We DON’T need a revolution in education
People love their status quo.
Any change in status quo causes a distress.
Radical changes in education system threat the status quo that people may often even claim they’re against, yet it’s still the status quo they feel familiar with, hence will be more likely to choose over a revolution. That’s because of the bias everybody is infected by. Education system is flawed, we need to do something about it, but don’t you dare changing it the next day because I value feeling safe in my comfort zone. No challenges, only effects.
What’s the alternative?
Paradoxically, we have a tendency to assume that only radical changes bring the real change. We usually forget that it is in fact the other way round — it’s the small, seemingly insignificant changes that make the greatest difference. Why are we so reluctant to admit it? It’s because we’re lazy: because those small changes require time, commitment, and dedication.
People like Ken Robinson, nagging for revolution, are great public speakers elegantly appearing in media, charming personas who fill the gap between science and public. Their sense of humour is entertaining, and this tear you shed at the end of their show has proved you enough to know they’re right. Because you felt it. The problem with them is that the very reason they’re so appealing is that they often miss the point, skilfully using emotive techniques, making a leapfrog straight to easy solutions. Appealing!
I’ve no authority and you won’t see me in media. I’m young enough not to have my own kids, young enough to question the status quo and risk my position. I’m young enough to really care about the kids (especially from shitty schools where they pay me nothing) and not about the money I earn to feed the family. Young enough to spend my nights reading about the future of our planet and worry. Young enough to do degree after degree, in different countries, with different teachings, with more and more widely open mind and ears.
I listen and see, that what we need is not a revolution. It’s a subtle borer’s wood eating, it’s sabotaging the status quo through tiny gestures of kindness, it’s an everyday battle of a single teacher to inspire their students to change something in them, to be better than the rest. And then the rest will follow. Kindness is contagious and what we need in our education system is kindness, giving students some bloody credit, believing that they are good people and wish well for the world. From what I know, the only people who doubt in good intentions of others are those doubting in their own intentions. Hello! Start the change from yourself, strive to be a better model for the kids. Because only together and only through kindness they can make a real, non-threatening change to this educational mess we’ve created.
