教育 Education

本週我想聊聊教育的理念。教育是什麼?它為何而存在?教學藝術又何去何從?

教育最精確的模式應是知識的代代相傳,若無法貫徹、讓流傳至年輕世代,將導致社會發展停滯,最終帶來文明的瓦解。在駐阿富汗超過13年後,北約部隊1仍無法消弭當地貧窮及女性文盲的問題。「阿富汗女性僅四成能上小學,10名女性當中就有9位是文盲。但聯合國學者認為阿富汗女性受教權仍有轉機。」換句話說,這個國家依然是世界上最落後、最原始的國家之一。最近的報告指出阿富汗已落後南蘇丹。

這個問題很明顯不是一朝一夕就能解決的。西方軍隊直搗宗教大本營的行為是相當令人震驚的:在第一次英阿戰爭(1839-1842)中,將近有17,000英印士兵和勞工在從喀布爾撤退時遭屠殺。Elizabeth Butler的畫作《Elizabeth Butler》(陸軍的遺跡)描繪了唯一的倖存者William Brydon醫師,背景為1842年的賈拉拉巴德,更強化了此軍事行動的負面意象。歷史不斷重演,「根據阿富汗重建(SIGAR)特別監察長John Sopko的說法, 過去十年美國已花費近一百億美元在重建上,在2010年SIGAR會計師僅能向Fiscal Times(財時報)說明不到一成的費用支出。美國也預期往後幾年會在阿富汗一些機構上耗資幾十億。

『美國對阿富汗從未有周全的計畫,』他說道,『接下來的轉變(新任總統)也不會帶來轉機。我們會持續有新的計畫,不管好壞,但都不會是對整體有助益的計畫。沒有正義、沒有有效監督,也沒有評鑑制度。』」

這種不經思考的方式是種浪費,顯示人民教育的弊端。西方軍事領導會聲稱他們已經盡全力,但文化與宗教使他們無法改變這社會。這不過證明了其缺乏批判性思考。

當我們轉向西方教育制度,官僚體制也隨之而來。這種制度無法培養活躍、有決心的青年,使其能擁抱一個精彩多變的未來。為什麼呢?我相信問題和答案都在科技當中,也就是智慧型─亦或不那麼有智慧─的手機裡。手機和其它的電子通訊裝置中的眾多軟體,更加速想像力與創意的退化。當所有資訊都在機器裡,誰還需要思考?但也正因如此,你更得思考。我們有義務告知後輩,以前我們所受的教育有其不足,且21世紀也不能沿用19世紀的工具。我們必須走出去,磨練提問的藝術、發展自己的分析能力。最重要的是,要拒絕成為薪資奴隸或資本階級下貪婪的錢奴。這些人並不是透過工作賺錢,而是以錢滾錢,這對大眾利益是毀滅性的事實。但最終,人性還是聰穎的,未來也是光明的。偉大的詩人葉慈(1865-1939)曾說:教育不是注滿一桶水,而是點燃一把火。

本週散心時,也想想批判思考的重要性吧。

每天試著尋找生活中神奇、美麗的事物。

註腳:

1) 北大西洋公約組織,簡稱北約組織或北約,是一個為實現防衛協作而建立的國際組織。

 

This week, I would like to discuss the idea of education. What is it, why does it exist and where is the art of pedagogy going today?

Education, in its most concise form, is the transference of knowledge from one generation to another. Failure to manifest this transfer to a neoteric and youthful generation leads to social stagnation and, ultimately, the collapse of civilization. After over thirteen years in Afghanistan, for example, NATO forces 1 have failed to reduce poverty and female illiteracy. “Only 40 percent of Afghan girls attend an elementary school and 9 out of 10 women are illiterate. But scholars… at the United Nations (UN) say there’s hope for girls’ education in Afghanistan.” That being said, the country continues to be one of the most backward and one of the most primitive in the world: only being beaten by Northern Sudan, at last reports.

One would be foolish to believe that this situation will be ameliorated tomorrow morning. The naivety of the Western military thrust into this religious wasp’s nest is stunning: During the First Anglo-Afghan War (1839-1842), almost 17,000 Anglo-Indian soldiers and camp laborers were massacred as they retreated from Kabul. Elizabeth Butler’s painting, “Remnants of an Army,” depicting the arrival of the sole survivor, Dr. William Brydon, in Jalalabad in January 1842, only reinforces the image of this imbecilic military campaign. History continues to repeat itself: “According to recent testimony by John Sopko, Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR), the United States has spent nearly $100 billion to rebuild Afghanistan in the last decade. In 2010, SIGAR accountants told The Fiscal Times that they could account for less than 10 percent of this money. The United States is also expected to pay tens of billions of dollars in the coming years to support failing Afghan institutions.

‘The United States has never had a coherent plan for a new Afghanistan,’ he said. ‘There won’t be a plan through the upcoming transition (of a new president) and we’ll go on dealing with projects, good or bad, that aren’t related to an overall plan, have no justification, no effective monitoring and no levels to determine their effectiveness.’”

All this waste and little thought to the education of the population: sickening. Western military leaders will claim that they did their very best but cultural and religious conditions prevented them from created the societal change that was truly needed. This is just the old canard to justify lack of critical thinking.

When we turn to Western school systems the bureaucrats are equally neutered. The system is simply not producing vivacious, determined young people ready to embrace an exciting and dynamic future. Why not? I believe that the problem, and the solution, lies in the technology, in the “idiot phone”: AKA the “smart phone.” The phone and other forms of electronic communication, as the numbers of APPs multiply, continue to diminish and decimate imagination and creativity. Why do you need to think when everything is in the phone? But think you must, now more than ever. We are obligated to tell our young charges that the paradigm we are growing up with is misplaced and misdirected. You cannot engage the 21st century using 19th century tools: go out and nurture the art of questioning and develop your analytical thinking skills. Most of all: refuse to become a wage-slave, an economic serf subjected to the whim of the avaricious capitalistic class. These people don’t make money through work they make money through the manipulation of money: purely destructive to the Common Good, better known as human society. But, in the end, humanity is clever and the future ultimately will be bright. The great poet William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) leaves us with a thought: Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.

This week on your spritely walk, please contemplate the art of critical thinking in your life.

Every day look for something magical and beautiful.

Footnote:

1) NATO refers to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, created in 1952.

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