School doesn't teach us the things we really need to survive the modern world. Formal education, that long process of going to school every day in the morning, going to classes, doing homework and taking exams, doesn't teach us the skills and knowledge we need to live with dignity, with physical and emotional balance, with humanity. It might teach us how to compete and frequently it teaches us how to fail (yes, Zizek-quoting-Beckett, you MIGHT have a point that we can also learn to fail, fail again, fail better..... but a lot of the time we just fall down, get up and fall back down again). Here are some of the essential things in life that schools don't teach:
Schools don't teach us to care for nature and to live with ecological sustainability. They don’t teach you how to find a job, how to get financial security. They don't teach us how to respect and care for the elderly. They don’t teach you how to find dignity. They don’t teach you how to look after yourself, plan for your future, secure your old age care. They don’t teach you how to care for others, for partners, for children, for dependants. They don’t teach you how to love, how to understand each other. They don’t teach you how to be a woman. They don’t teach you how to be a man. They don't teach us how to be socially, racially or sexually equal (no matter whether we wear skirts or trousers to class). They don’t teach you to care for animals. They don’t teach you how to listen to and respect your global neighbours. The point is not that education is currently SUPPOSED to provide skills for these things - the point is that the things we are taught at school do not equip us for real life, and that the whole purpose of education needs to be re-thought. My underlying point is: what goals should society have? What objectives do education systems currently have and should they be different? So what am I suggesting: that schools teach children the art of love? Partly, yes, but more specifically that schools should equip people for the realities of social and economic life. Incidentally, is Scotland the most sexually egalitarian society in the Western world? After all, the men there wear skirts and trust me, they are sexy as hell....
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AuthorHow to identify myself... a deeply concerned citizen of a fucked-up world, swinging with circadian regularity between esprit de vie and deep, black despair. PhD, entrepreneur, author, international experience, woman (should I add chromosomes to my list of qualifications....?) Archives
May 2020
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