The State of Education: A conversation about Constructive Education

The world is changing. The development of the last 150 years has brought humanity to progress and evolved into a process called "Globalization." The process itself is healthy, as it connects people around the world. Promoting a general consciousness that, for the first time in history, can make us understand we are all humans. We are sharing the same planet and fighting to promote a better world. Without any doubt, ideas of fear and separation are still broadly held by many, making it the biggest challenge of our time.

Our capacity to share and create ideas between people and cultures is the primary tool that brought us the progress we are enjoying those days in the West. Nevertheless, the main obstacle to creating a better global future hides in our education. Individuals and societies are a direct consequence of local education. It is the educational system that constructs our way of thinking. It shapes the youth's main frame and creates and reinforces societal values spread into the general population.

Regardless of the technological advancement of the last 30 years, the direction seen in the academic and educational system is concerning. It does not follow the potential we all hoped for. The capacity to be exposed to vast amounts of information could decentralize knowledge. Allowing people to demand a more open and diverse approach to the rigid educational system that has existed for a long time. Unfortunately, our current era's education system teaches the young to be terrified, full of guilt, and hater. Contributing to their separation from their peers around the world. It doesn't promote progress or a society that sustains individuals. Oppositely, the recent decades have promoted values of separation and increased awareness of a subject that could be seen as being on the verge of resolution. Issues such as racism, sexism, and homophobia have become, in recent years, a central topic in the education world. The trend is very concerning for several reasons.

The first and most important reason is related to the fact that the state of racism, woman's status, and homosexual acceptance at the beginning of the 2010s could be considered a mainly resolved problem. Gay rights have been integrated or are in the process of integration in most of the West. Woman's liberation and rights have been achieved, and racism was at its lowest point in human history. This is not to say it was perfect, but we managed to reach a very advanced and positive point toward resolution. The general notion separated from the actual reality has been created by reintroducing these subjects to children and students. By resurfacing these ideas and putting them in the front, the nonissue returned to being problematic. There is something very unproductive in blowing out of proportion an issue, as it does not promote any constructive solution. Instead of integrating the success of recent decades, searching for a minor problem and making it big creates, in people, and especially kids' minds, a dissonance to promote separation, hate, and fear.

The second issue is that by making this topic the cornerstone of our conversation as social issues, our capacity to concentrate and have a real discourse about the real problems in our society drops to 0. We all have limited mental capacity, especially when handling negative feelings. Many real social problems exist, but concentrating on the wrong problems robs us of being able to address the relevant issues. Moreover, the topic itself of sexism, racism, and homophobia is not presented to the younger generation in a neutral manner that aims for any resolution that will promote love, unity, and acceptance. It is taught by angry and frustrated adults that mainly explain why the world is a bad place and how it makes them (the kids) problematic at their core.

The third issue concerns the confusion it creates in a kid's mind. I wrote a long article about the consequences of this movement in a different article called "The LGBH! Movement"! To summarize, kids are a very elastic population vulnerable to propaganda. The concept of identity and firm worldview are nonexistent. By promoting these issues, the amount of confusion created by this generation is immense and has long-term consequences for their well-being in the long run. Lenin famously said: "Give me four years to teach the children, and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted." As I wrote in my article, most current social issues do not stem from a real need for social change but from confused young people who are lost. Without the capacity to understand who they are, what they want to be, or what to do in their society. These young people are lost in a world of fear, separation, hatred, and confusion. A reality I believe is directly connected to our failing educational system. 

It is normal that as the world changes, the educational system and its values will change with it. Regardless, due to its importance, it should be closely observed and scrutinized if we are to keep its positive relevance. There is no doubt that Aa change is needed in this system. Like any other change, we should be very careful regarding how we do it, as it will determine the mental stage of our children and future societies. Change can come randomly or in a controlled fashion. As the state controls most Western education, the second option is unavoidable. The issue with this point is that government changes too often in the West, making the educational system vulnerable to the wishes of the current government's momentary philosophy. As this subject is essential in our society, I believe a general standard to judge the educational system should be determined and applied. In my Book "Back to Ourselves," I laid out such a standard for our current education system, which I called constructive education. I describe it in the following way:

"Constructive education is an apolitical education that fundamentally gives an individual the tools needed to acquire information from all sorts, to appreciate and doubt the source of information in hand, and to develop his conclusions while maintaining the general understanding of what he does not know."

Our current educational system is far from this definition. It promotes hate and fear. This is extremely dangerous, as it promotes violence and separation. These feelings are easy to manipulate as they exist in many. This social weakness has been built over time due to the malfunction of our society, problematic government, and the economic devastation caused by the explosive national debts that impose unproductive taxes on the masses. The need for better education is urgent. In many conversations I had with people around me, I realized that most people in the West understand that something is wrong with education these days. Many are trying to find simple answers to complicated questions. In many cases, after a short evaluation of the situation. Many conclude that the problem of our current educational system is related to the institution itself, the teacher's quality, the size of the classes, or the program itself. I believe the problem is deeper and more serious.

The abovementioned symptoms are part of an old reflection of a deeper problem. The state takes over the educational institution. By doing so, the governments in the West have robbed education of their much-needed freedom. In recent years, the constrained put on teachers and professors has come to the front. The requirement and political limitations imposed on many of them transformed a place of ideas into a prison of thought. The mixture of ever-increasing bureaucracy and educational restraints creates an institution more similar to a communist educational camp than an open, decentralized place of ideas. The educational institution of our days can not be called a constructive education. They do not promote values the young generation needs to create a better future, nor the tools needed to handle the complicated reality we call life.

