The Need for Change in Education

 

Our educational system is under stress, with widespread dissatisfaction among all parties -- children, teachers, parents and the public. There are criticisms of performance and learning of children and teachers; of the erosion of values; and of relevancy in changing cultural conditions. Certainly, schools cannot be scapegoated for problems also existing in society but there are also improvements that can restore education to its rightful place. This entails not only providing knowledge and skills for economic success, but also knowledge and skills for life success. What sort of changes might be necessary?

First of all, traditional education has overemphasized taking in information, facts and knowledge and under emphasized or ignored the inner knowing that each person possesses. These need to be brought into balance. In today's world there is an overwhelming amount of information and knowledge available. To try to stuff more and more into each person can lead to overload and alienation. Knowledge is consumed but not digested, and can be an extraneous load that is not truly assimilated -- and therefore not as useful as it might be. Education needs to honor and foster the individual's intrinsic sense of interest, of purpose and of knowing. Facts and knowledge have to be related and integrated with one's own values, ideas and goals for the enrichment of each. Without connecting the inner and the outer -- facts and the self who must order and use those facts -- education does not enhance meaning or real fulfillment in life. Without the culture of a conscious self development, education produces technicians but not rounded human beings.

The type of thinking that is emphasized in school also needs to be brought into a better balance. We have given undue importance to left brain analytical linear logical thinking, and have not sufficiently valued creative, intuitive, or imaginative faculties. Nor have we adequately cultivated the heart or the spirit. These have an essential place in a holistic education if we are to enhance the overall development of a human being. These latter faculties not only bring in new influxes and syntheses of ideas, but connect them in a larger living context of meaning.

Implicit in the above changes is a need for greater emphasis on teaching individuals to psychologically understand themselves and their experience. By understanding oneself, one's abilities, disposition and problems, one may better succeed in the challenges that life offers us. By consciously fostering a positive set of values and principles, children develop the habits that will serve them as responsible and contributing adults. Psychology can now interpret and make understandable many different experiences that heretofore were regarded as outside one's responsibility and control. With the right psychological key, we can unlock our potential and realize a deeper sense of purpose. We can create our destiny. However, without taking the time to work with individuals on basic principles of self understanding, those individuals are hobbled by inner conflicts, dysfunctional assumptions and unconscious negativity that hold back their growth.

Another change that can bring education into a better balance, is to increase the practical side of learning by better grounding academic learning with real life in the community. Academic study must be shown in as realistic a form as possible. Experience with the actual activities involved in a profession can not only make the related area of study more interesting but also increase motivation and a more balanced view of things. The whole process would increase responsibility and create better links within one's community. The actual involvement would vary with school age, from simple exposure with young children to collaborative projects and independent studies with older children.

Honoring and developing the many facets of our being enriches not only the individual, but the culture of which he is a part. To the extent that someone gives something of value to another, to that extent is it potentially economically remunerative. So we need not fear about "making a living". As we develop the gifts of our creative being by following an intrinsic sense of interest and concern, we may profit in more ways than just self-satisfaction.

Transformation in education, therefore, requires a better balance between:

Societal values in education and one's inner knowing and innate direction

Outer facts and psychological development of oneself

Analytical thinking and heart centered, intuitive, creative faculties

Individual academic work and practical community involvement

 

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