What I’ve Learnt This Month — February 2022
Over at Taught by Humans, a big part of our ethos is our love of learning. Learning tech-related things, yes, but also just constantly learning new things and improving on what we already know. Each month we are going to give a short update on what we’ve been learning — here’s mine for February 2022.
As the newest addition to the incredible Taught by Humans team, I am incredibly excited to share what I have been dipping my toes into this month. As a final year undergraduate student, the month of March is quite obscure for me, as it is in the midst of upcoming deadlines, but also a glimpse of relaxation as the Easter vacation is coming up.
Research in Botswana
Studying economics alongside philosophy has made me curious about the unreported world in which millions of other people live, in which their lifestyles, unfortunately, go unnoticed in the UK and in the western world. Hence why I have been studying the Economics of Emerging Economies this year and decided to implement a hypothetical research project in Botswana regarding school feeding programmes in junior secondary schools.
I have been learning immensely about the schools, the lifestyles, the villages, the diets, and the general demographics of Botswana. During my research, I have learnt that the normal school year runs from January to December, with a few breaks in between, in African countries. I guess this is because of the climate and the fact that children get a lot of their daily food intake through school feeding programmes. Even though it is one of the most
developed countries within Sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana suffers from a serious hunger problem, World Bank states 17.6% of children experience growth stunting. Enrolment in primary schools and junior secondary schools is one of the highest in the region, and there is a government-enabled feeding programme for all state schools. Despite high attendance rates and nutrition available, Batswana children's educational attainment is very low, in
comparison to attendance levels. Many young girls also drop out of junior secondary schools (ages 13–15) due to pregnancy. Our hypothetical research included a randomised control trial design into non-boarding junior secondary schools in Botswana and implementing a nutritious breakfast programme to treatment arms. Treatment arms are the randomly selected sample of schools on which we would implement our breakfast programme. Also, one treatment arm included an ‘information treatment’ in which education on nutrition and healthy balanced
meals would be provided to parents, in which we could see health habit formation in the long-term. Living in the UK as an international student within a very high standard of life, what keeps me sentient to my life back home and many others around the world is to keep
researching and be recipient towards others around the world.
Mindful Self-Compassion
I have been reading Christopher Germer’s influential book called “The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion”, which is the pioneering book on mindfulness therapy and methods that are derived from Buddhist meditation. The transformative power of self-compassion is scientifically proven by researchers that it can help aid depression, anxiety, and unwanted thoughts. Self-compassion has become an important phenomenon to abide by for me, as I protect and value my mental health immensely. A thing I have learnt which has impacted me a lot was the use of the pink elephant metaphor towards our disturbing thoughts and why our brain works. If someone tells you DON’T THINK ABOUT A PINK ELEPHANT, there is no way you cannot think of a pink elephant, even for 5 seconds. Research shows that trying to suppress certain thoughts would elevate them even more, hence if I told you to not think of a pink elephant, you would think of a pink elephant a lot more times than normal. Mindful self-compassion derives from this, instead of instructing our brains to not feel a certain feeling or not think of a bad thought (this would make the thought even stronger!), we should allow ourselves to think our thoughts, feel them thoroughly and not resist them, eventually resulting in acceptance and self-love.
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We are always learning, and want to share our passion for learning (about everything, not just tech) in this monthly blog series.
