Change Education, Change the Future

NEW: I started an evolver group called EDUCATION FOR EVOLUTION.... Please come introduce yourselves and join! http://www.evolver.net/group/education_evolution

Many people are focused on the short term goals we need to address immediately. We absolutely need some people to bandage and start to correct what we have been doing, but that's not where we need the most work.

Right now, our children are growing up in a highly materialistic, consumerist society (USA, at least) that is caught up in an economic recession. Many of our young people are worried more about their survival than their education - gang violence, children with children, unavailability of jobs, homelessness.

UltimateIy, I would like to change the institution of K-12 education in the United States, if not worldwide. To begin, I would like to create a curriculum for educating our young people in schools. An integrated, all-encompassing approach that addresses basic literacy & mathematics related to living skills; spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical well-being; local to global personal impact and responsibility; sustainable, simple living practices; the value of active participation in the local & global community. This would be an integrated, thematic approach. No separation of subjects would be involved - teach children as life happens, not in neat orderly units and lessons. Allow for tangential and relational learning to occur, initiated by teacher or student. Teachers need to be taught to lead, organize, and guide the learning and discovery process, not impart useless knowledge from the podium and expect the students to remember what the teacher thinks is important.

Admittedly, this idea is probably not new. There is one other education oriented project on here so far, involving media awareness and sustainability ideas. This is a good start. There is more and more on the web about integral education, holistic education, and other versions of alternative means to educate young people.

Please feel free to write comments and join me in my quest for a better future through educating our children in a better more wholesome manner that better serves them and the planet at large.