While PASCAL's interest and influence extends to all the stakeholders in a community or a city, and its themes cover a wide range of contemporary issues, schools and the health of the planet are relatively sparsely covered. This blog addresses the issue of the knowledge and values that our children and grandchildren will need in order to repair the harm that that our greedy and self-indulgent generation has visited upon our only planetary habitat. But schools are only a part of the story. Whatever educational pathway our children may take in their journey to adulthood, to whatever age, a set of values, outlooks, knowledge, skills and attributes that reverses the tendency of corporate leaders and politicians to view the planet as an infinite resource is not just urgent, it's crucial.  What would we expect the products of our educational organisations to know, to understand, to be concerned about, to involve themselves in in order to clean up the mess?  The blog asks the question 'what is education for?', suggesting some answers and inviting readers to evaluate them and add to them. The double-entendre in the title is deliberate.

What on earth is education for? An exercise on values for a healthier planet

Let us imagine that you are in a position to influence the education system in your country. What values and attributes would you want young people emerging into the world to have in order to meet the challenges that they, and our planet, will face in the future? 

Here’s a background

There is increasing dissatisfaction with the output of our educational establishments. More and more parents are home-schooling for a variety of reasons both good and bad – religious fundamentalism, the desire to protect children from bullying, inadequate teaching, inordinately large classes, unsuitable curricula, drop-out or whatever. Increasingly, schools are cramming, teaching only to the test in order to gain a higher place in national league tables.  In the towns and cities outside of the schools, binge drinking, teenage pregnancy, knife crime, aggressive behaviour, escalating poverty are frequent features of our unequal societies.   

In a world whose very finite resources are being raped for political, corporate and capital gain, where the dominant and most aggressive and exploitative species is set to rise in population to 10 billion, where fragile ecosystems are being destroyed and where violent conflict in the name of religion, nationalism or ideology abounds, perhaps it is time to look afresh at the values our education systems are teaching. Our generation has bequeathed a huge mess to our children and grandchildren. What would we expect the products of our system to know, to understand, to be concerned about, to involve themselves in in order to clean it up?  What outlooks, skills and values would alleviate the strain on our sick planet? 

Here’s one choice

The following are the attributes and values that I believe would make difference. This of course is pure idealism and, in a world where practicality and pragmatism reigns, it isn’t fashionable. I don’t apologise for this. At some point there is a need for non-conventional thinking, and this is my humble contribution to it. Nor do I suggest that it is complete or exclusive. Others may produce a different list, and I would hope that this would equally have the effect of offering a brighter future for the planet over the broad range of issues that afflict it.

Here’s where you can express an opinion

Anyway, I present it in the form of a table, and since no-one ever reads lists of this kind, in the form of an exercise where readers can express a degree of (dis)agreement, an analysis of their own commitment and a measure of the extent to which they believe the education facilities they, or their children, attend(ed), teach to that ideal. In addition there are a couple of empty lines for personal pet attributes.

Perhaps in a later blog we can discuss how to achieve this nirvana.

Norman Longworth,  Eus, France

Values and Attributes

You are invited to put a figure from 1 to 5 where 1 = not at all desirable (A)/committed (B)/, 2 = only a little desirable(A)/committed(B), 3 = desirable(A)/committed(B), 4 = very desirable(A) committed(B),   5 = crucial(A)/passionate(B)

In Column A your assessment of the desirability of this attribute/value

In Column B your honest assessment of your own commitment/performance

In Column C your assessment of whether your local education facility (school etc) is successful in teaching these attributes/values 1= doesn’t even try, 2 = tries with a little success, 3 = tries and is moderately successful  4 = achieves much success 5 = achieves total success

Feel free to add other values. The context should always be on values for a healthier planet.