Mar 02 2008
Podcast with Bill and Patrick
The conversation about education and sustainability continues with Bill Faren by a student blogger and Podcaster named Patrick who is one of Clay Burel’s students from Beyond School. Please listen to the podcast here and leave your thoughts on the comments section.
Bill Faren is completely correct on our corrupt system of education. We are so caught up in this system, children and adults alike, that we cannot question it critically or notice the amount of damage it is doing to the well-being of humans. This problem is not just occurring in the United States but all around the world where the main goal is merely to become wealthy and not to live in a sustainable environment where the well-being of humans should be our main focus. Success is not obtained from money, although unfortunately it is the connotation we attach to it. Success should appear from happiness, sustainability, and peace of mind not through materialistic objects that will not truly improve our lives. Education should be the key to enlighten us on such facts of life, however, today, in such a corrupt system, all school education is doing is causing more damage to the morality of humans and lighting up the path of destruction for all of us to follow. Rather than caring about the environment and legitimate, real-world issues at school, our minds are stressing with the thoughts of grades, colleges and GPAs. Bill Faren is right when he states that he does not “blame the students for playing the school game” because it is a fact that we are just following only what we know. Nevertheless, it is obviously our job to find a way to educate ourselves and others around us if we cannot get this essential education from our schools.
Natasha, being sustainable doesn’t mean focus mainly on the well being of humans, it means focusing mainly on the well being of communities, both animal and human. But yes, the system is corrupt to an extent, the way you use the knowledge depends entirely on you, getting rich seems to be the point of school, but you don’t have to follow the norm.
Education is the key to success, but what is the cost of that success? What is the purpose of that success? Is it for our own personal wellbeing? Well what’s defines a wellbeing? Is education out there for progress? The means that education is carried out is done all wrong. Education’s out there for all the wrong reasons. Kids who do well in school become robots. They no long have that kid-like spirit, they become machines, that are can progress and are extrememly successfull. Alex, the definition of sustainability is to supply with necessities or nourishment; provide for, to withstand - whether thats for the individual or community, it doesn’t matter. Sustainability depends on the strength of the system. Our current systems, whether they be governments, economic systems, or schools, are not sustainable, for they are not strong. Each of these systems have their priorities wrong. I’m not saying that I have all the answers. I’m saying that I’m tired of the system that i follow. I cannot quit the system, because there is no where else to go. There are no alternate systems in which I could take refuge. This is the only way to be “sustainable.” I didn’t make this comment just to nag about how much I don’t like school, I want to generate ideas for alternatives so that future students are stuck in the same situations (I’m sure they’ll have plenty of other problems that we’ve made to fix). We, students, should be taught in a relaxed environment, where its not so competitve. We should have the enthusiasm to want to be taught. All too often I see kids copying homework or using sly tricks just to pass. The amount of education we’ve gained is calculated in grades, a terrible use of the alphabet. If we were taught with enthusiasm and a lighthearted atmosphere we’d want to learn. A major defect in our education system is that we are only taught. We hardly put the things we’ve learned into actions. We need to practice what we’ve learned so we can apply to the world. The worlds a huge place, but it’s our place. It’s what we need to be able to sustain. It all starts at school, but unfortunately we’re doing it all wrong.