if they are a) emotionally and cognitively ready and b) can connect their interests to it. It is up to us to overcome our preconceptions about what should be thought and how, and to pause and really listen to the children about where and who they are.
There is no more powerful educational tool than that of example. We humans, and especially children, adopt and copy the actions of our family members, teachers, friends and other influencers from social media or sports, etc. If we do not exemplify the things we teach, it is even better not to teach them at all. The power of example transcends all other teaching methods.
The new generations will have to act according to the new laws that economic crises, viruses, wars, social media, etc. are bringing to our attention. These laws of interconnectedness and the global village must be transferred to classrooms and taught to children through games, stories and other activities that promote interconnectedness and mutual respect. The only competition that will be valuable is how much you can benefit others. The children are already emotionally ready for this kind of approach and will easily be able to “swim" in this world that is still difficult for us dinosaurs to understand.