Education

 “In my ideal school of the future, you might learn about geography and maths, but you would also be taught about the big challenges of life: how to be a good partner, how to stay sane and how to put the small amount of time we all have on this planet to the best possible use.”

― Alain de Botton

It’s not exactly a stretch to say that our mainstream education system is out of date. Although intended as a form of democratisation – to make learning available to everyone – what we now need from an education system is not what we’re getting out of it. Which, considering we built it nigh on two centuries ago, is hardly surprising. 

Created in the 19th-century to meet the needs of industrialisation, school’s dual purpose was to occupy children while their parents worked, and to create future workers – valuing subjects seen as “useful” for work. Content with the cheap childcare, we put our children on a production line: subjects separated for efficiency, learning journeys homogenised and individuality ignored, and a grading system that rewarded those who behave well in strict, factory-like structures. Our education system struggles to recognise or celebrate children’s unique gifts, it is not aimed towards helping them connect to their environment or the people around them, and in it ethics and emotional intelligence tend to come behind exam results. 

Clearly, the way we educate our children needs updating.

The internet age has changed our relationship with knowledge dramatically. We don’t need our children to learn lists of facts; we need them to be able to process this abundance of information and problem-solve accordingly. To develop the tools, and courage, to think critically and creatively. This has never been truer than in the era of “fake news”: when consuming any content requires discernment between fact, fiction, opinion and conjecture. 

Similarly, we are doing the next generation a disservice if we don’t use schooling to give them an emotional education as much as an academic one. Schools could be doing so much more to teach children about themselves, and their relationships. To teach them resilience, kindness, compassion, forgiveness, how to manage anxiety or anger – the tools they will actually use throughout their adult lives. 

If we educate children holistically, de-compartmentalising their development to encompass academic, physical, emotional, creative and spiritual growth, we prepare them better for the world. Because in life we don’t use language, numbers or social skills in a vacuum, or experience emotion in our lunch breaks only. 

The other benefit of moving away from segregation by subject is an even further reaching one. In separating subjects, children lose their ability to see the bigger picture, to think things through: the cause and effect of our actions, for example, or the supply chain. If they’re taught to see the whole, to understand holistic systems, they can start to see how their actions might affect the environment, for example, or other nations – or the generations after them. This separationist thinking could have directly contributed to the climate crisis – we see it mirrored in nations stripping resources from other countries, or dumping their rubbish there, and in politicians using their short terms for instant gratification and redistributed blame. We have a chance to change this with the next generation.

Obviously, this applies to us too. Education doesn’t end at graduation – as Albert Einstein supposedly said: “Once you stop learning, you start dying.” Whether or not he did, it’s a sentiment we live by. We believe we should commit to a life of learning and personal development. This is why our communities (both online and in real life), have learning at their core: retreats, workshops and endless opportunities to fill any gaps left by our own education and grow. This way, we lead by example in a learning community with our children and better understand how to improve their experience. If we teach children to love learning now, it’s far more likely they will continue this journey in the future. 

So what are we suggesting?

Make school fun: because positivity literally engenders learning and makes us want to do it more. Simple. 

Educate outdoors and amongst nature: our first and greatest teacher, learning amongst nature helps nurture a connection with our environment, creating an engaged generation equipped to work towards sustainability. 

Promote project-based learning, that incorporates all elements of the curriculum – using art, music and movement alongside the practical and intellectual – helps children engage and develop creative thinking and problem-solving skills.

Introduce the experiential: with a hands-on education in real projects: becoming part of eco-construction or growing their own food and medicine, children learn skills in action, become more connected to their work and seeing a wider variety of potential futures.

Mix up the age groups: because everyone learns and develops differently and that progress isn’t age-dependent – and because children can benefit hugely by learning from those a few years above them, and looking after those a few years below. 

Teach emotional (and monitor) intelligence: setting an example of love, morality and respect, with a focus on emotional development, whereby the examination method is replaced by an on-going, qualitative study of development. 

Focus on their gifts: for an enhanced sense of self-worth and increased opportunities to thrive. To quote Einstein again: “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” By focusing on our children’s gifts, we draw out the genius in all of them, not the land-locked fish. 

Add opportunities for spiritual development and basic coping mechanisms like meditation, and all this comes together to foster well-rounded, motivated and responsible adults with a strong sense of self – but who, crucially, are committed to a life of learning, evolution and development. All in the hopes of returning to the original purpose of education: to create a society of happy humans living on a happy planet. 

This, we think, would be the real democratisation of education.