Education @ the corner shop
We all tend to get our education in something they call an “education system”. The quality and breadth of these systems differ significantly as you walk the face of the earth in search of the ultimate educational machine.I was reading a book in the past few days which talks about general thinking and its effects on mankind in the last 2000 years, in the book the author talks about the way we are educated and the final outcome or what you eventually take home.
By nature I don’t waste my time or peoples time by repeating or mimicking other people thoughts, I would like to be known for adding value to what we already know and what we suffer on a day to day basis. I talk today about a system which you can relate to in all walks of life which includes the following:
- We all learn the alphabet.
- We all learn shapes and sizes.
- We all learn how to add an apple to another.
- We all learn religion and what prayers are.
- We all learn how to remember things.
- We all learn how things are made, where they are found, what we can do with them.
- We all learn a language or two, sometimes 3.
- We learn what countries are called and what they have and how big they are, and how to get to them, and what language they communicate in.
I like that part. Here is what I Don’t like:
- They make us memorize the names of the wives of rulers that lived 1000 years ago?
- They make us memorize poetry by heart, even if Im never gonna be a poet, and I know it.
- They insist we memorize the names of people who fought battles, their mothers, fathers, ancestors, where they lived, when they lived? Then thy talk to us about the spirit of teams!
- They make us learn chemical reactions, and all I can remember is the stinky egg smell experiment.
- They make us memorize all the known elements of earth, And I bet if anyone living a normal life and not a chemical engineer or chemist knows more than Co2 and H2o only because they see it on a day to day basis.
- They make us carry tons of books to school, reduce our sport activities, and complain when we get fat in our older years!
- We study linguistic studies of our own language and foreign languages, only to find out that people on TV use a slang language nowadays?
I could go on forever. I want them to teach our kids what goes on in the real world. What really takes place, show them how things really get done.
Teach them decision making, communication skills, team work, managing people, getting things done,speaking in front of a 100 people, making money and survival
techniques. It is a hard thing for my baby boy and girl who are used to unconditional love and support at their parents headquarters to suddenly be thrown into the claws of reality! Yes, I know that is what life is about, but how would you like it if I removed the pleasure items that make your day an easy one. Would it not be nice if our children could have a nice and interactive way of learning about the real world and all its surprises and treasures?Why not teach them what goes on at the local corner shop that the old man and his wife run? Why not teach them why they are still there after 20 years? why not tell them what they do inside the store? SHow them that when you buy a candy bar from you corner shop there is more going on than you handing over money and enjoying your candy.
Why not show them the mechanics that undergo that easy business transaction, how did the candy bar get to the store? what is he getting out of it? how much money is he making? is he the only one making money? Who makes these candy bars? Where do they get the ingredients to make those delicious chocolate bars filled with nuts? Do they only make candy bars for this store? How come I see the same ones when I travel? where do they get the nuts from? how many nuts are needed to make all the candy bars they need to make? why is the price always the same? how come everything else goes up and down? what if the peanut growers decide to raise the price?
By now anyone can see the impact of a corner shop, and a candy bar in the eyes of our beloved children.
Think!
Mamdooh Al-Radadi
me@mamdoohalaradadi.com
Gull Wing is back! This party is over!
Aha , you are totally right. We only emphasis on how far did the kids memorize, which will evaporate in few months. So what is the point of stuffing their brains with too many outdated details, as most of their books are outdated.
The ability to question and argue is one of huge difference between a locally versus US educated kid. We surly do force the kids to memorize without challenging the reasons, no wonder they are all so passive. Therefore I agree with you we should be teaching children how to think instead of just stuffing their brains, we should be challenging their evolving minds & skills. also we should be giving them the right to choose the subjects they are interested in , only then they can move to the tiny details.
Also our assignments methods seems very funny to me. I never ever understood, why would they make another copy of the book in their own notebooks. What is the point!!! It would be much much better if we changed our homework’s to include mind and skills challenging parts (such as re-search, presentation, reperot writing ….etc)
The universal language for since and business is English ,so we do we have to teach them everything in Arabic? We do we have to wait till thy are 12 to give them some basic english? It is hard to absorb a whole new language at this stage. It is much harder to succeed in any university while the books are given to them only in English (even in our local UVs). Sounds funny to me without even preparation we expect them in one night to shift languages. How do I expect them later to keep themselves current or even excel in any work environment when the dominate langue is something they surely miss.
My aunty is an education specialist for kids, oh they are applying some really wonderful techniques to nourish the kids brains at her school. And there are a couple of good schools out there, but when a descent education did become a luxury. Sometimes I wonder is this what we are looking for? should I live or send my kids away , or should I be a multi milliner just to be able to provide my kids with descent education? Pretty tough, as proper education should be a must not only an option to a small group of the society.