Yes, I got this kind of question pretty often: "how do we educate our students better?"
...and yes, every time we discussed this topic, we ended up talking about students with bad life attitudes...talking about students lacking EQ... talking about students looking for well-paid jobs, rather than pursuing their passions or giving back to the society.
...and then we talked about training better teachers..making better environment in school & university....reducing bureaucracy.. .giving more money and freedom to talented scholars...
....Yes, we all agree on that.
..then, we go back our work, knowing that the system's not gonna change the way we want it to be.
Recently I interacted with quite a few friends, both Thai and non-Thai, who are passionate about tackling education problems. These folks are really serious and they do "build" things...organizing camps, teaching workshops, starting schools, tutoring online, writing books, making app, pushing policies, etc. I have a lot of respect for them. While the success of their approaches remain to be proven, at least they take actions...rather than sitting around and complaining. I'm honored to them as friends.
For my part, I have my own little agenda too...regarding education.
I called it a "megalomaniac approach."
The idea is simple: I will try to make students growing up wanting to be like..ME
(..yeah, see? that's why I call it a megalomaniac approach).
I think it's much easier for me to first, of course, focusing on my own success..which I did have some decent track record...but there is a lot more to do. And, of course, the word success for me is not limited to academic and career..but also include all other aspects of life...financial security, health, community, etc...all aspects allow a person to live a happy life and share that happiness with people around him. I take this mission to "live a happy life" as an experiment..with myself as a guinea pig. Rather than debating over the philosophy of happiness and meaning of life, why don't experiment on different ways to have one? Of course, sometimes I succeed..sometimes I failed..but that's the nature of experiment..any experiment.. in the lab or in real life..hopefully we learned something about it.
Then, there is a storytelling component...by words..and by actions. The point is I MUST appear to be really really AWESOME.in front of my students..(yes, many people will oppose this thinking that it's another pompous megalomaniac attitude I have). No matter how successful I am... no matter how much I have learned (and willing to share) about my recipe of success.., unless I look 'cool' enough..no one will care and no one will benefit from my personal success. No, I'm not talking about going around bragging about achievement..that's a stupid way to present success. One tip I learned over the past year was to tell plain stories..with great excitement...stories about really cool works I do..stories about great friends and colleagues I have....I don't have to mention any trophy..I don't have to use big words describing my codes of ethics.... just plain stories..with great excitement.
So, who are my students? I'm not a professor yet ...and I don't have a school or workshops..yet. I think we all students and teachers of one another in everyday life. We're inspired and learned from those we interact with..through work, social gathering or other random activities. If whatever I do inspire or teach anyone around me..if my excitement and positive energy lit up anyone curiosity and passion ..even just a little bit....I counted that as a one small step of my educational achievement...and I do try to meet more people. I think I have quite a few good stories to share.
For me, the best model of education is a small group of people..with a least one inspirational individual.
I think our educational system is in a pretty bad shape now..and it's not going to change soon.
My plan is: f*ck the system, focus personal success...
...and inspire other to do the same.
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