Education

I am coming from a culture that prioritizes education. Also education was believed to be delivered through schools. No surprise why it was a shock to me when I watched a documentary on BBC about families who did not send their kids to school and instead “Home Schooled” them. I did not have any perception of education outside school at the time.

That was the starting point of following my ignited curiosity and familiarizing myself with different school systems such as home schooling, charter schools and Montessori schools. Then I better comprehended the origin of schooling systems at the dawn of industrialization through the works of Ken Robinson. My understanding was expanded by the works of Ivan Illich on the idea of unschooling and even through “The Little Red Schoolbook” which has been banned for the major part of its existence.

Being an educator in higher education for a good part of my professional life, I had the opportunity to witness the institutionalized systematic problems in education systems. I have observed students’ eagerness as well as discouragement for learning due to their perception of their cognitive capabilities. Their perceptions were mostly limited to a small spectrum of various intelligence types through educational structures.

The agile changes in life due to technology and global warming at universal level has already made a major impact on traditional educational systems. Going to universities, graduating from a classic course over years and finding its job market obsolete is one indicator of this chaos.

Considered all these factors combined with Artificial Intelligence (AI), I delved into this issue more deeply. Along the way I figured the most interesting group of learners to me are the four-year-old kindergarten kids. It seems to me that focusing on the education design for this age group might be the most influential and least expensive to the human cost. With this group, there is a generous range of possibilities to impact and direct one’s very young brain and empower it by the skills and experiences which are relevant to this day and age. Also the impact of availability of technology to very young children makes them a vulnerable target and it is necessary to address this phenomenon in a balanced, safe and healthy manner. I recognized the age of four as an efficient time when children have passed the terrible two phase of incapability of verbal communication of their needs and wants. Later when I shadowed some kindergarten classes my hypothesis was confirmed by teachers.

To understand better and explore this path I set off to my new journey. I read various children’s books and literature, got familiar with STEM systems, participated in library’s storytelling and educational programs for children, visited children museums, their programs and educational facilities for kids including Makers Space, participated in MoMA’s teachers programs, explored educational games and some related TV programs, shadowed a couple of kindergarten classes, volunteered at institutions such as Island of Brilliance with focus on autism and education of autistic children and young adults, learnt about Piaget’s developmental psychology, volunteered with Girls Who Code (GWC) and worked with girls as young as six and studied them through the process of learning to code. This is an ongoing learning process for me with the aim for more effective individualized education design.