I n a quick montage, we see that the time spent in today’s education system – does not equal the creative learning atmosphere that employers and our society needs. Student’s voices must be heard, and democratic education is one of the many forms that this can happen today!
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There is something that bothers me about this video: it is the use of ‘what employers want’ as a justification for changing education. Surely, the point has been missed here? Is the education revolution not about trying to give children what they need to grow healthily, flourish freely, and live a rich and fulfilling life? Surely that is justification enough.
If we go down the road of relying on ‘what employers want’ to justify changing education, then we run the risk of ignoring childrens’ needs yet again. As an aside – wasn’t the model of education that we all rally against designed to meet the needs of employers (Mr. Ford), at the expense of meeting the needs of (and even damaging) the people it was designed to ‘educate’? Are we going down that road again?
I say forget employers and the job market – let’s focus on what children need. A healthy person who has been supported and allowed to grow, and who has had his or her needs well met will be more than capable of figuring out how to live their lives as an adult – and who says this must be working for somebody else? The healthiest adults that I know choose not to participate in the job market, or in corporate environments because of the violent principles upon which they largely function. Capitalism ought never to be confused with participatory democracy, and we need to stop seeing education as preparation for the job market.
I belive we need to think about what each child needs – emotionally, physically, socially, intellectually, nutritionally, and in terms of support, guidance, independence, freedom, responsability, meaning in life, expression, healing, etc. in order that he or she can continue to grow healthily and lead a rich and fulfilling life. These things change with each child and as each child grows. There is no set formula so we must be attentive to each child as they grow and build forms of education that foster this attentiveness. I think we need to return to these sensitivities in our efforts to change education. What do children need and how can we meet these needs? It doesn’t matter what employers need – a healthy person will be well equipped for adulthood whether they choose to work for others or to forge their own way.
Rant over (!).