Education For a Sustainable Future presents information on how today's practices in schools are socially unsustainable. The documentary film critically analyses what is considered socially relevant in a new education system which brings out the most potential in all of humanity whilst also detailing specific educational methods from a wide range of sources on how to nurture social skills, critical thinking techniques and a larger variety of important practices to positively reinforce from our earliest years onwards. It must be recognised that a sustainable education is one of the most critical components of any advanced society.
Education For a Sustainable Future is an independent film production and has been uploaded online for free download and distribution. The views expressed in this documentary are not necessarily shared by the originators of source material presented.
This is a
good video. Whilst I find myself agreeing with much of it, I can’t help
thinking there is some hidden quasi- sectarian agenda embedded within it which
is never quite stated explicitly. Much of this ‘feeling’ derives from the
somewhat uncompromising, programmed narrative which leaves little option for plurality
within our educational structures. It seems to question nearly every aspect of
sustainability in education, but not the main question (in my opinion) which is
one of the human scale; ‘schools’ of the future hopefully won’t be large
industrial scale institutions which indoctrinate with an agenda of ‘scientism’,
but an outgrowth of personal development at the home, village, or small- scale
community level. My view of sustainable education is one of high tech, low
ecological impact, on the human scale.
Whilst
promoting the values of humanism, sustainability, cooperation and materialism,
there is a didactic undercurrent to this film which I do not like. It seems to
be predicated on a humanist model which is frighteningly totalitarian in its
outlook, and politically naïve. I will take each one of these assertions in
turn.
(i)
Humanist
outlook. An attempt to remove “dogma” of religion, politics, and belief from
education actually becomes a kind of baggage itself. The whole documentary
seems to have been conceived in a vacuum of knowledge of social constructivism,
such as that outlined back in 1969 in The
Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Thomas S Kuhn); In the film it says
“there is no point in teaching redundant concepts in science which were
disproved long ago” and “If scientists didn’t need this knowledge, they
wouldn’t have developed that field of science”, whilst showing images of
religiosity as “obsolete” (despite advancing multiculturalism & inclusivity
as a desirable goal of their empathy training). To poo poo our historical and
sociological ferment in the hope we can crystallise a new clinical outlook
around a few trite ‘objective’ values is hopelessly naïve, and somewhat scary. Human
beings are not atomised commodities to be trained in One Truth. They come with
their own spirituality and wonderfully rich conditioning for a reason.
(ii)
Centralising
(totalitarian). There is an idea that physical referents should predominate
over social relativism. For example; “Science is the best tool we have so far
[in achieving sustainability]”, and “Education needs to be founded on science” Which
science??? Which epistemological basis is being used??? By whom??? Science is
not quite the objective exercise which is portrayed. It comes with sociological
and economic strings. For example the ‘scientific wisdom’ of pesticide use,
vaccination, surgery, large scale energy and water projects, and GM technology
will come to be looked upon as Medieval instruments of torture in the future,
whilst being universally endorsed now.
(iii)
“A
new social system with a scientifically advanced outlook, a system focussed on
alleviating human labour via machine automation and creating an abundance of
resources for all of humanity to share, would surely adopt the new education
system conveyed”. This statement shows a failure to understand the intrinsic
and spiritual relationship of humanity to the earth, to the harmonious singing
of birds in the trees, their whistling words in the wind. And this disconnection
between “science” and “nature”, which has its origin with Descartes, is promulgated
in ignorance in this film. Where is the outdoor education? The meditation? The
Steiner- type whole person approach to body, mind, nature, and education? The
insertion of ‘mechanisation’ between man and nature is a fundamental error which stands in the
way of harmonic working with nature; for example Permaculture, the energy utilisation
ideas of Nicola Tesla, Viktor Schauberger, etc.
(iv)
There
is an absence of exploration of the dialectics of education (and science) as an
outgrowth of capitalism. Industrialised education is a product of capitalism. Targets,
exams & testing, and other such bean counting is an impediment to learning
(see the work of Paulo Freire). Holistic education & self directed learning
are true education. If you have had the opportunity of seeing any Jacques
Fresco videos, you will notice his ideas are drawn on heavily throughout this
documentary. Fresco has the opinion that human societies can be strategically planned and organised by
robots, that there is no room for doctors, architects, lawyers or teachers when
machines can do the job based on algorithms and mechanisation. To remove the
human, the art from our material plane of existence is impossible. For we are
an outgrowth of nature, (etymologically the word human comes from the word humus,
soil) not a cerebrum standing loftily above it. This naiveté is well
illustrated when the documentary writers wax lyrical about normative and
criterion referencing, which are concretised and limiting methods of ‘training’
rather than education as I understand it, a path to liberty and wisdom.
That said,
and having got my main beefs out of the way with this documentary, there are
many things to like such as the Roots of Empathy program, Jacques Fresco’s
futuristic ideas (minus the mechanised robo- communistic leadership), some deep
questioning of what it means to be educated in a sustainable way, and divesting
ourselves of limiting beliefs and politics that blight our industrialised
educational system.
Some resources I would recommend in this area include:
North Utsire
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