Daring to Dream the Impossible! Can Education Ever be “Fun”?!
Posted: Thursday, July 22, 2010
by Heba Hosny
FunEduPro
Fellow SearchWarpers,
I had a very interesting and rather unusual experience with education that I want to share with you. When I completed high school, I was living in a small Egyptian city called Ismailia. Still, my father encouraged me to apply to the American University in Cairo (AUC) because three of my cousins were studying there. So, I did and I was required to take two qualifying tests: English and Aptitude.
So, I gave up and actually enrolled in another "average" university. Few months later, I received a heartwarming letter form AUC telling me that I was among the highest scores in the aptitude test and, as an exception, I may pay much lower fees! But I still needed to take their English course first. (This course was so good to the extent that the easiest "A" in my academic history was in English literature!)
You could imagine how I felt at this moment! Suddenly, I was no longer an average student and my amazing educational experience saw the light. Here are just two examples of how my university days were mind blowing!
* - In a psychology course, I didn't study a word for the mid-term exam but the question was rather interesting. So, I made up an answer and expressed my personal opinion that turned out to be the complete opposite of the book. I was ready to drop the course gracefully after receiving my "F" grade but to my surprise, I got a "B-" and the professor wrote me a "praise poem" in which he acknowledged my reasoning skills and in the end, he added a minor remark that my answer had nothing to do with the given book!
- - I wanted to join the "Model United Nations" and because politics was not my cup of tea so to speak, I did crazy readings in order to pass the qualifying interview. However, all my hard word was in vain because the question I was asked was opinion-based not knowledge-based! The interviewer said: "If you were a president of a country and you caught some spies from a threatening country, would you use torture to obtain critical information from them?". My answer was: "No because they could easily give me misleading information". This is why I was accepted because I had good persuasion skills and managed to support my argument!
What was mind blowing to me is that in these situations I was acknowledged for my "competencies" not my knowledge! Obviously, I didn't study for the aptitude test nor the psychology test and my extensive political readings didn't do me any good!
As a result, for the first time in my life I started to LOVE education to the extent that I took extra courses! So, even the knowledge that I was lacking was no longer a problem.
Based on this experience, I can objectively say that the Western educational system is far more advanced than the Middle Eastern one.
Having said that, I still believe that education in the West needs more "tweaking". When Bill Gates, the richest man alive and also a college dropout, gave a speech in the graduation ceremony of a highly acclaimed university, he said that he was asked to address graduating students because the faculty knows that if he spoke to freshmens, they will leave university!!
Look at someone like Anthony Robbins for example. He doesn't have a formal education but he couched key political figures and CEOs! Do you think he is the ghost writer of the famous "We don't need your education" song?!
Also, after living in Canada, I found that changing careers several times is very common which means that the current educational system doesn't give students enough tools to discover their true passions early on. Instead, they have to go through a life-wasting trial and error phase to figure it out!
If some genius invented the time machine and I managed to go back to my university years, I would major in mass communication and minor in theatre. But what actually happened is that I majored in computer science and minored in electronics!! Although I was very fortunate to join AUC, I was still unable to decide the right career path except much later.
So, I guess both the east and the west should take a close look at what "planet Japan" is doing. It is the only country I know of that helps children discover their true potentials and nurture them. In fact, every student in Japan has a plant that he must water regularly. The same plant grows with him throughout his educational journey as a symbol of how education makes him grow as well. Isn't that fascinating?!
Also we need to understand why students dread going to school. It's because education doesn't have the "fun" factor! Based on my readings, when people laugh, their capacity to acquire information increases 18 times! Imagine if students were educated through artistic and creative activities! My brother's 6 th grade science teacher explained the digestive system by making up a song about it! Yes, you guessed right: my brother never forgot it since then.
That's why, in my humble opinion, I strongly believe that adding the "fun" factor to education is not only essential but also very doable. What do you think?
Copyrights reserved to Heba Hosny, the Proud Canadian/Egyptian!
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Top-level comments on this article: (8 total)I think you wrote a great article, Heba, and I totally agree with you about the fun factor. "Fun" has come to have a superficial connotation, but it's a v. profound word. I believe the part of us that plays is the part that contains inspiration, energy, individuality, creativity...Thanks, I really enjoyed reading this!You know Jennifer, part of my volunteer work involves teaching children. You should see how their eye sparkle with excitement when I ask them to play an act, sing or do some crafts! And I use these artistic activities as educational tools to illustrate the topic I'm teaching. The beauty of this approach that they never forget what they learn because they turn into active participants rather than passive recipients and have fun in the process.Thank you for your always inspiring me with your thoughtful and equally beautiful comments :).
