So much at school that is learnt is forgotten after leaving school. Yes important skills are learnt such as reading and writing but other useless facts are also learnt. It seems bizarre that so much emphasis is given on learning and testing academic subjects but behaviour is not assessed in any systematic or objective way.
I believe that children should have more control and say in their own lives but in exchange they should learn mutual respect and to take responsibility for their own actions. This idea is applied at democratic schools of which the Summerhill School in Suffolk, UK is a well known example.
The potential benefits of EQ are vast and there are clear signs that the government is serious about adopting EQ in the education world.
Chris Woodhead (ex Chief Executive of The Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED)) has often been referred to as a bully (see here and here for example). On that assumption, he would have low EQ and predictably he is a dissenting voice against the government's interest in emotional literacy.
Chris Woodhead had difficulty coming to terms with a democratic, high EQ school such as Summerhill School. Part of the school's response was: "The school's recent Social Services Report concludes there is no reason for Summerhill to be under threat of closure due to health and safety worries. The report writes about harassment and 'that the most effective anti-bullying programmes depend upon the group approach of openly discussing the issues involved, creating a regime that it is OK to tell and removing from the bully any aura of respectability or glamour. It includes the non-aggressive confrontation of the bullying behaviour. At Summerhill this appears to work well. Others could do worse than replicate the Summerhill approach to this aspect of school life".
The UK government is determined that the number of university places should increase dramatically even in the face of public hostility. This is a seriously misguided overemphasis on academic education.
I fail to understand the value to society of taking an academic degree course that does not relate to training for a specific profession. Yes the student's intellect may well be developed further but their emotional intelligence development will be ignored or even impaired. It is common for companies who wish to hire graduates saying even highly qualified graduates often do not have the necessary interpersonal skills. The world of academia is generally divorced from the world of commerce.
Universities were originally intended for the pursuit of truth and ground-breaking ideas ("thinking outside the box"). These days bullying is rife in universities and creativity is stifled. It would be very useful if university courses were developed on abuseology so bullying and abuse could be studied objectively.
Some subjects are over intellectualised, resulting in "intellectual masturbation". Unnecessary jargon words are invented that help mystify the subject and only an elite understands the jargon.
Unschooling is a widely understood concept.
I believe that children should have more control and say in their own lives but in exchange they should learn mutual respect and to take responsibility for their own actions. This idea is applied at democratic schools of which the Summerhill School in Suffolk, UK is a well known example.
The potential benefits of EQ are vast and there are clear signs that the government is serious about adopting EQ in the education world.
Chris Woodhead (ex Chief Executive of The Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED)) has often been referred to as a bully (see here and here for example). On that assumption, he would have low EQ and predictably he is a dissenting voice against the government's interest in emotional literacy.
Chris Woodhead had difficulty coming to terms with a democratic, high EQ school such as Summerhill School. Part of the school's response was: "The school's recent Social Services Report concludes there is no reason for Summerhill to be under threat of closure due to health and safety worries. The report writes about harassment and 'that the most effective anti-bullying programmes depend upon the group approach of openly discussing the issues involved, creating a regime that it is OK to tell and removing from the bully any aura of respectability or glamour. It includes the non-aggressive confrontation of the bullying behaviour. At Summerhill this appears to work well. Others could do worse than replicate the Summerhill approach to this aspect of school life".
The UK government is determined that the number of university places should increase dramatically even in the face of public hostility. This is a seriously misguided overemphasis on academic education.
I fail to understand the value to society of taking an academic degree course that does not relate to training for a specific profession. Yes the student's intellect may well be developed further but their emotional intelligence development will be ignored or even impaired. It is common for companies who wish to hire graduates saying even highly qualified graduates often do not have the necessary interpersonal skills. The world of academia is generally divorced from the world of commerce.
Universities were originally intended for the pursuit of truth and ground-breaking ideas ("thinking outside the box"). These days bullying is rife in universities and creativity is stifled. It would be very useful if university courses were developed on abuseology so bullying and abuse could be studied objectively.
Some subjects are over intellectualised, resulting in "intellectual masturbation". Unnecessary jargon words are invented that help mystify the subject and only an elite understands the jargon.
Unschooling is a widely understood concept.