Читать книгу The Power of the Warrior - Néstor Galarraga - Страница 11

Technology at the service of communications has created a world that is in permanent interconnection. The way to connect, meet and treat people has been transformed. The world has never been so communicated; however, people suffer more than ever the consequences of miscommunication and the feeling of loneliness… What a great contradiction! Virtual communications do not make us feel a sense of belonging to anyone or anything, at the time being. There is no place for conversation; individualism has chewed our brain and submerged us into a constant monologue. We stopped listening to each other and we only speak of ourselves all the time. Even the way we are as friends, as a couple or as a partner has changed. People stopped meeting each other through daily spontaneous events, at a coffee shop, at the gym or supermarket. Any attempt of personal approach makes that person a suspicious individual and, no matter the technique, it makes us insecure. How can we know for sure who that person really is! People nowadays meet through the Internet and, contrary to what one may think, it seems that this method makes us feel a certain amount of safety.

We are more connected to the world than to the people that are close to ourselves. Anyone can connect with alleged friends, simultaneously, in the five Continents and instantly —from a cellphone or a notebook— from their bed, in their room, and not know what is happening to the rest of the family that is in the kitchen of their house. We have lost the bonds with our closest people; we have broken the connections that linked us to them and we have gained that connection with the world. It is common to see friends or couples in bars, apparently sharing a drink together. One, on the Internet and, the other, sending text messages.

I have observed people for hours that have sat there, without exchanging two words together. It is like a new way of being close, yet each person is submerged in their own world. It is a new way of being friends, of being a couple. Also, these globalized internet-based communications have no content and no sense. Many people chose a nickname to interact with others. Users depict themselves in a totally frivolous manner, without showing who they really are. Nothing is personal, interesting. These types of communications, for now, do not touch the soul, do not enrich ourselves; they only give us the illusion of having many friends but the feeling is that of solitude. All these forms alienate individuals away from their core, their center, and they lead the way towards the solicitation from unknown people. We need to receive thousands of e-mails, of friend requests, either from China or Japan, even if we do not speak the language. It does not matter; we wish to receive many text messages and to acquire thousands of friends from Facebook, that big showcase displaying, many times, nonexistent lives. This is a digital place where you are publicly insulted, yet they will ask for you forgiveness privately. They have public opinions of people they do not know or have not ever seen.

This is another way to be seen and to become slaves of the viewpoint of others; a sort of reality of our intimate lives, displayed on the social screen. We need to stay in touch with thousands of people by means of Twitter, Instagram or Facebook, and to inform them of what we do, to be much solicited, and to experience the nice feeling of choosing who we grant the privilege of our friendship. But the result of this is a sense of total void. We have stopped being organic creatures. Our cellphone, for instance, is attached to our bodies, which means we have become part machines, or else, machines have become part human.

Human beings are suffering from a relationship crisis and we are totally dehumanized. Urban centers were never so populated; neither was society so communicated, so connected. However, more and more people are suffering from loneliness, sadness and vulnerability. People feel they live in a world where there is no place they belong. Stress and energetic disorders, resulting from anxiety attacks, panic, vertiginous syndrome, difficulty to concentrate, eating disorders, sleep deprivation, etcetera, are partly a consequence of the technological development of communication services.

Being friends or mates is something that is learnt, at home, in the neighborhood. It is picked up —or it was, at least— among brothers, with our parents, with the help of rituals like drinking mate, or a coffee, by talking at the table after lunch, conversing or growing next to someone. In the past, this was something valuable, and it added up quite a lot. Thus, it was taught, passed on from one generation to another, as a timeless ritual.

Learning methods allow us to save time and energy; something production methods do as well. Everything is increasingly faster. A machine replaces the labor of thousands of workers; everything is progressively more efficient. In terms of education, memorization of concepts and knowledge like an encyclopedia was replaced by teaching to think, yet this is also questionable. We teach to think but not to learn. Quite strange, isn´t it? Currently, education is being “mechanized”, by separating it from the art of teaching. In the past, the teacher had more power. Today the word master (a person having an extraordinary ability or mastering the subject he or she instructs) has been replaced by teacher (a person that conveys knowledge and whose position towards the subject matter he or she teaches is much weaker), thus the trade, the art, gets lost and it becomes a more regulatory and prescriptive system. On the one hand, a teacher is bound by a set of rules; on the other, the freedom of concept is lost and the art of teaching gets separated from the art of educating.

