I got told the other day that I was stupid. Sure I could've taken it as a derogatory term but instead it seemed more like an observation in which someone has made. It's easy to look down on people, call them stupid but maybe that's because they've been brought up in a different environment.
Many things can influence this stupidity to develop but in my life there have been a few things that stand out to me that influence this so called human perceived intellect.
Firstly, there are the parents. They're always there to nurture you, love you, feed you and cuddle you when you want that bit of love. Though I grew up with a mother it was still pretty much the same except she had to do more I guess.
The question is though is all that nurturing and other "stuff" actually good for us? Most animals within our animal kingdom don't always nurture and fend for their offspring like our parents do for us. We get given shelter, medicine, clothes, protected from the elements but that's so the human population can expand forward I guess. But what about our curiosity that is embedded in our DNA?
By curiosity, I mean the baby's natural ability to explore the word at arms length. Grabbing things near by, putting it in their mouths, using one tool to hit another tool and be amazed at the sounds that are produced, the vibrations from the action that are passed on to their tiny bodies. These are all very amazing, new and fascinating things in their lives because they have only just entered this new world. For us on the other hand who are already "grown up", the actions of babies are often disastrous. (wow someone is playing opera music, that's so intense)
In most people's eyes, babies banging pots are just a ruckus and smashing plates and putting a wide range of things into their mouths all involve many different hazards in our eyes that are life threatening and could blow the world up (figuratively I guess) if they are not stopped immediately.
Anyway to the point!!! If you take a look at the baby's actions from a more critical stance, you can see that they're actually playing scientist(and not doctor). Banging pots and pans together could be a dive into the world of sound? This could inspire them to become the next greatest musician. Breaking plates? What might that inspire? Maybe like all curious people they would want to know how it works? why did it break? This could make them the next great engineer because they have taken their first step into the world of physics.There are many other different experiments that could open up a world of possibilities but here is the interesting bit. These children who always get stopped by their parents are prevented from exploring, they are stopped from being curious. Instead of being able to explore such a vast world, they are instead censored to what their parents approve of as what is acceptable for a child to experience. These can take form in many different ways, putting their minds to books, maybe forcing them to play an instrument or even how to kick a soccer ball.
Sure parents have the best in mind for the children but forcing your own desires upon someone else is not that all humane. Think about it, you, even if you're a teenager, adult, senior person, you don't want someone taking away your job and giving you another one because someone or some entity thinks that its' what they feel is best for you. Giving the banker a farmer's job, giving the musician the pharmacist's job, this would be awful and a very bad idea no? Then why should kids have to be influenced the same way?
Another form of great influence on children these days is the education system (oh yes I did! I just mentioned education, oh what do I know, I'm still in university and blah blah blah, whatever, this is my blog not yours!). What is education use for? To help educate our future about what they need to know from what we have already discovered right? Our future will be the ones who create great leaders, inspire new trends, discover new technology and be the ones who will change the world(go Bill Nye). But we fail to notice that we are not valuing the cost of education enough.
Take a step back from all this and look at the pay check of teachers, they're pretty average right? Especially in primary and secondary school. Lots of people view the teaching profession as something that they can just make money off with easy hours, and not too much stress. Isn't that a problem to anyone? The amount of funding they receive is low and governments always think about cutting their budget for education, is that even a logical thing to do? These children are our future and what do we seek to do? Employ people who are in it just for the pay check.
In perspective, in my 12 years of primary and secondary school, I've only had 3 or 4 teachers out of 51 teachers I've had in those years. who have been inspiring, shown passion in their work. Whenever I attended their classes, it was as if the whole class was in a trance and just were awe struck because of the energy, excitement they would always display. I don't know what it is in those teachers but I wish they could pump that excitement into all the teachers I've ever had. Imagine that, kids actually getting excited about attending maths class! In all seriousness though, those 3 or 4 teachers each of us have had, would have had a great influence on us as a very important figure and would have shaped us to who we are now. I'm not saying 3 or 4 fabulous teachers isn't enough but that's only 8% of my teachers who were actually good at their jobs and they aren't even doing it for the money! If that figure was 100% for any nation in the world, it would shake their foundations to its very beliefs. Their politics would change as well because the general populous would just not only be more educated everything can be developed at a faster rate.
So I ask you, are we forgetting how important the education of our future is? Is the current direction of this world actually progressing at a rate which we want it to be progressing or is it slowing down because we are too busy seeking temporary solutions and passing it on to another generation of ill-educated decision makers who crave nothing but their next pay check. Some argue that it's just too complicated, I only see it as a lack of passion and commitment to their ideology.
A lack of education is not what makes someone stupid to be honest but it is their ability to keep wondering, to keep thinking and to keep asking questions. This is hindered by so many people in this day in age where those who choose to use their brains are taunted by those who choose to see education as something that is a deformity. It's sad...
(this image is not of me and nor do I own it, though it is a good photo, please don't sue me :( its scary when people threaten others )
