First and foremost a human education is expansive and expressive.
Currently few schools exist that are actually designed for human learning. Traditional school was designed to turn human children into adult factory workers. It succeeded. And we no-longer desire such a system. Our desired outcomes for our children have changed.
What are those desired outcomes today, and can the kinds of outcomes you would choose for your child’s life be effectively measured by a multiple choice test?
When parents are asked what outcomes they would like for their children, they often say “I want them to be happy. “ And they also report a desire for a better world for our kids to live in. They applaud ideas like bringing compassion, understanding, caring, creativity, and love.
As we were visioning a school here in Durango, we asked, “What is the purpose of education?” After two hours of everyone including children sharing their ideas, we looked at the wall covered in writing and noted wryly that of the hundreds of ideas only one piece related to academic learning. Everything else was focused on who our children are and how to support them in expanding that. In other words it started with the human.
So what is the disconnect that allows parents and educators to then turn around and send children into schools where their success and often self-worth is measured purely through a set of multiple choice tests in math, science, and reading, and some letter or number grades which tell us nothing of value?
Why do we not act on what we know intuitively…that who our children are is much more important than what they know. It is who they are in terms of character that will shape our world. All the knowledge in the world has never yet assured that our knowledge will be applied with wisdom.
Fortunately there are schools that get this and parents who are willing to allow their children to go to them, or who even get involved in creating them. Many of these schools are democratic schools run by partnership between adults and children. These schools provide education for humans, not for industry. They know that future industry must change to fit future humans, and not the other way around.
A human education system serves the human children within it first and foremost. The interests, skills, talents, and physical, mental, emotional and spiritual requirements of children are top of the list when designing schools.
So if we were to begin with the human what would be the first task at hand when a child starts school? It seems to me that keen observation of how a child plays, the activities they are drawn to, the foods they choose, the friends they empathize with, the knowledge they choose to learn, the clothes they wear, the way they speak, listen, and interact with others, would all be quite valuable in facilitating the expansion and learning of each one.
Once we see their strengths and interests, we can then begin to support their journey. This is how democratic schools function: in service to the human.
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