Nowadays, information is available to all, at the touch of a bottom. And it is confusing. There is too much information and there is no need to hold any kind of knowledge. If you know how to use a calculator, you will be able to solve any mathematical calculation or equation. Moreover, everything is stored by artificial memories, which are available to anyone. Everything is in Google, Yahoo, etcetera.

Children know how to handle our complex new technology and computing software, and they can access a certain type of knowledge from the Internet, but they ignore simpler things that are even more important. For example, they ignore the value of games that are there to teach them about the responsibility of making friends or becoming part of a team, among other lessons. Kids do not get involved in any kind of participative method —it is said, but not done— and this is a basic and most significant educational problem.

Adolescence is essentially a time of change. It is the stage where the transformation of a child into an adult takes place. They are adolescents because they are children no more, but they are not adults yet. They go through a process of hormonal changes and, from the emotional point of view, their main characteristics are that they start to particularize affection, to discover their own individuality and sexual identity. It is the period where the search for their own autonomy starts, a process that extends from 12 to 19 or 20 years old. In the past, this stage was misrepresented as “the awkward age”; it was shorter (ages 11 to 16) and it was common to hear that girls aged or became more mature faster than boys. There were always particular differences regarding certain characteristics and gender issues. Nonetheless, today it is said that adolescence was stretched up to the age of 30. Quite an extensive process… don’t you think?

Adolescence was always considered to be a period of certain contradictions. Nowadays, the lack of educational support, of clear differences within the model containing the teacher-student relationship and the non-attachment to rules, to order and discipline have added more confusion to the one in existence already. There is this new idea in the adolescent world stating that they are the ones who should reform or revolutionize education. Thus, in line with those they consider to be their peers (teachers), they take possession of their schools to force guidelines that will restructure the educational system. We may add that their own parents support this conduct, accompanying their kids in the commission of a crime. Taking possession of a school is a crime or, at least, it is a true sacrilege against the world of education. Probably, these actions will cause an irreparable or, at least, a greater damage. But adolescents are not aware of this, because they have not yet acquired the ability to foresee the future. It is striking that their parents have not acquired it either. It is crazy to try to put out a fire by using gasoline.

Also, every week many adolescents end up in an emergency room from alcohol poisoning, drug abuse or the many forms of violence that have lately invaded their word. There is also bullying, discrimination and sexual abuse. What is more striking about these cases when they are exposed is that these kids, mostly, are justified, supported and accompanied in their behavior by their parents and, sometimes, by their teachers. Are these the youngsters who want to reform the educational system? I believe these kids have realized that they can fight it all, that the truth of their teachers and parents is relative, as justice is relative to them, and they deem the police force to be an organization of unacceptable people. These kids understand they have won a terrain and they are not willing to let it go; they know that they will not be kicked out of school or sent to jail, because they see it is as simple as entering through one door and exiting through another one. Yet, unfortunately, this does not constitute progress whatsoever, because children do not know where to go. There is, in everything, a “tiny” confusion where adults have ceased to be adults and we have invited kids to stop being kids… With this tale of individual freedoms, parents have stopped being parents, teachers are not teachers anymore and children, obviously, as a consequence, have stopped behaving as sons, daughters and students. It is absolutely necessary that, as parents and teachers, we finally understand that certain things are not open to discussion with our kids or students; some things are non-negotiable, for instance, tidiness, punctuality, class attendance, discipline, ethics, humility, moral behavior and respect to the authority.

