Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Blog Post #79 - Be yourself everyone else is taken!

Growing up physically(and now growing wiser mentally) I was asked "What will you be when you grow up?"

Now that I am grown up I  think  - What do you want to be when you get old?

We ask our kids what they want to be when they grow up. My son has changed from superhero to policeman to CIA agent to now a baseball player .

I can't imagine my son as a baseball player but he does.

"In the mind of the expert there are limited possibilities and in the mind of the beginner there are many possibilities" - from beginner's mind

Kids still want to be some one else. Adults want to be some one else.

I was once in a Kumon party (Kumon- an after school program and Party don't synch!) and before they showed the movie for kids they had a sales video about kumon in which they showed kids who did better using Kumon.

Then the instructor asked who wanted to be like that Girl who is doing some Physics bachelor's course and lots of kids raised their hands. (including my son). There was one kid who didn't. When asked she said something to the effect of ' I don't want to be her. I want to be me'!

Very profound. Some kids do understand they are comfortable in their skin being them.Most adults and other kids don't.

Quoting from Dan Ariely's blog and his book
http://danariely.com/tag/education/

According to Dan Ariely 

We should teach the students, as well as executives,

How to conduct experiments
How to examine data
How to use these tools to make better decisions



“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”

Derek Bok, the 25th President of Harvard

His take on education in the book made me think a bit more about path orientation education.

Kids who learn to become doctors are different from Kids who want to benefit humanity through better health.

When the education or the educator is focused on the second one we produce not doctors but professionals who will do everything from better environments, being an activist, fixing human conditions, writing books,giving lectures and educating the next generation of humans.

Path oriented life as a concept is what we may need after all!

Exercising gives  a good body. So what do you do with the muscular or healthy body? Use it to --- fill it up!

We want to live like our dads and moms, grand parents and super heroes. 

Once we leave it is what we leave that may be important.

We consume the resources of this world and produce a lot of waste. We generate energy and use energy.

We admire others and want to be like and act like others.

It is said kids learn by how we act and not by what we say. 
Asking them not to watch TV while eating while we snack while watching TV confuses kids(and adults too).

Out of 7 billion people living and 8.5 million species living and all things not living nothing and I mean nothing goes through their experience' the same way.

No two  things  living or non living will experience events the same way!

Your watch and my watch (for older folks), your smart phone and my smart phone don't undergo the same experience and neither do you and I.

Now it is your turn - what did you want to be when you were young ? 
What do you want to be when you grow old? 

Keep Learning
Sivakumar Manikanteswaran

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