Although we desire the best for children, in focusing exclusively on the economic and intellectual dimensions, we have failed to create contexts in which they can blossom to the fullness of their creative potential -- emotionally, socially, intellectually or artistically.
The rising incidence of anxiety, depression, drug abuse, bullying and addiction to technology in our youth signifies that we are collectively failing to nurture their souls.
Inspired by the writings of the Indian mystic Osho, whose books focus on the flowering of consciousness, the following advice focuses on pathways to unlocking greater empathy for our children as they navigate some of the systemic distortions.
Individuality
How can we emotionally support children in ways that nurture the spark of their individuality? Sim Sitkins, an expert on knowledge work, points out that while manufacturing quality is achieved through standardization, educational quality should be measured by everyone thinking differently.
Our schools have been modeled after the factory. As an antidote to standardization, at home we must celebrate individuality by helping children see and connect to their greatest strengths.
Pure possibility
How can we help children see themselves as pure possibility and not be harmed by being ranked and pigeon-holed? At a young age, current systems label and create a hierarchy of smartness that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Self-hate in children arises from competitive dynamics that signal some children to believe that they are not “smart enough.” The self-esteem of our children is outsourced to a testing agency that assigns them a score based on an artificially constructed, narrow criterion, although intelligence is multidimensional and human potential can never be measured.
Self-acceptance
How can we help children feel truly seen and unconditionally accepted although current systems fracture the child’s relationship with themselves? Gabor Mate, the Canadian psychiatrist, points out that a classroom has two dimensions.
The pedagogic dimension refers to the curriculum, the methodology and the testing. The socio-emotional dimension refers to children feeling emotionally safe and forming strong bonds. Policy makers obsess over the intellectual pedagogic dimension, but neglect the socio-emotional dimension.
Experience demonstrates that when children are emotionally and socially nourished, they will excel at the pedagogic challenges.
Creative rebellion
How can we encourage creative rebellion instead of conformity and obedience? Education should celebrate mystery and ignite awe and wonder. Mystery flourishes in not knowing the answer and in viewing ambiguity as a source of creative possibility.
Instead, we place our children in an excessively structured and planned environment and we punish them for not getting the answers.
A real education must encourage creative rebellion instead of producing docile bodies and minds. Our children are kept so busy that they become programmed robots.
Walk into a kindergarten classroom, and it’s pulsating with vitality. Walk into a college classroom, and you will be met with exhaustion. What happens between kindergarten and college that enthusiasm is successfully siphoned out of the kids?
Perhaps, we can take a cue from Finland’s paradoxical breakthrough in educational quality by eliminating all homework and by caring about the happiness of the students.
In colluding with a culture of school as factory and in treating our children as cogs in the wheel of a large socio-economic machine, we lose sight of education’s potential to transform human consciousness.