“I think the world can be different through education, not through prayer.” -Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama spoke with Youth Peacebuilders on October 22 and October 23. I caught the live version of the first night and intend on watching the entirety of both nights. Here is the link to a site with both nights embedded: Dalai Lama Youth Builder Talks. He talks about the need for oneness in all humanity, expression of love, taking action for the good of the world, and the importance of educating our youth about being emotionally healthy.
That quote, among many powerful lines, came about because he was talking about how all people want a happy life and a happy body. He spoke about how healthy positive emotions create a healthy physical body. It is around the 18:35 mark that he says that we should be teaching the hygiene of emotion from kindergarten to college. The modern educational system was developed during the Industrial Revolution, created to train workers for jobs and to build our economy. Very little mind was given to teaching children about kindness and dealing with emotions. But there was a lot more poverty, starvation, and sickness back then. They had a damn good reason for needing to train workers. But now times have changed. The possibilities for an individual in this world have grown immensely.
The Dalai Lama said that we have certain European traditions in the educational system, which is a nice way of saying we are teaching in an out-dated manner. He said, “There’s no tradition of transforming emotion.” And he is right. From my short experience as an educator, I do not see Healthy Emotional Reactions being taught in our school. It is possibly being expressed in small doses through one adult to a student, or strictly for the work of counselors (if there is one), but not as a course of study. And it should be.
I think changing the way we educate the new youth will drastically change the future of the human race because education is the root of nearly everyone’s lives in the world, and especially in developed countries. By teaching students about healthy ways to react to the world and their emotions, I believe that they will be much more equipped to deal with the vast variety of unpredictable problems they will face in their life. Additionally, they will be more empathetic and be able to work well in groups.
There are complex and critical problems facing this world and educators are still being forced to worry about standardized test scores that paint a black and white picture, at best, of a student. We are force-feeding students curriculum that we don’t fully believe in. And many people of my generation were pushed into college with the mindset of a white-collared world, without a real plan of what to do after college. That is absurd. We were prepared for a future by people looking in the past. But there is not an easy way to fix something as institutionalized as our educational system and turn away the big-money, solve-all-your-learning-problems companies that profit from the perceived failures of our students.
The point is that we need to change. And change, unfortunately, starts small. I think that small change is taking a few hours a week to put down the pencils, close the computers and books, and talk about what the students are feeling. Adolescent life is hard enough because they feel like they are all alone with their emotions. They shell up, they rebel, and they make poor decisions because no one has taught them that it is okay to be angry or sad or jealous or depressed. They should be able to acknowledge those emotions, express them with dialogue, have a chance to reflect, and learn something about themselves and others. And, in the process, learn how to talk to other human beings instead of only communicating through the safety-wall of text messages.
Now more than ever, we live in a fake bubble of an online persona. Everyone posts their best pictures with the best poses with the best lighting with their best friends in the best place with the best new toy and the best new pet and the best new couple and the best new baby and the best new thing we are doing to help ourselves, which is honestly all very wonderful. Seriously. Keep posting those wonderful things. But for the depressed person reading this, we are not all happy behind that Like button. Everyone has their ups and downs. Everyone. You are not alone in your sadness. And hopefully, you have someone to join you in your happiness.
But kids do not know or understand that. And no one seems to be teaching them that. And I think we should.
If a student is drawn to math, they will find a way to be an engineer. If they are interested in another time period, they will find a way to get more information about it or watch a historical movie. If they want to be an astronaut, then we need to show them the path. We don’t need to force the path upon them. We need to build up their confidence so they are brave enough to take the first step onto the launchpad to space.
Education should contain as much exposure to the world as possible, not fitting the world into four or five separate subjects. The world is fluid; the world is connected, not separate.
The Dalai Lama said, “I feel that existing education is not adequate to bring healthy student with healthy mind.”
Young people should be learning about the human mind and body and that the changes they are going through are normal. And that kind of education cannot be summed up in a half-hour awkward and corny puberty/sex-ed video. Emotional education aimed to teach kids how to be compassionate towards others should be one of the main subjects from kindergarten through a doctorate.
I am not saying that everyone is going to become automatically “good”, but I would put all my money on that we help break the cycles of depression, addiction, child abuse, and sexual abuse for millions of people. Change will be small. But it will grow.
We can’t predict the future and we can’t honestly tell kids what they are going to experience as adults. All we can do is prepare them the best we can. And we should start by teaching them about themselves and the crazy emotional roller coaster they bought tickets for when they became human. We have to teach them trust by trusting them, and explaining the fragility of that emotion. We should help them understand that they will not always be happy and they will not always be sad, but learning to find a balance leads to a peaceful life. Those are not religious teachings. They are mindful. By finding a way to live an emotionally healthy life, our students and children will be equipped to handle any problem the world throws at them.
We are teaching them to be good batters...because life is one hell of a pitcher.
Author’s Note #1: I want to take this opportunity to thank all those people in my life that have taught me and helped me on my path. Huzzah! for the teachers: my parents, my friends, my family, my enemies, and my actual teachers. You guys kick ass.