In sports, fare game should be taught when it comes to competition, the respect of a rival and, both at home, at school and the sports field, the absolute respect towards the principles and values aiding a society to be more just, integrated and inclusive. All these matters should not become part of a debate, neither with our children nor with our students. Adults must start behaving like adults once again, laying down the rules of the game, and demanding our kids and students to act accordingly… The whole community needs new examples and the children of our society need to learn from parents and teachers that offer a world that is safe to grow and live in; they should teach with the certainty of a guidance throughout a clear path, because they know where they are going and what they need to get there. Within this overall picture, some things might be talked and they might even be open for discussion with our children and students, yet some things may not. And this difference should be part of a policy in all social classes; kids should know that the more possibilities you are given, the more caring you need to be. We must all rescue solidarity and make it a fundamental value.

When I was a student, the children who were considered smart where those who had developed the capability to conduct a logical analysis. Intelligence was considered to be innate and immovable. You were either born intelligent or you were not, and education could not change that fact. Intelligence was linked to the unique capability of gathering other specific skills, like math or linguistics. These thoughts were the basis of intelligence, regardless of the ability or inability to solve a vital problem. Thus, under this context, we could say that a frustrated intellectual in every aspect of his or her life was considered to be intelligent and a successful painter was deemed to be a lucky talented person, but never an intelligent one. Crazy, isn’t it?

In this sense, education has not changed a bit. The educational system has an enormous number of tools; yet these have not helped in a positive transformation. On the contrary, it has lost some fundamental matters, like the teacher-family encounter and the teacher´s authority. And this is the result of a teaching method linked to the idea of fellowship or nepotism and, evidently, demands have been replaced by what we could call permissiveness. There is not even a methodological demand at school, since kids that feel too pressed will simply abandon it. Half the students leave high school unfinished. And the half that finishes it cannot interpret texts.

Public education is today a true failure. It constitutes a bleeding wound to the enormous number of distinguished professionals who were educated within the public system in our country. Disciplinary sanctions are impossible to impart because teachers are at risk of being beaten by students or their parents. One more detail: teachers of today are not educators, they do not educate, they are someone who simply passes information. This happens because they do not have the tools —and when they do, these cannot be applied— or because their image is tainted or ruined by society, but fundamentally by themselves. Teachers stand today at a real crossroads; they have no tools, because schools do not provide them; the conditions are not met and there are no social guidelines to give answers, since there is no North to follow. We face many issues that are still being discussed, which are unresolved, and children and adolescents are aware of this…

Personally, I was good at sports. I was able to take up any type of game or sporting activity, even without knowing the disciplinary rules and just by naturally imitating or by relying on my natural capabilities. I had developed an understanding of my body but I was far from meeting the requirements of that concept of intelligence. That capability was reserved for only a few mates, who were always identified as models. However, as time went by, life ended up showing other issues about these examples that I, of course, do not take them as the general rule. I simply believe that the development of a specific capability, no matter which one, does not constitute any guarantee.

Intelligence, from my viewpoint, is closer to Howard Gardner´s idea, which developed in the 90´s the theory of multiple intelligences. Gardner criticizes the idea of one type of intelligence alone and it defines that kind as “the ability to solve problems”. I love this definition. It has everything it needs; it is plain and to the point. Intelligence should not be considered a capability but a group of capabilities that, as a whole, gives us alternatives, means of escape and solutions, to face the inconveniences and problems arising from the issues of living in society. We should see intelligence as a group of capabilities, acting individually or jointly, depending on the circumstance, including different abilities in the intellectual, emotional and physical field. Also, intelligence should be linked to the capability of relating with each other, of interacting and associating with others to accomplish any type of plan.

My father, Francisco, from whom I learnt the most, was a daily philosopher and one of the most intelligent people I ever knew; he had no academic education of any kind. His thoughts were ironic, he was always blunt in a very sharp way, and he was so clear that it was confusing. When he talked about intellectuals, he asserted that, in this society, with time, all illnesses will be cured, even cancer, but “if you are born a jerk, you will die a jerk”. He always stood by this definition, unacademic, by the way, yet quite interesting. He would hear someone say, for instance, “What an intelligent boy!”. Immediately, his remark would be that something was wrong, not the subject in question, but the social form of intelligence being pointed out; the counterpart of which would be an educational form of intelligence. My father defended his views about those considered to be socially intelligent. In other words, he said that the exacerbated development of one ability neutralized others. Thus, it is common to see individuals who are considered to be extremely intelligent with a paralyzed capacity for doing. They see life alchemically, with a capacity to analyze and comprehend practically everything, including how their own life goes to shit, without being able to do anything about it, because their ability to react is numbed. Regarding my father´s thoughts and perspective, I will continue telling you about it, later on, in this book.

