Cultivating New Worlds
As an educator, I often think about the purpose of education. With so many differing perspectives on the subject, I sometimes think,
“What’s the point of answering this question in the first place? Is it worth it?”
Especially when I am trying to figure out what I’m going to do with my 2, 3, or 4 year olds the next day, I sometimes brush the question to the side. But the question always comes back.
Why?
Cultivating Worlds : Two Fundamental Questions
What drives me are these two questions (directly inspired by the book From Teaching to Thinking by Ann Pelo and Margie Carter):
1) What do we want the world of tomorrow to be like, and;
2) How can we live that reality, now?
Individuals, communities, and systems are asking and answering these questions in both the subconscious and conscious level. The constant questioning and answering leads to our co-created realities, moment-to-moment.
Here are some examples.
Communities
I’ll answer the questions in relation to my values in my community.
1) What do we want the world of tomorrow to be like?
We want the world of tomorrow to be full of listening for relationships.
2) How do we live that reality now?
When one of our little ones is upset leaving their parents at drop off, we breathe deeply and offer them a hug or a caring gaze. We gently tell the little one to name their emotions and experience their emotions in their body, before gently nudging into what other options or reassurance we may be able to share.
Systems
I’ll answer the questions in relation to Capitalism, specifically in the context of the United States.
1) What does Capitalism want the world of tomorrow to be like?
Capitalism wants to maximize profits to owners of capital and maximize the efficiency of distribution of resources in service of generating more capital.
2) How does Capitalism live that reality now?
In the context of schools, Capitalism standardizes the meaning of learning through standardized tests, valuing output metrics and specific skills that are in high demand by owners of capital. Capitalism looks to maximize the efficiency of the school day to consistently meet these demands. Efficiency and output is prioritized over relationships and human well being.
Implications of the Two Fundamental Questions of Cultivating Worlds
Asking and answering the fundamental questions, either consciously or unconsciously, is what drives the development of our relationships and, as a result, of our worlds. And, if we want liberation from the answers that Capitalism has for us, we must use the agency we do have to cultivate three spaces of freedom to explore the tomorrows we do want: within our minds and bodies, within our immediate relationships, and within our larger communities.
The Purpose of Education
Through asking and answering the two fundamental questions, I have honed in on a purpose of education that feels true to me. I am sharing with you a distillation of years of thinking on the topic, so if you don’t quite understand where this comes from, that makes sense. I am sharing to encourage you to respond, perhaps sit with what is the purpose of education for you and your community? What resonates and what doesn’t?
The purpose of education is to cultivate the dispositions and skills to embrace emergence, be in reciprocal relationship, and be grounded in offering and accepting both our individual and collective capacities of support.
What’s Next
The practice of asking questions and landing in practice, to later reflect through more questions, is the core of any approach to developing emergent curriculum and approaches in education spaces. I have come to recognize it as cycles of inquiry. In my next post, I will delve into how answering these questions relates to preparing and sustaining a classroom that thrives from what emerges in your ideas, your little one’s ideas, and the ideas presented by all humans within your wider community.
