Back to school

Not long ago I was invited to a school in Tartu (Estonia) to talk about IT & Programming to the 9th graders. The class was a mix of Estonians, Russians, Ukrainians and students of other cultural backgrounds. To make it easy for everyone to understand, I repeated what I was saying in different languages.

It took me 5 hrs to get there and back, and I still had to work that day. I was joining my online meetings from a teacher's room in between classes. But it was worth it. I believe one of the powerful ways to impact changes for the better is via educating future generations.

I was evaluated by the school with a 9/10 score and given the following feedback:

"Thank you for a great hour! It was interesting and well thought out. Slides and videos were used to engage students, playful elements, sharing of opinions. IT is a very topical and interesting subject for young people nowadays, so we would like to continue our cooperation and invite you to our school again in the autumn. Thank you so much for the great lesson for our students! It was interesting and useful, hopefully everyone got some good ideas concerning future plans, studies and work."

Key messages I gave during the lesson

Besides talking about IT and Programming, and doing role plays. Yes, role plays, as one of my teaching methods I let students play roles of programmers, computers, Google, databases and websites. So besides that, I shared with them some key messages:

1. English as a language is the prerequisite to more knowledge and opportunities.

While there are many different programming languages, they are based on the use of English words. The findings in science, books, articles, etc. - most of them are in English. It does not mean that other languages are not important and should not be learnt, but it is clear that knowledge of English is essential for everyone around the globe for communication and knowledge gathering.

It makes life so much easier to have one language spoken around the globe. But speaking other languages is important to get to know different cultures and boost one's brain capabilities. So, if English is your native, go ahead to learn your second, third and etc. languages.

2. Mathematics is the queen of all subjects. Literally, everything can be explained by math.

My initial focus was on subjects relevant to IT and programming. But, if you look around you will see math in art, poems, and obviously, in every technology. Besides, it helps to develop skills in critical thinking, problem-solving, and analytical thinking.

When I said that, I noticed some started frowning as apparently, they did not like math. Then I told them that problem was not in math. It could be that teacher was not explaining well enough, the book on math was boring, they got sick and missed some classes and now it is hard for them to catch up.

If you understand that, then it is obvious that you should keep learning on your own.

3. School is not enough. Go ahead and learn on your own.

What we study in school is important but also superficial. Today, we have a lot of opportunities to study on our own and beyond what we learn in schools. If you think what you learn at school sucks, then take another perspective by looking at how the same topic is explained on different resources in the Internet.

There are plenty of good ones such as udemy.com, freecodecamp.org, coursera.org, and edx.org.

4. Don't force yourself to study. Instead, ask yourself regularly why you are studying what you are studying. If you can't find an answer, then drop it.

Sometimes to understand why you need to learn something, you need to learn it. But that should be part of your question about why you are learning it. It should not take you months or years to understand.

Virtually for everything that we are studying, there is meaning. But if you do not understand why, then drop it. Motivation to study is very important and no one should be forced to take some curriculum for the sake of passing it.

I see that in every school, kids are simply forced to do what they do not want to do it. Then it leads to traumas like "You are not normal. Other kids study well but not you. Stay 2nd year until you pass".

My take on education

Schools are important for building social skills and getting fundamentals. But they should not turn into prisons where kids are safely kept while parents are working hard to earn money.

Have you ever wondered why schools have 9-12 grades? Well, the simple answer is to produce workers for the economy at regular intervals. It is a production conveyor. All about getting richer and not much about personal well-being.

I think that schools should not overwhelm students with knowledge but rather give them skills:

a) To learn on their own

b) To communicate better their feelings and thoughts

That said, school subjects should be limited to the following and the rest needs to be dropped:

1. Mathematics
2. Philosophy
3. Languages of love

As you noticed, I did not include English. That is because I think there is no need for it to be a separate subject. Instead, all the subjects above need to be taught in English straight away. That way it is more relevant to students as it gives them context. Other languages spoken by parents and society will be naturally learnt by kids.

While I spoke already about the importance of mathematics, other subjects such as philosophy and languages of love are important as well.

Philosophy and its sub-disciplines such as metaphysics (the study of the nature of reality), epistemology (the study of knowledge and belief), ethics (the study of moral values and principles), logic (the study of reasoning and argumentation), and aesthetics (the study of beauty and art) - teaches to think critically, evaluate different perspectives, and make informed decisions.

Meanwhile, languages of love teach us to listen better to each other and develop empathy and humanness for healthier relationships.

That's it! All other things beyond that are up to kids to decide on their own. Kids need to be given more free time to decide how they want to use it. They will have time to reflect and not become submissive zombies with all energy drained out of them.

There is a big gap between teaching methods in schools and universities. No wonder when kids are coming to universities they are stressed that they suddenly have to find information and learn on their own.

While it might be a bit out of context and worth another article, I will still share here my formula for essential skills for healthy generations:

1. Learn to think critically
2. Learn to communicate your thoughts
3. Learn to listen, empathize and care

Epilogue

One friend of mine is practising homeschooling. He gave me one example of how that works. One day, his son expressed interest in learning the transportation system in Tallinn. So several days, he was just travelling on different buses and routes. After some time, he became so knowledgeable about it that he discovered issues with it and came up with an improvement plan.

Additional materials to read

On the importance of English and other languages:

• Statista: https://www.statista.com/statistics/262946/share-of-the-most-common-languages-on-the-internet/
• UNESCO: https://en.unesco.org/themes/fostering-multilingualism/most-spoken-languages-in-the-world
• Instituto Cervantes: https://www.cervantes.es/sobre_instituto_cervantes/prensa/2019/noticias/numero_usuarios_cervantes_espanol.htm
• Ethnologue: https://www.ethnologue.com/guides/ethnologue200
• Chinese Education System: https://www.chinaeducenter.com/en/cedu.php
• Chinese Publishing Industry: https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_8536869

On the importance of learning several languages:

• Bialystok, E. (2017). The bilingual adaptation: How minds accommodate experience. Psychological Bulletin, 143(3), 233-262.
• Li, P., Legault, J., & Litcofsky, K. A. (2014). Neuroplasticity as a function of second language learning: Anatomical changes in the human brain. Cortex, 58, 301-324.
• Marian, V., & Shook, A. (2012). The cognitive benefits of being bilingual. Cerebrum: The Dana Forum on Brain Science, 2012.
• Bak, T. H., Nissan, J. J., Allerhand, M. M., & Deary, I. J. (2014). Does bilingualism influence cognitive aging? Annals of Neurology, 75(6), 959-963.

On the importance of math:

• National Council of Teachers of Mathematics: https://www.nctm.org/why-mathematics/
• National Science Foundation: https://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=119926
• Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development: https://www.ascd.org/topics/curriculum-and-instruction/the-importance-of-mathematics
• Edutopia: https://www.edutopia.org/math-importance
• American Psychological Association: https://www.apa.org/monitor/2019/05/math-education

On why schools are as they are:

• The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/why-the-us-education-system-is-failing-to-meet-the-needs-of-the-21st-century-141003
• World Education Services: https://www.wes.org/advisor-blog/education-systems-around-the-world/
• Education Week: https://www.edweek.org/leadership/opinion-why-are-there-12-grades-in-american-schools/2016/05
• American Federation of Teachers: https://www.aft.org/ae/summer2015/katz