It's All a Matter of Perspective

Everything is a matter of perspective. The glass is have full; the glass is half empty. Video games cause violence; video games improve spatial abilities. Trump is an awful president; Trump is an awful president. Everything around us is built on perspective, and the above examples demonstrate how people can view the same topic in an entirely different light. This may seem obvious, but rarely do we ever think about how our own perspectives differ from that of others.

For instance, yesterday I was showing some of the students a view of my street in the U.S., and each of them commented on how clean it looked. Now I never really noticed how clean my street looked when I was still at home, however looking at it now, after being in Siem Reap for a month, Center Street looks drastically cleaner by comparison. No heaps of trash. No stray dogs trying to make more stray dogs. And certainly not as many motorbikes. My perspective has changed in such a way that, when I return home, it will look and feel very different from when I left. And that's the best thing about perspectives, they're fluid! 

I just finished Ripples From the Zambezi by Ernesto Sirolli, a book I was supposed to read in my social entrepreneurship class, but you know how college works (I actually have a habit of reading books I was supposed to read in class, after the fact). But anyway, one of the major arguments towards the end of the book concerns education. Millions of children are forced into the same machine, regardless of their individual talents and abilities. We end up with children who fall through the cracks or think school is a waste of time because it doesn't provide enough challenge. While it is important every child learn the basics, once they reach a certain age they should be able to choose their own path. It is exponentially easier to teach a child something they want to learn, than what they have to learn because someone said so. To once again quote the GREATEST BAND TO EVER LIVE, 

"We don't need no education. 

We don't need no thought control. 

No dark sarcasm in the classroom. 

Teacher leave them kids alone. 

Hey! Teacher! Leave them kids alone. 

All in all it's just a-nother brick in the wall. 

All in all you're just a-nother brick in the wall."

- Pink Floyd 

While I don't agree with every word of Sirolli, I do agree with his general message, and I am trying to incorporate his philosophy into my classes. This afternoon I had the youngest students look up whatever video tutorial they wanted, and they would have to transcribe the instructions into English, as I'm supposed to be an English teacher. What ended up happening, however, was a few students were watching drawing tutorials, and I told those students they could draw instead of write. In a matter of minutes we broke out the crayons and markers and every student was following a how-to drawing tutorial. The kids had so much fun they weren't rushing out of class as they usually are, they actually worked on their drawings straight through their next class. This is an excellent example of Sirolli's words in action. From now on I'm going to do my best to incorporate the students' interests into the curriculum, as interest and passion bolster learning like nothing else.