Education demands emotions

  • 2015

The phenomenon is unstoppable. The new times require developing the innate abilities of children and changing the academic slogans.

Are we educating the new generations to live in a world that no longer exists? The pedagogical system seems to have stagnated in the industrial era in which it was designed. The slogan regarding the school has been insisting that you have to study a lot, get good grades and then get a university degree. And that is what many have tried to do. It was believed that, once the student stage was over, there would be a fixed employment with a stable salary .

But since labor reality has changed, these academic slogans have ceased to be valid. In fact, they have become an obstacle that limits professional possibilities. And it is that public schools were created in the nineteenth century to turn illiterate peasants into docile workers, adapting them to the mechanical function they would play in factories. As world education expert Ken Robinson points out, "contemporary secondary schools continue to have many parallels with the assembly lines, the division of labor and serial production driven by Frederick Taylor and Henry Ford."
While the current pedagogical formula allows students to learn to read, write and do mathematical calculations, "school kills our creativity." Throughout the training process, the vast majority lose connection with this faculty, completely marginalizing the entrepreneurial spirit. And as a consequence, they begin to follow the dictates marked by the majority, a noise that prevents hearing the inner voice itself.

The voice of teenagers
“From an early age I had to interrupt my education to start going to school”
Gabriel Garcia Marquez

More and more teenagers feel that the school does not give them anything useful or practical to face the problems of everyday life. Instead of asking them questions to think for themselves, they just give them answers thought by others, trying to get students to adapt their thinking and behavior to the canon determined by the established social order.

Just as the industrial era created its own school, the era of emerging knowledge requires a new type of school. Basically because industrial education has been outdated. However, he acts as a terminal patient who denies his own illness. Drowned by bureaucracy, the evolution of the public education system will take a long time to complete. According to Robinson, “right now it is still composed of three main subsystems: the curriculum (what the school system expects the student to learn), pedagogy (the method by which the school helps students do it) and the evaluation, which would be the process of measuring how well they are doing. ”

Most reform movements focus on the curriculum and evaluation. However, "education does not need to be reformed, but transformed, " concludes this expert. Instead of standardizing education, in the age of knowledge it will tend to be personalized. Essentially because one of the goals is for the kids to discover for themselves their individual gifts and qualities, as well as what they are truly passionate about.
Within the framework of this new educational paradigm, "emotional education" is emerging strongly. It is a set of teachings, reflections, dynamics, methodologies and self-knowledge tools designed to enhance emotional intelligence. That is, the mental process through which children and young people can solve their problems and emotional conflicts by themselves, without intermediaries of any kind.

The pedagogical basis of this booming education is inspired by the work of great visionaries of the twentieth century such as Rudolf Steiner, María Montessori or Ovide Decroly. They all share the vision that human beings are born with a potential to develop. And that the main function of the educator is to accompany the children in their process of learning, evolution and emotional maturity. Along the same lines are the slow, free and live education programs that are consolidating as alternative pedagogical proposals within the system. Of course, the great referent of the 21st century is still the public school of Finland, a country that leads the ranking prepared by the PISA report.

What is it for?
"To educate is not to fill an empty glass, but to light a latent fire"
Lao Tse

Emotional education is committed to promoting among young people a series of values ​​that allow kids to discover their own value, thus being able to contribute the best of themselves to the service of society. These include:

Self-knowledge Knowing oneself is the path that leads to knowing what are the limitations and potentials of each one, and allows to become the best version of oneself.

Responsibility. Each of us is the cause of his suffering and his happiness. Taking responsibility for taking charge of oneself emotionally and economically is what allows us to reach maturity as human beings and fulfill the purpose of life that is pursued.
Self esteem. The world does not look as it is, but as is each of those who observe it. Hence, loving oneself is essential to build a more wise and objective perception of others and of life, nurturing the heart of trust and courage to follow a path of their own.

Keys to know more

Anna Parini

Book
This house is not a hotel!
Irene Orce (Grijalbo)

This book is an emotional education manual for parents of teenagers. It is written from the perspective of the kids, and its intention is to provide keys and tools for adults to learn to create more constructive bridges with their children.

Documentary film
Forbidden education

A documentary that proposes to question the logic of modern schooling and the way of understanding education, making visible different educational experiences, which raise the need for a new educational paradigm.

Happiness. Happiness is the true nature of the human being. It has nothing to do with what you have, with what you do or with what you get. It is an internal state that blooms naturally when it is possible to regain contact with the authentic essence of each one.

Love. As you learn to be happy for yourself, you naturally begin to love others as they are and to accept life as it is. Thus, love is synonymous with tolerance, respect, compassion, kindness and, in short, give the best of ourselves at all times and in the face of any situation.

Talent. We all have a potential and an innate talent to develop. The focus of the matter is to dare to listen to the inner voice, which, when put into action, becomes our true vocation. That is, those qualities, strengths, skills and abilities that allow us to undertake a useful, creative and meaningful profession.

Common benefit. People who have gone through a deep process of self-knowledge are recognized because they orient their motivations, decisions and actions to the common good of society. That is, what does oneself and that also does the whole of society well, both in the way of earning and spending money.

Instead of continuing to condition and limit the minds of new generations, one day - throughout this era - schools will do something revolutionary: educate. Naturally, children will become young people with self-esteem and self-confidence. And these will become conscious, mature, responsible and free adults, with a very clear notion of who they are and what their purpose in life is. The redesign and transformation of the education system are, without a doubt, one of the great contemporary challenges. That they come true depends on parents and educators becoming the change they want to see in education.

Education demands emotions

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