We don't need education!

Lately, I've been traveling and thinking about how education has changed in the last year, in post-pandemic times.

How do children learn today? Locked up in their homes, taking online courses, distracting themselves, asking their parents to do their homework for them. Are they focused? Do they really learn anything? What is the way forward?

I've seen how friends and family with children are adjusting and some stories are better than others. Some continued with their traditional online education system at home, others left it altogether and got personalized teachers, others decided to sign up for schools that offer an alternative system, even if they are not regulated or recognized by the government education system.

The home office has revolutionized what we call “having an education”.

What is the sole purpose of education? What should be the role of a teacher? What should children learn freely? Do we want them to become academic robots or do we want to teach them emotional intelligence, sex or new ways of cooperating for a better world in the midst of the climate crisis?

So I did some research...

The first school I found is “Onda Encantada” in Tulum. When I met the school principal, she told me that they actually had to improvise a space for children to attend in person because they were not allowed to open the school and refused to allow children aged 6 to 12 to take online classes.

It was a group of mothers who founded this initiative and they came together to have a safe space where children could learn from their environment and adapt to this new reality.

In this place where they met, they have a greenhouse, they set up outdoor tents where each teacher has about 15 students, they have a main building and they take swimming lessons in a nearby cenote!

To this day, this school does not operate under the government education system. Is it necessary?

Another example is a project called “El Semillero” in Valle de Bravo. They call themselves a Social Learning Organization, a “Non-School”. Talking on the phone with one of the founders, he shared his philosophy based on three pillars: Self-Knowledge, Self-Design and Action.

Its primary mission is to help children grow from 12 to 18 years old. However, they offer to help them validate or certify their grades to the traditional education system if they need it.

It's a community of facilitators, not teachers. It is a community of children with a lot of will, not students. It's a community of adults, not parents. It is a community in which knowledge is shared, there are no hierarchies, everyone has something to learn from others and also to contribute.

I also visited another school called “El Hilar” and “Inlakesh”, two examples of Waldorf education in elementary and secondary schools, based on the philosophy of Rudolph Steiner, who mainly seeks to develop not only the intellect, but also creativity and practical and emotional skills. Pedagogical ideals also consist of allowing children to be free and helping them to know their spiritual identity.

While some are not recognized by the official education system, others try to convince the government that, although their methodology, pace and forms of teaching are different, they meet official requirements. It's not an easy battle, but the message is simple: “there are better teaching methods, let us show them a different path and they will be ready to face the future”.

The song plays over and over again in my head: “We don't need any education...
Hey! Professor! Leave the children alone.” (Pink Floyd's “Another Brick in the Wall”).

Hopefully it's an attempt to truly reflect on what kind of education we want our children to have, what interactions, what lessons and what brilliant minds, bodies and souls are going to cultivate the future on this planet Earth.

Fuentes

Enchanted Wave https://www.ondaencantada1320.org/

El Semillero http://www.semillerodevalle.org/

El Hilar http://elhilar.com.mx/

Inlakesh https://colegioinlakesh.edu.mx/

Monica Lafon is an independent environmental journalist. He graduated in Journalism and Political Science from Concordia University and obtained a master's degree in Environmental Policy from Sciences Po Paris.