Don't let Knowledge weigh you down!

Don’t let Knowledge weigh you down!

Another wonderful class was held on Tuesday. I was glad that all like the Kobeba or Keba and yogurt, a traditional Lebanese food. I was astonished with Koboul kept asking where is the bread, it shows how different cultures interact with the same kind of food but in different ways.

I believe the importance of teacher education is being highlighted more and more in this course.

I personally aspire from the small gestures Dr. Babb does in like just to keep everything lively, when she mentioned a “guest speaker” coming to give us a talk and we can contact her anytime. That was a funny surprise.

In my adult classes, I thought of allowing them to do the exercise we did in class and see how they will create their own country.I kept emphasizing the importance to think outside the box, to innovate, to create!

I asked them to create a country, give it a name, location, flag, population, educational system, wealth and 5 laws.

I preformed this activity in two of my classes, where they were divided into two groups each. Around 8 people in a group for 30 min. The student’s ages range from 19 to late 40s. There are students who are graduates, post graduates, business men, mothers and unemployed. Their nationalities are mostly Egyptian but some are from Somalia, Syria and South Sudan.

Group 1 in class 1 created a country called Dream Island, located in the middle of the Sea. The flag’s color is green for agriculture with a white horse in the middle for freedom. The population is mostly middle class between the ages of 35 to 40. The main wealth of the country is agriculture and trading. The educational system involves home schooling and online undergraduate courses. The main 5 laws of the country are equality, no killing, safety, no war and freedom for all.

Group 2 in class 1 created a country called Free Serious Island, located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The flag’s colors are blue for the ocean, white for peace and green for agriculture. The population was divided into 3% rich, 75% middle class, 20% poor of all ages. The educational system depended on what the society needs, mainly technical education. The 5 laws were freedom without harming the freedom of others, 1 period for president, no smoking, renewable energy sources.

Group 1 in class 2 created a country called Dream Ocean, located in the Atlantic Ocean. The flag’s colors are blue for the ocean, green for agriculture and red for strength. The population was divided into 30% high class and 70% middle class with an age range between 16 and 50. The main source of wealth of the country is tourism. The educational system was all American Schools and online classes for graduate and post graduate studies. The 5 laws of the country were a minimum salary of 5000$ per person, you cannot sell your land or belonging to anyone outside of the country, everyone rides bicycles, the government provides free health care and every person is required to invest 50% of their income in the country for it to grow.

Group 2 in class 2 created a country called Peaceful country which his located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The colors of the flag are red, white, black with an eagle which is the Egyptian flag saying that they only dream to see Egypt a better country not to be in a different country altogether and that if they can dream they better dream for Egypt first. It is not a crowded country and 90% of the people are rich with an age range of 25 to 30. The main source of wealth of the country is industrial, trading, fish and agriculture. The educational system is modern, meaning not what is currently in Egypt where there is usage of technology, I pads and computer in schools. The 3 laws of the country are justice, safety and wisdom.

I was impressed by many educational strategies such as technical education and online classes. This emphasized their ambition for a better education but the lack of funds, I then took the chance to introduce them to MOOC and will provide them with a small training to use it next class. I was quite astonished the lack of the usage of technology in the country in addition to agriculture being the main source of wealth in addition to the chose territory for the location of the country, in the middle of the ocean. Their rational was to be in the middle between Europe and Africa and in their opinion would be a great source of trade. I was surely impressed by their educational system which brought me back to reality, they have no knowledge but they dreamed. It made me realize that sometimes the excess of knowledge in one area hinders in many times the flow of creativity. Thus we have to remember that even though we have knowledge, we need to dream beyond the box we hold in our hands, innovate and create!