When I was young, it was impossible to be considered intelligent for having special abilities regarding music, painting or sports. These people could be considered talented or, even, gifted (those who had a very special skill), but never straightforward intelligent. Those of us who pass on physical or artistic knowledge notice that, when people talk about special talents or gifts, they are referring to a kind of specific and unconventional intelligence and, most commonly, one that is unrecognized by the educational community. Moreover, it is devised to keep other forms of intelligence unregistered and, of course, to undervalue other types of teaching. However, people learn, express themselves and use knowledge in many ways. These differences challenge the educational system in general; a system that suggests —in an outdated manner— that we should all learn the same things the same way and that, in order to do so, we only need a standardized, uniform and universal method. This entails that we all have the same type of intelligence. As a result, we are all conditioned to learn the same things, the same way, based on a unique criterion of universal capability and intelligence. It looks like the goal of educating subjects is to turn them into objects or products that fit in with this consumer culture. In order for society to be a safe place once again, the starting point should be the school and the home. Schools should teach basic things, logically. How to handle these lessons, and the learning system for students to learn how to learn, will always depend on the model chosen to transmit values, one that parents of the students from that educational facility should agree on. In order to save time and energy, we need to go back to the school that teaches, not the school that conveys information about certain subjects, but values that are taught to embrace, live and share; children who learn how to interact with adults and who respect them; kids who speak at school with teachers and with adults outside school a certain way; students who are taught to speak with respect and, fundamentally, to listen. The result of all this should be reflected in the learning capabilities but, fundamentally, in society. As parents, we should stop demanding schools to take over our responsibilities and we need to take matters in our own hands… To put it clearly, I chose this topic: teachers at school who do not educate, but I might as well have talked about the police failing to look after people in the streets; doctors failing to heal at hospitals; politicians failing to pass on policies that benefit Common Good, instead of favoring themselves and the interests of their families for generations to come. These people are mostly responsible for the world we are forced to live in, and let us not talk about justice: nothing is less just than our justice.

Going back to the education topic, the world changes and becomes transformed constantly, and education rests on fixed parameters and standardized criteria. This is contradictory indeed. But I want to be clear about something: I honor the ways of the past; I do not assert that it was better, but the embodiment of the master was anchored in the example, in the model. The master was someone who had mastership and who educated. Nowadays, the educational system passes on information, instead of shaping or educating. In any case, the name of the system should change from educational to informative or normative, and its foundations should be revised. We should consider the possibility of distinguishing some aspects in a system that takes into account multiple knowledge or intelligence, physical knowledge, alternative disciplines… I insist: at school the model should be redefined… Everything generating a greater identification or motivation of the student with the learning process. We all have different ways of learning, because we have different abilities and types of intelligence. We should understand, as well, that true education goes through discipline, order and has nothing to do with uniformity or conformity. We need to form and not to conform, even when the latter is easier to achieve. In other words, Julio César Labaké says: education is not possible without helping to discover paths, without the awareness that we are awakening another human being and coming along with that individual´s eye-opening, because every student is our only alternative of a future.

Without an education of quality, it is impossible to leave behind ignorance, poverty, subjugation. Without education, it is easy to control both the individual and the collective conscience. Without education, society is a tamed mass, easy to dominate and control. Our representatives know this and they are only interested in gaining votes… Unprincipled and unmistaken, they are committed to building a country of total and complete ignorant, poor and uneducated people. I do not believe in the revolution. I only think about the evolution of human beings. However, without an educational revolution, we will remain subjected in some way. There is no other alternative than a profound, authentic, real and sustained change, in pursuit of individual and collective growth and development. Education is the only and most powerful tool.