True Education, According to Matsushita

"In educating people, the most important thing you can teach is not facts, not knowledge, but human dignity. This will awaken them."

I am quoting direct from Velvet Glove, Iron Fist and 101 Other Dimensions of Leadership.

A comparable quote may be Antoine de Saint-Exupery's "If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea."

Quand tu veux construire un bateau, ne commence pas par rassembler du bois, couper des planches et distribuer du travail, mais reveille au sein des hommes le desir de la mer grande et large"

When we convince a kid s/he is a worthy, unique, enough, ready human being,

When we inspire a kid about the richness of life,....
...
I don't think I need to say more.

Story for Learning Science and Technology

After Steve Jobs, everyone comes to know that the career sweet spots lie in the intersection between science and liberal arts.

After Jim Loehr's The Power of Story, everyone also comes to know that story is good for politics, leadership, teaching and business especially in marketing and sales.

I want to point out that story is also good for your kids in learning Science and Technology too.

Detective Raven TV Series

Once I overheard this conversation between Raven and a fellow female police detective on a TV sereis.

She said,about a spy murder case, "We have all the facts, Raven. But they are useless about a theory. You are to provide that theory to us."

Watson, Crick and DNA

In the Double Helix, we can note many incidences in which Crick and Watson had to explain the results of some experiments to those who had actually carried out those experiments.

Enrico Fermi

Fermi, an Italian physicist, particularly known for his work on the development of the first nuclear reactor, too has remarked "If I can name all the particles in an atom I'd become a botanist." In his day, "botanist" apparently means a gardener.

Facts after itemized facts ...

Datum after datum ...

Fragments after fragments ...

Have your kids had all down pat as a whole?

With meaning, with coherence, with integrity ...

Above all else, with a story?

Holistic Education

In some countries, some people are clamoring for a holistic education. They complain that some children develop narrow outlooks because of their focus on a mere handful of subjects. Their expectation is that the more subjects the children are exposed to, the more holistic they will become. From this, we can draw two conclusions.

Possibility 1. Some kids focus on just a few subjects and they become narrow in outlooks, lack perspectives or become un-holistic. Let's call such kids FEW-UNHO.

Possibility 2. Some kids get exposed to many subjects and they become broad in outlooks, gain perspectives or grow holistic. Let's call such kids MANY-HO.

Then, Janadas Devan points out that a bit of many things --- "a bit of maths, a bit of art, a bit of civics, a bit of sports, et cetera" --- won't make kids holitstic. This gives us another possibility:

Possibility 3. Some kids do many subjects but still stay un-holistic. Let's call such kids MANY-UNHO.

Let me summarize what we have seen so far:
FEW-UNHO.
MANY-UNHO.

MANY-HO.

The missing possibility is

Possibility 4. FEW-HO. Some person does only one or two key subjects/disciplines. Still s/he is broad in outlook, well-rounded, integrative in thinking, etc. Can there be such a person?

By extension, can we say that being HO or UNHO has little to do with how many subjects or disciplines a person studies at school?

For instance, at different stages of my life, I focused exclusively on one subject or discipline. I can't reacall how that made me un-holistic at that stage of my life. I may be un-holistic for many other reasons but not for this exclusive focus.

e.g. In literature, any author must be studied in context: historical, political, social, schools, etc .
e.g. In linguistics, we are supposed to know and see relationships with mother disciplines.
e.g. In computer science, we need to see contexts and relations with other disciplines, integration issues, platform choices, eclectic methodologies of development, etc.
e.g. In MBA, the same holds true.
Big problems can have small solutions. Small solutions can have big impacts.

Liberal Arts Education

This, I may write later.