School isn’t where you go; it’s where you are
DearLloyd,
Iheardfromthe newsthatwithout a vaccine forthecoronavirus, be no classes forschoolyear 2020-2021.Idon’tknowhowtofeelaboutit.We maynotbeabletocometoschoolforayear.Or, ifwedo,itwillnotbethesameregularface-toface onblendedlearning,acombinationofonlineoffline workingatthispoint.Idon’twanttowasteone yearofmylifebystayingathome.Whatdoyou think?
Arnie
Arnie,
We are in a very strange time in history. When I look back on the last three months, I can’t help but think where I could have been now given we didn’t have this coronavirus pandemic. To tell you honestly, I could have been out there traveling to more places, speaking in more conventions here and abroad than last year. I guess I’ve set up my speaking business well enough that I expect to harvest this year since I planted my program, Stepback Leadership, three years ago.
It didn’t happen. And I guess it will take some time before I can rebuild my momentum.
Nonetheless, it is what it is — we all have to navigate our way out of the crisis and set up new ways of doing things. These include your concern on blended learning and enrolling in the coming academic year.
But before I talk about it, without being political, no academic year can compensate for the life of our students. I can take losing one school year, but I can’t take people dying because we opened our schools. While I understand the economic impact of school closure, I put heavier emphasis on the life of each student. Anyway, would parents risk their children’s life by sending them to school? Definitely, I wouldn’t.
I welcome the argument that schools can put in place protocols to curb the spread of the virus. It’s not the school that I’m worried about; it’s the students who can’t discipline themselves. It only takes one coronavirus- positive — asymptomatic or not — disobedient, problematic, hardheaded student to spread the virus. Unless the schools can guarantee that all students will follow the instructions strictly, then we’ll put the lives of our students and teachers in danger. I can discuss this further but in another time.
Meanwhile, I believe we have an opportunity in this crisis, particularly on how we look at education — or to be more particular — at school.
For the longest time, we were made to believe that school is a physical structure where we go to learn. I got it. In fact, it’s true. But I have another idea. What if we can start to mentally condition ourselves that school isn’t the structure? What if we can reimagine school “as any place where we can learn and be taught?” Would it make our lives better? I believe it will for two reasons.
First, without the idea that we only learn in physical school, our youth can appreciate other “places of learning” such as their home and the Web. They can still learn other things aside from the regular academic subjects. In traditional physical school, we were not taught about stress management, personal finance, adversity handling, relationship management and leadership, among many other “essentials to success.” Yet, these are important things that can come in handy in many points in our lives.
Second, we can encourage our students to learn “on their own.” I think our youth today must be given a chance to self-educate themselves because they can. With a little guidance from mentors — teachers, parents, elders, peers — I think we can produce a more empowered and inspired generation by stepping back and allowing them to teach themselves.
I’m not against either the re-opening of classes or the school itself. I still believe in physical schools and what they do for us. But I hope we can help our youth understand that school isn’t a physical structure where they can get their learning from exclusively.
School isn’t where you go; it’s where you are. You can learn wherever you are. You can be your own teacher and your own student at the same time. Imagine the world as your classroom because it is. In the meantime, stay alive. You can let go of one academic year but please never compromise your life because no academic year is worth even a single life.
LloydLuna, RSP, CWS, is the first registered speaking professional and certified webinar speaker in the Philippines. He is a motivational speaker on leadership and best-selling author of Stepback: The Lost Art of Filipino Leadership. Heisthechief executive officer of Stepback, a leadership and culture development company that helps leaders and organizations see the bigger picture in life and at work. Visit his website www.stepback.ph or email himatlloyd@stepback.ph.