Community Living: Education

Edited Nov 8, 2014.

This post is a suggestion of ideas and ways that we could create a society that's based on bestowal, where we all seek to benefit others instead of ourselves. The goal is to increase the connection between us, foster cooperation, collaboration and unity, increase efficiencies and decrease costs, while focusing on our basic needs - food, water, clothing, shelter, healthcare, education etc. I'm sure you have your own ideas.

Here are some notes about EDUCATION:

1. A New System of Education Based on Cooperation:
• Instead of competitive learning, have cooperative learning; instead of individual learning, have social learning; instead of striving to be the best in class, have children connect in friendship and equality; instead of individual excellence, have group success; instead of personal tests, have group assignments; instead of individual subjects, have subjects that are interconnected; instead of sitting in rows, have students sit in circles based on the principles of the round tables; instead of individualism, have unity and collaboration; instead of the teacher being a figure of superiority and control, have the teacher be a guide and knowledgeable friend etc. More ...
2. Integral Education:
• Everyone should learn about how we need to change from personal selfishness (seeking to benefit ourselves) to mutual bestowal (seeking to benefit others) and how this affects us, others and all of Nature.
3. Education For All:
• There should be 100% literacy in the entire world.
• Lessons of every kind could be made available so everyone on earth could learn about what they're interested in, without barriers or restrictions.

What ideas do you have for building a new society that's based on cooperation, collaboration and bestowal? In everything we do, we should seek to benefit others instead of ourselves.

Copyright © 2014, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.

Educating Children

Children learn by seeing, mimicking and doing. We have to set positive and constructive examples for children to follow. One of the things that has a big impact on child development is communication, such as talking.

The smaller children are, the more you have to talk to them. For example, when you have breakfast, you could talk your way through your actions. You could say, "Now I'm taking the orange juice and pouring it into a cup, now I'm pouring the cereal into a bowl." Or when you're getting ready to go outside, you could say, "I'm putting on my jacket and shoes" etc.

This kind of explicit communication will help children (especially small children) connect their intellect and emotions with what they see, hear, smell, taste and touch. It would greatly contribute to their growth and development.

Of course as children get older, this kind of explicit communication wouldn't be as necessary.

In everything we do, we should seek to benefit others instead of ourselves.

Copyright © 2014, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.

Our Basic Needs - A Snapshot Of The World

The world's population is estimated to be about 7 billion people. [1] Here's a snapshot of the world today, based on our basic needs:

1. FOOD:
• About 1 billion people are undernourished. [2]
• About 1.3 billion tonnes of food is lost or wasted each year. [3]
• About 1.4 billion people are overweight, of whom 500 million are obese. [4]
2. WATER:
• About 700 million people still use unsafe drinking water sources [5]
• About 2.5 billion people lack improved sanitation facilities. [6]
• About 1.1 billion people still defecate in the open. [7]
3. SHELTER:
• About 1 billion people live in slums. [8]
• About 1.3 billion people don't have electricity. [9]
4. HEALTHCARE:
• About 1/3 of the world's population (about 2 billion people) don't have access to essential medicines. [10]
5. EDUCATION:
• About 700 million adults are illiterate. [11]

We need to simplify our lives and focus only on meeting our basic needs. We need to ensure that the basic needs of all people on earth are met.

Round tables [12] need to be established with experts from the relevant fields, in order to resolve these issues, dealing with the most desperate (emergency) situations first.

In everything we do, we should seek to benefit others instead of ourselves.

____________________

References:

