Education Reforms

I recently read about Russell Group….a research initiative by 20 UK universities….to shape Education Policy and guide curriculum…

….It was an impressive article….but left me with some thoughts…..

These thoughts are not new….they have been voiced since time immemorial….

…but when it comes to THE PRACTICALITIES….Educational Policy Makers….although meaning well…tend to make cosmetic changes….and the real NEED for EDUCATIONAL REFORMS….remains…as always…a dream….or an IMPRACTICAL FANTASY ???

Let us take a short tour of this Impractical fantasy….and see what the dreamers have to say about Education….

“The ultimate goal of the educational system is to shift to the individual the burden of pursuing his own education”

  John W. Gardner

“This crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism. Our whole educational system suffers from this evil. An exaggerated competitive attitude is inculcated into the student, who is trained to worship acquisitive success as a preparation” Einstein

"I had a terrible education. I attended a school for emotionally disturbed teachers."
  --  Woody Allen 

"Believe nothing merely because you have been told it. Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher. But whatsoever, after due examination and analysis, you find to be kind, conducive to the good, the benefit, the welfare of all beings -- that doctrine believe and cling to, and take it as your guide." Buddha

"The things taught in colleges and schools are not an education, but the means of education." -
  --  Ralph Waldo Emerson 

"One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child."
 
Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) Swiss psychologist and psychiatrist

"School-days, I believe, are the unhappiest in the whole span of human existence. They are full of dull, unintelligible tasks, new and unpleasant ordinances, brutal violations of common sense and common decency. It doesn't take a reasonably bright boy long to discover that most of what is rammed into him is nonsense, and that no one really cares very much whether he learns it or not."
 
Henry Louis Mencken (1880-1956) American journalist, satirist and social critic.

"I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think."
 
Socrates (BC 469-BC 399) Greek philosopher of Athens

What these dreamers…down through the centuries are saying is….

Let us make education a LEARNING Experience…a HUMAN EXPERIENCE…

….and NOT …an Academic militarization….!!!