EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM & PEDAGOGY

" The fundamental job of the state is education.
To govern is to educate.
There cannot be a more important task for government than
to strive to augment the people's intelligence."


Luis Aberto Machado (1932-2016)

(The Right to be Intelligent, p7)

1. Educational System

"Education is the means by which a people prepares themselves for the building of their own civilization, for the progress and glory of their 'race' ."


Marcus Gravey (1887-1940)
(Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey p6)

According to Ray Dalio(founder and former Manager of "Brigewater Associates" one of the most important Hedgefond in USA), in his book "THE CHANGING WORLD ORDER : Why Nations Succeed and Fail", education quality is one of the main indicator to predict the future of a nation in what he calls "the country power index". One of most important thing that we notice is that, education is generally the second largest government expenditure (% of GDP) in developed countries. Because being a powerful country in our century beyond good governance, means : a high level of R,D&I (Research, Development and Innovation) and Entrepreneurship; and all this depends on the quality of mind that a nation will produce or attract. Wealth and Military Strength of a modern nation are mostly the consequences of those four things.

But allocate a lot of money to education isn't enough to have a successful educational system. Here are some common points that we find between country that have the best educational system in the world (Example : Finland, Denmark, South Korea, Singapore, Israel, Switzerland ...) :

  • Decentralization
  • Education is not politicized
  • Use of several pedagogical approaches
  • Great appreciation, well pay and excellent training of teaching staff
  • Good collaboration between parents and teachers
  • Constant innovation
  • ...

2. Pedagogy

" ... There must be nothing in the forms of teaching that compels them (students) to learn... The lessons that forcibly enters the soul do not remain there "


Socrate - (470-399 av. J.-C)
(Platon: La republique, p364)

"Let the main objet of this, our Didactic, be as follows: To seek and to find a method of instruction, by which teachers may teach less, but learners may learn more; by which schools may be the scene of less noise, aversion, and useless labour, but of more leisure, enjoyment, and solid progress; " p4


John Amos Comenius (1592-1670)
(The GREAT DIDACTIC, p4)

Richard Feyman

Richard Phillips Feynman (1918-1988) is considered by many people Bill Gates include, as one of the best practitioner pedagogue of our time. And his advise about the best way to teach is to have no philosophy or to be chaotic; in other words, the best way to teach is the way that works for each learner.

"there is no fixed teaching. All i can provide is an appropriate medicine for a particular ailment"


Bruce Lee (1940-1973)
( Tao of Jeet Kune Do p9 )

And Bruce Lee know as one of the strongest person to have lived and a great martial arts teacher of all the time, who invented a martial art called JET KUNE DO, that have a particularity to use techniques borrowed from different martial arts and most important use the background of a learner to turn him into a fighter, also recommends to not have a fixed teaching. Another one of his great quotes was :

"BE LIKE A WATER MY FRIEND".

Another way to say adapt to each situation you will find yourself just like water.

Conclusion

"In ancient Africa everything was school"


Amadou Hampâté Bâ(1901-1991)

Now it is more comprehensible why Steiner recommends that a educator should have a wider background, so that he will be able to understand and to adapt in many situation as possible. And we recommend that, a modern educator have to master many pedagogical approaches as possible (Montessori pedagogy, Waldorf pedagogy, Freinet Pedagogy, Socratic approach ... ), have a good understanding of Child psychology and at least the basis of : cognitive psychology, behavioral psychology, analytical psychology, human biology, nutrition and neuroscience.
The goal isn't to make him a expert in all these fields, but just to make him master the part that will help him to do a better job.

"If any profession in our time requires a wider background, education needs it the most of all"


Rudolf Steiner (1899-1911)
(Child's changing consciousness p46)

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