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!
