A school revolution is on its way
Over the past 20 years, the number of children with depression, stress and school anxiety has risen significantly. Nevertheless, we institutionalize children earlier than ever before and leave them to schools that oblige them to conform. Their daily lives are schematized with predetermined subjects and all their results are judged, so they unaware can be shaped in the direction of a competitive labor market. Should we continue working or talk about the elephant in the room?
I am 28 years old and do not have children, but not long ago, I was one myself. I grew up in Denmark and I was one of few who never fitted into school. I, unsuccessfully, tried to get help, but both my teachers and parents demanded, in their good faith, that I continued school. As a teenager, I was so exhausted that I could not wake up from my own alarm clock, why my father had to wake me up every morning by pouring cold water in my face. Later I got a medical certificate that defended my physical and mental absence and cut me some slack. I was helpless and completed high school with sleeping problems, discipline notices, useless grades and a deep sense of inadequacy.
I was 19 and didn’t know what to do with my life. I had used the past 14 years in a learning environment that did not stimulate me, and my defeats at school had made me insecure and afraid to stand out. I was so far away from my intuition, that I doubted its existence. My only visible options in life were higher education, but I had no energy or desire to follow my schoolmates in the school system, so I stopped and waited for a miracle.
Fortunately, my parents supported me after high school, so I could live without pressure and expectations for a while. I travelled, worked as a phoner and travelled again. I found spaciousness and inspiration in new friends and cultures, and after two years without expectations to live up to, the miracle happened. Spontaneously I started a small business and shortly after, I joined a learning environment with teachers and mentors who supported me in my self-development. I picked the subject, the grades were replaced with useful feedback, and I controlled the pace. In this free and unconditional process, I slowly rebuilt my self-esteem and dug free my joy of life.
Now I follow my intuition, as I did in my early childhood, and four months ago it took me to Africa to write and reflect. I thought a lot about schooling, education and self-awareness, and I came to understand why I was mentally broken in school. There were three simple reasons:
- I had to perform in subjects I did not chose.
- I was judged and compared with others in everything I produced.
- I had to follow a predetermined and monotonous pace of development.
When I realized that these learning principles had been limiting me for the majority of my life, I started to investigate if my intuitive understanding of the school’s learning environment was supported by science. I quickly discovered that the school’s learning principles have not changed for 200 years, that the number of unadapted children is steadily increasing, and that EU has concluded that control free and creative learning is supported by both science and teacher associations.
Why is society not acting? I am aware that many children complete school without great agony, but we all have the capacity to learn and create value. It is not something school teaches us. Humans are exceptional at adapting, why it makes sense to create more intuitive and creative learning environments without schedules, grades and duty, so that children can find their own passion and grow in their own direction, instead of collectively follow the stress path of society.
So how do we innovate this complicated societal structure? It is not an easy task to transform our learning culture, but luckily the change is already underway. An increasing number of schools help children to learn without obligation, and a good example is the Agile Learning Centers — a fast-growing network of schools that, in their own words, support children in a self-directed education. Homeschooling is also, not strangely, on the rise in most European countries, and in my home country, Denmark, the number of pupils in alternative schools has increased ten years in a row.
Thus, the way we learn is already changing, and I will do my best to contribute to this necessary transformation. Currently I am mobilizing a movement that will inform the public about education by creating awareness on social media and build an online learning universe available for everyone. Our mission is to accelerate the inevitable implementation of a healthier school system, and you can soon follow our journey on thelearningmission.org.
Today, society adapts children to old learning principles. Let us reverse education and adapt relevant learning principles to today’s children.
