I wrote a post about the blindness instilled by most modern education a couple of days ago and @pjcswart asked a very good question "How do you propose it should be done?" I did reply and I shared some of my thoughts that came to me at that moment. I decided that was actually something I would like to post about today.

The first thing I would like to say is that NOTHING about education should be set in stone. It needs to be adjustable and adapt to the students. It needs to adapt and incorporate techniques that do a better job.

The second thing is that it needs to be honest. Reality is not about making your particular country out to be the shining light that can never do wrong. Reality requires us to acknowledge our failures as well as our successes. To do otherwise simply changes history into a carefully crafted propaganda piece. Education should be about seeking the facts, acknowledging them and keeping a view of the truth that we are willing to change as we are presented with new facts.

The third thing is to seek the passion, and the love for learning. If you can start that fire in the mind of a student then they will be a self learning machine that NEVER stops learning in and out of a classroom. In fact at that point if you get in the way of their learning they'll likely walk right over you and keep at it.

The fourth thing is to teach critical thinking at a very early age. When I use the term critical thinking it is not as a simple phrase that you typically see in modern education yet they barely teach it at all. In fact it seems many of the educators are completely oblivious to it themselves. Yet, it is the key to being able to speak with people you disagree with and learn from them. We can potentially learn far more in civil discussions with those that we disagree with than we can by simply speaking to people that already agree with us and know similar things. They disagree because they have different ideas, beliefs, facts, and a different mental picture of "truth" than you do. We need to not view this as a bad thing. I'll speak more on this in a moment.

Now let's revisit each of these points in a bit more detail as though they are simple points they are quite broad in implication.

Do not caste in Stone

We need to not be so rigid in our approach to education. The answer to problems is not necessarily going to be solved by throwing more money at the problem. In fact, at a certain point if there is a flaw in the approach more money will not actually do anything and could potentially increase problems. We need to observe what other nations, communes, families, etc are doing and continually be willing to adapt and change our education system.

The most important thing in this regard is to stop trying to force students into a mold. Stop treating it like a one size fits all solution. Instead of forcing them into a mold we need to adapt to their needs and only use our educational approach as potential ramps for launching the child into the world of self education and love of learning.

Source: giphy.com

In modern era people have observed some of the positive results of other countries. Yet, they keep on pushing things the same as they always have. They complain that there isn't enough money. If you unlock the fire in a student's mind then it won't require a lot of money. It just requires access and someone to mentor them through the process.

Honesty

We need to be honest. We need to acknowledge failures as well as successes and learn from them both. We need to teach that it is completely okay and natural to be wrong and to make mistakes. We simply need to acknowledge them and learn from them. We also need to learn to not condemn others for mistakes if it is clear they acknowledged them and are learning from them.

Source: giphy.com

We need to stop only showing the good things in history when it comes to our individual nations. We need the facts, and let the students draw their own conclusions rather than force feeding them what their conclusions should be. For forcing the conclusions is nothing more than propaganda and indoctrination. We should not be doing this if our goal is to educate.

Ignite the Fire in their mind

I personally believe this is one of the more important things we can do. We need to ignite the fire in the mind of the student. What I mean by this is we need to help them learn to love learning, and to have a strong passion in it. If we can achieve this then the job of the educator will become an easy one. At that point it will be more about giving the student access, and guiding them towards mentors that can help them.

Source: giphy.com

The key to this fire is to not try to force them to learn everything the same as everyone else. Instead expose them to many things and look for those sparks of interest. If we can find that thing or things that truly ignite their passion then we will know it. We then should encourage that passion.

Once a person loves learning they will not stop and there is no end. The attitude of "I am graduating from High School and am now an adult, and I've learned what I need, but I can go to college if I want" will be gone. In truth, we never stop learning. We never reach the ending where we know everything and no longer need to learn. So a passion and love of learning is a thing once ignited that should never die out.

We need to realize that this passion will end up being the guide for a lot of this student's education. They may not focus on certain fields of study as much as other people. This is okay. Let them find their way. They may never advance beyond basic math, basic history, etc. Yet they may excel in arts and take them somewhere else. They may never have an interest in the arts but might find a great love for math, and sciences. The passion will take them farther than a forced MOLD we have attempted to push them into.

We also need to change the early perceptions that someone learning a lot of any topic, skill, etc is a bad thing. We need to exalt in students who find that passion.

There are many famous people that did amazing things in science, technology, and art. Many of them were traditionally horrible students. Fortunately, they seemed to find their passion and at that point they succeeded despite the efforts of the education system to force them into a mold. Good thing for us.

Critical Thinking

I've come to believe that critical thinking may be one of the earliest things we should be teaching and it should be continually exercised and used by people throughout their life for we cannot master it, we can only improve with practice. Why do I believe this?

It is the key to navigating through discussions with people when our views are not in alignment. It does not work as effectively if only one participant is using it. It also teaches us to recognize common logical fallacies. This makes us less susceptible to them, and less susceptible to propaganda and indoctrination as such things tend to be based heavily upon logical fallacies.

Source: giphy.com

If all participants know these things then a person saying "Appeal to Authority" will not necessarily be met with anger, but "ah, yes, you are right, let me rethink that, or rephrase that". We ALL uses logical fallacies, some of us use them very often and simply do not know about it. When a person points them out it should not be viewed as an attack, but rather as an opportunity. A flaw was pointed out. We can either address that flaw, or perhaps we need to rethink our stance on that particular issue.

Often people talk about various utopian, or ideological concepts they believe will save the world and make it a better place. I don't really care which one you pick. They all tend to fall apart when confronted with human nature. Why? We don't all think the same. Simply because you think an idea sounds great, and you are willing to change your life and how you approach it does not mean that everyone else shares your mind. In fact, a great deal of them probably will not. These things are usually making the same mistake as modern education. Trying to force other humans into the mold that you think will work.

For this reason I believe the key to the success of any great ideological concept is a population well versed in critical thinking. Then they will have the tools to navigate disagreement, respect those they disagree with and agree with alike.

Now for those who would control the population and expect obedience the concept of a population well versed in critical thinking is probably terrifying. For then they'd have to convince us to go along with their plans based upon FACTS and REASON. Without such a population emotion, and logical fallacies work great to manipulate the masses.

So the current ruling class spread around the world likely would be very much against the population being versed in critical thinking.

Conclusion

These are but my initial ideas and some of them are things I've spent years thinking about off and on, and others were things I only truly considered when I was asked the question that inspired this. Nothing I write here should be cast in stone. These are my ideas, and they are very likely flawed somewhere. I consider them simply a possible seed that might be able to grow into something. It may be a seed that the mind of someone else can put to use. Otherwise, it may simply be an intellectual curiosity.

Source: giphy.com

I do want to part with a fifth thing. Lose the fascination with EASY. We need to stop rushing for the thing that seems like the easy solution. Often walking the difficult path offers many rewards and bits of learning that you never would encounter otherwise. If a thing sounds difficult, that is not reason to avoid it. It could be a reason to pursue it.