A while ago, as a retired teacher, I voiced concerns about the “No Child Left Behind” nationwide policy.
Many other people expressed similar viewpoints about the “well-intended” program that has created commotion, despair, frustration and havoc within the educational system.
Today, many years later, I suggest there be serious consideration for an education system based on providing the variables of “Life’s Lessons,” including:
>> Learning how to “live and let live.”
The lessons can be both formal and informal — in the classroom and on the playground, at lunch time and at assemblies. Some of this is already happening; there needs to be more.
>> The art of self-reliance and the dynamics of interpersonal relationships.
What can be more important than to be provided the skills and wherewithal to be self-sufficient, plus, learning how to get along with one another? Taking the time to develop these interactive skills should be a part of the learning experience from year to year. This does not happen automatically.
>> The quest to be “interested” and “interesting” as an individual.
Nurturing one’s natural curiosity is the building block in an educational system; in the development of self, to become an interesting person should be an individualistic pursuit.
Teachers need to be more than “information” providers; they need to place more emphasis on how they teach and whether they are using methods that encourage students to want to learn.
>> Discovering one’s “personal genius.”
This is just a hyperbolic way of deeming each person as having qualities and capabilities that need to be recognized. If the classroom becomes fertile ground for stimulating interests, the dynamics of teaching and learning will change dramatically.
>> Providing opportunities for fine-tuning environmental awareness with management techniques that foster respect and responsibility for sustainability practices and proce- dures.
It is time to for the human species to realize how our kind impacts planet Earth, and to become proactively engaged in solution-based approaches in our relationship to our environment. “Malama aina” principles and practices are relevant.
It would also be advantageous to seek ways in which the students may become aware and encouraged to seek ways in which he/she can be a contributing member in his/her community.
>> Promoting personal health and well-being.
From diets to exercise and from choices to lifestyle management, there are some paradigm shifts that should be seriously considered. We cannot continue to indulge our whims without realizing how self-indulgences may have dire consequences.
>> The inclusion of an extensive and intensive, multidimensional Hawaiian studies program charted from grades kindergarten to 12, which includes in-depth aspects of language, music, history, stewardship practices, and arts and crafts, to raise the appreciation and awareness of the host culture as a basis of the “Life Lessons” uniquely emanating from Hawaii.
Will it matter how well we read, write and think? Of course it will. Will these approaches outlined above diminish academic priorities? Of course they won’t.
The shift in educational priority emphasis on how well we must learn to live, however, might have more of a meaningful and lasting impact on the lives of future generations to come.
Jose Bulatao Jr., of Kekaha, has taught at Waimea High School/Kauai High School and at Kauai Community College, and founded The Bailes de Jose Troupe.