1. World Population. www.wikipedia.org. Retrieved July 31, 2014.
2. Global hunger declining, but still unacceptably high. www.fao.org. Food And Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. Economic and Social Development Department. Sept 2010. Retrieved July 31, 2014.
3. Cutting food waste to feed the world. www.fao.org. Food And Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. May 11, 2011. Retrieved July 31, 2014.
4. Obesity and overweight. www.who.int. World Health Organization (WHO). Media centre. Fact sheet No. 311. Reviewed May 2014. Retrieved July 31, 2014.
5. United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). www.unicef.org. Water, Sanitation and Hygiene. 2013. Retrieved July 31, 2014.
6. United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). www.unicef.org. Water, Sanitation and Hygiene. 2013. Retrieved July 31, 2014.
7. Deputy UN chief calls for urgent action to tackle global sanitation crisis. www.un.org. UN News Centre. Mar 21, 2013. Retrieved July 31, 2014.
8. The Challenge of Slums - Global Report on Human Settlements 2003. www.unhabitat.org. PDF Report, Foreword. Retrieved July 31, 2014.
9. World Energy Outlook 2012. www.iea.org. International Energy Agency (IEA). Nov 12, 2012. PDF Report, page 7. Retrieved July 31, 2014.
10. The World's Medicines Situation 2011: Access To Essential Medicines As Part of The Right To Health. World Health Organization. Retrieved July 31, 2014.
11. Teaching and Learning: Achieving Quality For All. www.unesco.org. Education For All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report 2013/4. PDF Report, page 5. Retrieved July 31, 2014.
12. Round Tables Are Required. www.carterkagume.blogspot.ca. Aug 29, 2013. Retrieved Aug 28, 2014.

Copyright © 2014, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.

Education Needs To Change

Our entire educational system needs to change from competitive learning to cooperative learning. Round tables need to be incorporated into the classroom. Here is a list of changes that need to take place in the educational system:

Life Long Learning

In this world, we learn almost everything from others. Almost everything we know, we've learned from someone else. One example is that we're influenced by our social environment - family, friends, school, work, community, TV, internet, books, magazines etc.

The same is true for the next world. We have to learn about it from someone else. Once we learn about it, we'll influence others based on what we've learned.

In everything we do, we should seek to benefit others instead of ourselves.

Copyright © 2014, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.

Gender Education Must Be Developed

Men and women grow up in this world without formal gender education. Men and women learn a few things about each other from their parents, family, friends and school, but it's not enough and most people live their entire lives having never learnt anything about the opposite gender.

Men and women are very different. Physiologically we're different, but we also have different emotions, thoughts, expectations, desires, feelings and strengths.

Gender education need to be established to teach men and women about each other so they can benefit each other in mutual responsibility.

I'm not talking about sexual education, I'm talking about gender education that teaches men and women about the essence of men and the essence of women.

The internal workings of both genders needs to be revealed and taught so men and women can become aware of each other in a new, accurate and truthful way.

Why Do Men And Women Need To Learn About Each Other?

Our internal qualities are going to change from selfishness to love of others. We're going to seek to benefit others instead of ourselves.

In order to benefit others, we have to know something about them. We have to know what makes them happy, what brings them pleasure and what fulfills them.

It's difficult for a woman to benefit a man if she doesn't know anything about men, and it's difficult for a man to benefit a woman if he doesn't know anything about women.

Today, everyone's immersed in selfishness - men expect women to cater to their needs and women expect men to cater to their needs. There's constant misunderstandings and everyone's frustrated because men and women don't really understand each other.

Gender education needs to be established to teach men and women about each other so they can apply the principles of mutual responsibility and concern for others, in order to truly benefit each other.

Men will learn about women and women will learn about men. Men will take what they learn about women and use it to benefit women, and women will take what they learn about men and use it to benefit men.

Men and women will remain independently different, yet will become fully aware of the differences between the genders and will be sensitive to each others needs and desires.

I'm not talking sexually, I'm talking everyday life. The connection between men and women will be based on mutual responsibility and the genders will genuinely take care of each other.

Once men and women learn about each other, the differences that keep us apart will be broken, gender will no longer be a mystery, the tension that now exists between the genders will be eliminated.

Men and women will become interconnected in the quality of love of others.

This will be part of the solution to creating harmony and balance in the entire world because it will provide a solid foundation to build a new society where everyone is seeking to benefit others instead of seeking to benefit themselves.

Copyright © 2013, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.

The Educational System Has To Change

The educational system (for youth and adults) has to change from selfishness to love of others. Students have to learn to benefit others instead of themselves.

All students have to:
1. Learn to cooperate and collaborate instead of compete
2. Learn to work in circles and round-tables where every voice is heard
3. Learn to listen to others and value the contribution of others
4. Learn to problem solve together
5. Learn from experiences such as role playing, outings and field trips
6. Learn to review conflicts and discuss positive alternatives
7. All education, training and learning should be acquired to benefit others
8. With proper supervision, older children/students can teach younger children/students

The educational system has to change from selfishness to love of others, it has to be based on the principles of mutual guarantee, where everyone seeks to benefit others instead of themselves.

Copyright © 2013, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.