Beyond Stereotype

In our lives we view people through lenses, we cannot really identify with a person until we are in his/her shoe. What may seem simple and easy to one might not be the same to another. We cannot simply generalize aspects in life or even people. As seen in the picture above, these are some general stereotyping we do on daily basis. We take on piece of knowledge that may or may not be the famous aspect of the country and glorify it to an extend we forget everything else. This is an aspect I personally struggled with being a student and a teacher. We must admit that stepping back and looking at the whole person is something we usually forget to do. Part of my pedagogical philosophy is not never consider the problem at hand, there is always an underlining cause for it. We as humans need to understand the underlying cause and reality. 

As I am thinking about my country Humanity and especially its chosen name, I come to wonder the necessity of such pedagogy, but to achieve that, we need awareness, understanding. My main concern will be how to teach the true values and the essence of knowledge. In another class we have been talking about youth and their voice and how it is not heard. We also talked about how teachers plant and teach seeds for long term reform. Usually when writing policy, people want to see short term plans and goals being achieved but for a nation to change tremendously, I believe long term change needs to be put in the plan. As seen in the picture, we teach kids since a young age certain perceptions, when  you want to get somewhere use a car, instead of imagining or thinking use a computer, to talk to someone you use a phone, to know about other people you watch television, to love someone is to love yourself, God is money and that is your aim to achieve, and most importantly, morals and values are trash that you need to ignore to reach your goals. We might not be saying this to them in words, but we show it through actions. We shouldn't come and complain when we feel our kids are introverts and have no social skills.

When the new generations start to learn about traffic lights, recycling respecting others and accepting differences then they will be raised with those beliefs even if they do not see them happening in their every day life. A story that brought that to my attention when kids in an esteemed school were playing red light green light ( a game where a child says green light everyone runs and when they hear red light they stop in their tracks).. it was noted that many Egyptian kids did not stop when they heard red light. It is not that they did not understand it, or that it is too hard for them, but because their perception is different, no one has taught them to stop at a red light.

Our humanity country has been too traditional so far. After take the trip around the world with the countries from Egypt, Cameroon, Yemen, Nigeria, Singapore, Netherlands, Finland, Canada and all the way to Australia. This very informative trip has opened eyes to understand a crucial underlying way of thought. When we come to plan for reform or policy, look at the needs, investigate, integrate and never ever follow what others are doing. This is simplified in the image I have below and that is what Finland has done, it looked at what is right and followed it and now everyone wants to follow Finland.

I was not surprised when I finally ended up with choosing mentoring as my topic for the final paper. Being a leader I have assumed that role without its title since a young age. You always had to have the heart to help, to offer, to listen, to aid, to support, to redirect and most importantly to let go. A mentor and a leader have a lot in common as I have been reading, characteristic and traits. I am eager to learn more about the application and if it is the same techniques I learned growing up. When I first started to teach, I was never assigned a mentor per say, it was in the records but he/she was never anywhere to be found or helpful. Not even the rest of the teachers were helpful  I had to resort to my own research and understanding. I don't know if it was a lack of trust because I was the new teacher or because of their natural of the job, I never quite understood. That doesn't mean I had to follow their lead :) The idea is so much trial and error would have been saved if someone would have guided me towards the norm. Even if you aren't going to help someone at least point them in the right direction that's always my motto. 

Ups and Downs of Teacher Education

I have discovered that there are many aspects for the up-rise in teacher education. Yes, being a developed country has its benefits, but it's all about the movement. There has to be a whole movement for improvement. In other classes we have been discussing the role of youth in the revolutions that are happening in the world such as in Egypt, Kenya, Uganda, Qatar and so on. It is evident that the important aspect to allow for the revolutions to occur is the movement. In unity there is power; but that is not the only aspect. There has to be a collective power. This includes people, government, political, economical: a compulsory movement. The movement for change has to be a cause that is close to everyone's heart. It has been illustrated that the success Finland and Singapore have achieved is because it was a compulsory movement. Even though Australia, for instance, is considered on the road towards teacher education reform, but in my opinion after the knowledge I got from my classmates regarding their own developed country's teacher education, I believe that still there is a missing link. I learned that if the movement of teacher education is not supported radically by people of power and the people are aware of its importance then the change would not be foreseen. I also learned that focusing on teacher education as a top priority is important because then everything falls back in order. The idea is not just about the teacher educational program but also the undefined system as a whole or in other words the shadow education. By that I am referring to the status, salary, definition of teacher and education. Another aha moment I had was referring to the ease of the system in Finland and Singapore and the main cause for this reform was not to be the best but to actually help reform their education. In doing that they insured that the education the teachers receive is the best there is, which in return reflects on the student's performance. In addition to that, their political and economical efforts have been put in the right place to ensure that those students are actually fit to their society's needs. 

Hand in Hand is all it takes

Hand in Hand is all we need

Place one in the other and together we stand

Stronger than ever and Shine through thee

A song comes to mind by Pink Floyd it is called a brick in the wall

We don't need no education 
We don't need no thought control 
No dark sarcasm in the classroom 
Teachers leave them kids alone 
Hey teacher leave them kids alone 
All in all it's just another brick in the wall 
All in all you're just another brick in the wall 

which is what I have felt is the calling from all developing countries. Children are frustrated, teachers are frustrated and everyone is simply trying to find ends meet. Then if the movement doesn't happen from within the society itself like Koboul mentioned and the government does not have high alerts on the matter as Othman said then there is no hope.