BY EDISON MARTE SICAD
“People don’t have ideas. Ideas have people.” – Carl Jung
THE ROMAN god Bacchus — Dionysus in Greek mythology — is chiefly known as the god of wine and pleasure. In the English language, the adjective for drunken revelry is bacchanalian; and distilled alcoholic beverages are referred to as liquor or spirits.
When a person drinks, he gets “possessed” by such spirits — as the observed explanation of the existence of the god of wine. When we drink, we feel a sense of pleasure that is addicting and liberating: happiness becomes intoxicating and sometimes, personal problems get more depressing.
In the same vein, ideas can have a similar effect — mostly shown in an exaggerated manner in movies: a scientist or inventor would spend sleepless nights, animated by his vision, concocting the perfect formula, creating a working prototype — a proof of concept — that would eventually give him a sense of purpose. And many artists would tend to resort to drinking to summon the muses, so to speak.
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When people are allowed to be original and spontaneous (trusting the process) — making mistakes as part of the learning curve — the learning environment can then be truly called educational.
This is the type of learning that is rarely seen in schools nowadays: the sense of wonder, the excitement in discovery, the eureka moment, are constrained and straitjacketed by lesson plans, grading systems, and school calendars.
Not only are students getting bored; they are also getting agitated. Not only are teachers leaving by the hoard; they are also getting paid more abroad.
I am not saying that effort and hard work are bane to knowledge; what I mean is that we have given our students more things to learn but lesser meanings why they have to learn. We have assigned to our teachers more work to do but lesser respect in the nobility of the profession. They feel abused and exploited in a systemic manner. To an extreme, this can also be called inhuman treatment.
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If it is all about learning style, then differentiated instruction would be the best approach. But schools go for conformity and standardization. In the first place, a teacher with 50 students would not be able to address all their concerns.
What makes this even more challenging is when we put into consideration teaching styles. Sure, the learning styles of students are often related to their personalities and teaching them according to such variables would indeed be highly commendable. But with this same premise, teachers also have personalities — and may have a thing or two to say in also considering this personal factor in bringing out the best in their work. But this is often disregarded in a school setting, giving priority to one-size-fits-all evaluation.
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After teaching for more than 15 years, I have decided to change my working environment: a legal researcher in a first level court — where I can be more as a student than a teacher. Some would ask why. Either I have learned everything there is to learn in my previous work; or my mind is yearning for a more challenging learning experience. And this decision is the essential part of the equation in eventually synergizing more ideas.
For some years now, I have learned to abhor consuming prefabricated knowledge. I am yearning of creating my own ideas. Something like a new theory, a bit less academic and more personal, but still highly intellectual — or even disruptive.
IN CONCLUSION, there are times that our own subconscious mind would tell us that there is this thing or idea that really animates our being. That idea that would give us a surge of energy just thinking about it. But then, the banality of the environment and the pervasive mediocrity with most of the people around us tend to veer us away from our own dream:
What will people say? What will people think?
As the saying goes, “If you are the smartest person in the room, then you are in the wrong room.”
So, get out. Blaze a new trail. Create your own path. Learn and appreciate the process. And listen to that inner voice. Not all learning should be linear. Not all education should be logical./PN
