"Everyone is Special"

"Which is another way of saying that none is." - Incredibles Pixar Movies.

My current focus is on the concept of homogenization in the educational sector. This phenomenon, often unnoticed, sees educational systems, institutions, parents, and students all gravitating towards a similar academic path, each believing they are on a unique trajectory. But as Dash - the fastest kid on earth - astutely pointed out, if everyone is on a 'special' track, doesn't it mean no one is?

Institutions:

During my six years in China, I was bombarded with the same claims from various schools: ' Our school is really special, we have ...' It became a monotonous chorus, each school boasting about its state-of-the-art facilities, exceptional teachers, outstanding students, and vibrant community. But as Dash would question, if everyone is special for the same reasons, is anyone really special?

However, this is not a localized issue. I recall my time in Chile and its educational institutions. They were strikingly similar, all following the same hierarchical structure, teaching the same curriculum, and aiming for university admission as the ultimate goal. Similarly, universities would vie for students, each claiming to be the most unique with their state-of-the-art facilities and exceptional faculty, and, blah, blah.

Under the competition paradigm, what happened was that once they fired the gun to 'start' the race, some institutions had already started running. So, every other institution that started behind or that is just entering the race sees its back, and all start chasing it, not realizing that by imitating its movement, going at the same speed and not working together with others to speed up, then naturally the one in front will always be in front.

Sadly, little by little, the race, the racers, and their fans start looking the same - not at all a special race.

Parents and Students:

On the other hand, parents are desperate to make their children special, to get the attention of very special schools. Here in China, children begin the path to becoming special very early in their lives, and to build a superhero, a sacrifice must be made. They must undergo many extracurricular classes—math, English, Chinese, Geography, etc.

- Oh, but other boys and girls have started taking ballet! They are getting a bit more special than our kids!

So they will now send them to Math, English, Chinese, Geography, and Ballet.

- And wait, is that family taking their kids to study German!?

Then, all of them are taking their kids to Math, English, blah, blah.

However, if white horses try to differentiate themselves by putting black lines as badges, they will eventually look just like a herd of zebras, right?

The problem is similar to that of educational institutions, and parents in China and elsewhere are not to blame. If society has only one discourse of what it means to be special and what it means to be successful, then the race is not only monotonous, as I said before, but a race with only zebras as racers.

How to be special? - By doing something different

According to Tiffany Goulet, this school in Rome allows all workers' children to be part of the school's alumni. In other words, not only the teachers or the directives but all workers, such as the nurses, the cleaners, and the cooks, could send their children to the same school. Therefore, having people from different places doesn't help to have zebras, horses, camels, and consequently, a much better race? It certainly does.

However, it was not the only characteristic. The school prepares the students to go to university, but it also prepares people to pursue other jobs or dreams. For example, one of their students was helped to get into an airline because he dreamed of becoming a flight attendant. By doing things differently, this school can generate different adults for our world, generating special graduates in a homogeneous educational offer.

Another example is when I received an invitation on my WeChat to assist at a rap concert in Beijing a couple of days ago. My previous student from Tianjin. There it was, 'big Yoda' as his classmates used to call him. What a funny kid he was at school, not very good at English, or actually, not very good at many other subjects, but he was loved by all and envied by many - he did not hesitate to joke, sing, and, of course, rap. Now, he has concerts, and about to record his first album; in a way, he has become special among his previous classmates. Classmates that I can bet, at least 95% of them, must be in very special universities as well.

Lastly, what we do at Crossover Education might work as an example. We are not even close to inventing the wheel, but at least we invite people to roll it elsewhere and see what happens. We tried to offer other people the chance to choose a different destination to work and study. With that, later on, they might return to their countries or move around the world with a rare language, unique experience, and different tools to help others and share different knowledge and experiences.

Conclusion:

In a way, what I wanted to do with any readers of these lines was to invite them to reflect on what happened in our society and educational paths, that, suddenly, we were all becoming so commonly special.

However,

I did not intend to criticize anyone fighting to highlight themselves under the regular path; we were told it was the right and the only one. I do not want to pass a naive discourse of chasing your dreams since I am conscious that some have an advantage on that quest for material circumstances and others do not. I am not trying to imply that doing things differently automatically transforms you into someone special because sometimes you are just rare, like myself in China.

#education #china #beingspecial