The world in 50 years vis-à-vis education conditions

SOMETIMES the problem with us Filipinos is that we lack vision. We know that every organization has vision and mission, but do we, individually? Education is an integrating global issue and so is sustainability. If we will have a visioning exercise, what do you think the world will look like in 50 years? Are your answers the same as mine?

Overwhelmingly negative responses are attributed to crimes, pollution, overpopulation, and troubles of today, and add the word “more” before each. Everyone might be surely depressed when asked. But let’s say you have the power to change what 50-years-after could look like, what do you think you will see? I think “change” is just one word that will yield very different replies. Some might say a world where everyone gets enough to eat every day, or the air and water are clean, or neighborhoods are walkable, and the local and global communities are thriving. A subtle shift in language empowers teachers and students to think about what we want our future to look like. This demonstrates the foundation of what education for sustainability is all about — giving students the tools to be involved and engaged in creating their future.

The world in 50 years will only stay manageable, or “sustainable” to be more appropriate, if education and educators take into consideration future generations, social justice, culture, economics, and natural resources.

K-12 education is the implementation of teaching for a sustainable future. Former president Benigno Aquino III redefined education via the K-12 with the hope of bringing graduates to the

helm of globalization and getting much more secure employment and venues for their respective careers. K-12 teachers are expected to align their teachings in the curriculum that very specifically addresses the big ideas of teaching for sustainability and define what K- 12 students should know and be able to do to be sustainability literate. The main components of education for sustainability are intergenerational responsibility, interconnectedness, ecological systems, economic systems, social and cultural systems, personal action, and collective action.

These standards serve as a guiding document in the creation of core content standards that promote sustainability literacy, sustainability and environmental standards developed by states, frameworks for teaching and learning at

the school level, and the development of individual units and lesson plans.

If only students are highly engaged in learning by making academics relevant to their lives they will be empowered to think critically, develop a global perspective, and participate in positive solutions for a sustainable future. In this time and age when students can instantly be distracted by news and gossip on social media, K- 12 must be a subtle shift in teaching that facilitates the students’ ability to think about the interrelatedness of big issues, to develop the capacity to interpret multiple perspectives, and ultimately to feel empowered to engage in making a difference. Students working on sustainable future with the help of education can know whether a news is fake or sustainable as well, and when to share it and not. (