I believe a second definition is needed to understand my last statement better. I have a long discussion in my books about the subject. Observing deeper the different aspects of education. In my Second book, "The Human Perspective," I went as far as to show how the bible, in its origin, exists to teach us fundamental lessons about constructive education. To come full circle about educational standards. I concluded that the opposite alternative to constructive education could be called "Depressive Education." I describe it as follows:

"Depressive education" gives an individual the "absolute" and "unquestionable" truth rather than tools to learn and question. In other words, depressive education teaches individuals what to think, not how to think. It is normally hostile to questioning and promotes hate and separation. Killing the drive of individuals to understand and question.

A depressive education will lead individuals to believe there's only one reality and truth. The core method of this system is to impose one belief system on reality and demand it will change based on it. The logic is simple, If I believe X, then it is X. If reality shows me it is Y, I can ignore it or demand (sometimes shout) at it until it becomes an X. If it doesn't, we will call it X anyhow, hoping it will change over time. This aggressive behavior is applied to all systems and people. It becomes a pattern that builds on itself. After a certain amount of time, any Y, regardless of its size or importance, symbolizes a general failure of the system. Making it dangerous and worth "Dying for." The implication of Depressive education can be seen all over the Western world. Making it a common denominator all over the Western educational system. Its implication is hard to ignore as one does not need to look far to see them daily. 

By teaching younger generations how things are and not how things should be done, we're taking away their ability to think, create, and survive. A long period of depressive education will inevitably cause society to view different opinions and qualities as negative while believing that only the majority opinion can be right. This promotes fear of the "other" and creates separation between people and their neighbors, peers, and society. Looking at and judging our current education in terms of "Constructive" or Depressive" education will easily allow us to notice the origin of the issues in our current system. Modern education preaches fear of strange and/or different opinions; it promotes self-concentration and social judgment and reinforces existing beliefs. It also ignores the growing paradoxes shown by day-to-day reality. Its effect can be seen all over the globe. Especially related to social topics promoting the legitimacy of questioning the definition of what is a woman can a man have a period.

The young generation in the West holds onto a philosophy of fear and terror, creating concern about humanity's ability to create a better future for our children. My personal belief is that a depressive education controls the Western world and makes the younger generation feel that the world is a dark, dangerous place that has no hope or capacity to create a better future. By any standard, this is not an education that promotes a better future or one we should actively or passively support.

Before ending this post, I would like to elaborate on "Constructive education." I genuinely believe that identifying a problem is only the first step toward finding a solution. Identifying the Depressive education system will bring us nowhere if we do not hold a valid alternative with clear principles. The points below are some general points written under the principle of what I consider to be a constructive education. These points do not reflect an educational system but the ideas that should stand behind it. As different societies in the world have different ways of passing information to each other, a custom educational system should be built based on the habits and norms of the local population.

I will start with a list of guiding values that must apply to all educational systems and the people who participate in education. 

·       Know yourself as you are.

·       Be an example of your demands.

·       Respect your surroundings as you ask to be respected.

·       Take the time to understand.

·       Accept opinions as they are all part of the same reality.

·       Embrace the needs of your society as they are your own.

·       Strive to be the best version of yourself.

·       Encourage love and understanding.

·       Ask to learn and learn to ask.

·       Accept failure as it's a part of learning and success.

The list below reflects what I believe should be the frame of ideas guiding the system and its activities as a whole:

• Words exist to express reality, never the opposite. Creating a reality based on words will create a lack of healthy communication, which will bring fear, separation, and loneliness.

• Our past is what brought us here. We cannot move forward productively without understanding where we come from.

• Demolition is easy, while construction is difficult. Do not break for the sake of progress, as the existing structure brought us to the prosperity we live in today.

• The collective, as a whole, is always problematic as it is a conceptual invention. For a better society, the individual should be educated as an individual and then as a part of a realistic group. (which does not imply a personal teacher for each student or the lack of importance of being part of a defined group).

• Knowledge is a positive power only when it comes out of peacefulness. Change is a positive thing that should be encouraged and not feared. Knowledge is positive only if an individual or a group uses it to benefit future generations based on the principles of unification, peace, and curiosity.

• A person is better at doing one simple task at a time. A complicated task is complex for an individual if the person didn't master the simple tasks separately before putting them together or if a person lacks the understanding of the task itself. 

·         The best way to optimize an individual and a society is to outsource everything that is not the core activity of an individual while keeping an active part in the creation process.

·         Core activities of an individual are the activities an individual naturally feels comfortable doing for long periods, creating an intellectual sense and purpose. Naturally, these activities are intuitively understood and developed in the individual's mind.

• To help people, an individual must focus on people's needs and dreams, not on his own.

• The educational system should lead the individual not to compare themselves to what they think they should be but to what they were yesterday.

• People must know how to make decisions based on their own inner truth but should live by making as few decisions as possible.

• Positive productivity means creating better quality, not creating more. For positive productivity, time and peacefulness are required.

It is important to remember, when approaching the idea of education, that its purpose is to enrich the students, give them better tools to handle life and make them better in the field they are trying to learn. As Alan Watts said - "The reward of learning French should be the capacity to enjoy their culture and people, not to hold a certificate." The first and most important standard of education should be the answer to one simple question – does it promote the student's well-being and create a healthier society? I believe the answer is intuitive to most people. If not, it is probably because we are too busy defending a paradox.

Learn more about the hidden lessons concerning education in my book “the Human perspective - New Lessons from Genesis”.

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