Certainly pleasing teching is more effective technology students. Adding fun and sing in teching students improve their happiness and increases their capeacity learning. More students are reluctant to study important subjects like math, because they consider it boringI'm so glad you brought up math in particular, Virk. I've already seen very attractive and also interactive math CDs. Technology can make education so much fun effortlessly. I just hope it would be applied in schools.Thank you for your thoughtful comment :)
I'm glad that you pursued your education and stuck with it. I know that you were proud to reach the next level of learning.Thanks a lot James. I appreciate your thoughtful comment.
I really like it!I am very glad for you that you have enjoyed the education and i really find the exams and finishes fascinating, especially the one in psychology where you could say you own opinion, i think it is really important, i mean, everybody makes mistakes and who says the books are "right" as well.Wow, i didn't know that Japan does that, really nice.Thanks for the article!You know HyunSoung, I want to thank Gregory Lewis for being the reason of our newly born friendship :).I appreciate your thoughtful comment.
Here, in the U.S.A., for the most part, education is bereft of 'fun' and if there is, that fun is almost always spelled backwards, NUF!Most graduates singlemindedly pursue high school and college strictly towards obtaining that social ticket diploma, to obtain that piece of paper, hardly ever towards real love of learning or love of intellectual discovery.Many a desk scrawled graffitti has said,"This is dedicated to those who died, waiting for the bell to ring."It's true that one's natural aptitudes and one's innate horse sense often carries the day, whether in an interview or on the job, instead of all the droll joyless preprogrammed years of irrelevant data that came before.Should you need a translator's tweak (I translate American into English) do email me for an assist.Thanks a million Paul for your interesting contribution."This is dedicated to those who died, waiting for the bell to ring." that's utterly hilarious and realistic. I recall that I once slept in the classroom and had an instant dream than suddenly woke up on the sound of the pen hitting the ground :d.You brilliantly summarized the whole problem is one keyword: "irrelevant". Education doesn't seem to be inline with today's life challenges and demands. It's compeletly detached and too theoretical to be tolerated!
I have to say that your thoughts and views are interesting and well thought out. But I would also say that one of the major flaws of the American education system is simply the the inability of this institution to realize that the real world does not march to their theoretical models of the world.I couldn't agree more, Richard but at least this system encourages thinking and understanding rather than memorization which is a fact I must acknowledge based on my experience.I appreciate your thoughtful comment :).
thanks for sharing your encouragement and insights!I appreciate your kind words. Thanks a lot :).
To the comment immediately above...
True, interests change, however there is also "core purpose" planted in us from the start... Core purpose drives our passions, guides our interests, and ends up leading us down the path that gets us to our destiny... the place of sharing what we came to this world to do!
It is VERY true that education should truly be *supporting* natural organic human development, where each person is nurtured to develop skills that match their passions, and most effectively help them propel toward their personal core purpose.
Mainstream education, sadly, has become very mainstream. The individual must be put back in the center, to help them find, nurture and develop the *true talents* that indeed empower their core purpose. Putting FUN back into the mix is so important because it is through "fun" that we grow, and uncover our true passions - which in themselves lead us down the path to sharing our core purpose - and reaching our personal destiny! ;)
Thought provoking indeed...
Thank you for sharing!I am so glad to hear from you on searhwarp, Twitter pal :)
It's been almost a year since I published this article and so it's very refreshing to receive a thoughtful comment after this long time.
I totally agree 10 with you and I sincerely hope that ministries of education worldwide (especially in 1st world countries) would revamp their educational systems so that they would bring the best out of each individual and, in the process, the entire society will thrive.
Until then, I guess we need to dig for our core purpose on our own and teach our children to do the same.
Thanks a lot for taking the time to comment. you made my day :)
Beautiful! Very well stated! ~And it's true... honestly, it's not actually the "job" of education, it is OUR job to do for ourselves and children ... but we would hope - perhaps aspire to - the fact that our 'system' would provide uplifting support for us all to fulfill our core purpose. :) It's a team-job!
Good dialogue... Somehow I came across this link in the last week and had it open on my desktop... Glad I took the time to read, and comment. Good for you, in putting it out there ~ Thank you!
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