2 Global Beliefs Used as Excuses for an Ineffective Education System
In 2020, 60 million students were out of school in the U.S. due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Having them at home stimulated a lot of questions. How far behind will they get? Will this pandemic cause more failures and drop-outs? How will colleges make it fair for admitting students? How can they graduate? Will students experience toxic stress from being out of school? Will our students continue to fall behind the other countries? I heard someone at one point call it an educational emergency. (1) The questions and uncertainty surely mounted. Students, teachers, and parents became anxious and concerned that the students future would suffer from being out of school.
Today, there is still concern about what the pandemic did to our children's learning, and we keep asking are they DOING enough?
I think this is the wrong question to be asking. I have a different perspective about how the pandemic affected the education system and the individuals, young and old, who work, learn, and play there. I believe that the pandemic was a situation that actually began to break us out of old paradigm beliefs that are not working anymore...-and this is good!
Being an educator, system's thinker, and researcher for over 30 years, I was always observing and experiencing how teaching practices and personality affected student and teacher fulfillment, well-being, and success. I noticed how the mainstream school system's global beliefs, philosophies, and habits were negatively effecting the very outcomes we, as educators, were trying to create for our youth, -the love of learning, self-worth, integrity, honesty, trust, joy, and the expansion of self, etc. Nothing seemed to be working; teachers and students were getting more and more stressed and unhealthy. The system kept blaming the teachers and kids, trying to make their low success (compared to other countries) their fault. So the "system" kept upping the bar, making more and more work, more note taking, more evaluations, more "have to's". This resulted in many obvious negative outcomes such as teachers leaving the field with exhaustion and burnout even before the pandemic.
I saw the burnout coming, not only to the teachers (and myself) but for the students also. I have coached dozens of college students, and all of them had the symptoms of exhaustion and potential burnout, and they really believed it was good for them. How could students come to believe that stress, exhaustion and burnout are good for them?
I have my conclusions.
As we know, the United States was founded by European men of Caucasian decent, based on the premise that all "men" are created equal and have the same rights, and in so many word, would have the freedom to create their own success and not be under the taxation of the King of England. The Declaration of Independence felt much better than what the commoners had experienced in Great Britain and in my opinion, it was much better. However, the underlying assumption under our country's origination was still based on the premise that there was "only so much success and resources to go around", which would make sense because of their experience for hundreds of years in Great Britain. Hence, the first "men" of our country arrived still with the belief that everyone was in competition for the finite set of resources that they believed made up their reality. "First come, First serve." "Smartest person-hardest worker-biggest taker", were their beliefs and they believed it was ok to do "whatever it took" to have the most, especially if you were not a Caucasian male.
This underlying philosophy and beliefs of these good-intention men, is what created, by default, the system of education that our schools still have today. They wanted a system that prepared their children for a world of competition, conflict, and struggle. They wanted to see striving, building, suffering, and just about anything that created more, better, and different. They wanted students to learn to work hard for their "success" and prevail over others to prove themselves. The underlying societal belief that "there is not enough and we are all in competition for it", has, as a result, kept the school journey being more and more demanding, more requirements, a standardized curriculum so its at least "fair" competition, more testing, more projects, more accountability, and higher and higher standards all for what they truly believed was for the betterment of "mankind".
When the schools were closed do to Covid 19, this stringent, strictly-believed philosophy was interrupted. The kids were not able to do more, and more, and more, and struggle, and strife, and get tested, and, and, and... so, the norm was to believe that our kids futures would suffer and so would they.
When societal patterns that people believe are good for them, get interrupted, it can be really scary, triggering uncertainty and a lack of significance. I totally understand why everyone would freak out about the students not being able to DO enough and then state over and over again that they would suffer and fall behind. This pattern has been engrained in us for 250 years.
So did the students suffer?
I think they suffered, not because they didn't get to continue the more is better pattern, but because the parents and teachers already believed from their historical and generational patterning that their next generation of children were going to be the one that fell behind and therefore will not be successful." But I don't believe that it had to be this way.
What if the "There is not enough and we are all in competition for it," and "More is better/learning can be lost," -two beliefs that were initially created from a society of fear, has actually become a self-fulfilling prophecy that has kept us in fear, struggle, and strife? What if these initially beliefs are actually underlying our societal syndromes of toxic stress, suicide, depression, addiction, suicide, violence, and chronic disease that is NOW negatively affecting our youth.
I, of course, think that it is way past time to shift these beliefs into ones that I have found from research and experience that create higher levels of fulfillment, success, enhanced learning, and overall fulfillment and well-being.
Our Beliefs are Powerful
Our beliefs (conscious or unconscious) dictate how we feel and how we show up in the world. What we believe, we experience. They are the most powerful resource we can control to be able to create what we want to experience in our lives.
It reminds me of the powerful statement apparently backed up by research that I kept hearing in the schools a few years ago; “Our prison systems must obtain a prison bed for every student who can’t read by 3rd grade”. I was mortified when I heard this. I knew the power of beliefs and the effects this one would have on the students who were struggling with their reading. Sure enough, as this belief spread throughout the school, I could see that some of my students who were in the “extra reading practice group” were becoming more and more fidgety and unfocused. They began to give up more easily and get referrals to the office. Experiencing poor achievement in reading then became their self-fulfilling prophecy. “See, I can’t read by 3rd grade; I'm behind; so I am going to prison (I am bad; I’m not good enough.)”. As their Empowerment Coach, a part of my job then became to train teachers how to coach students to help them shift their disempowering beliefs to empowering ones; “I can learn to read and it doesn’t matter how long it takes for me to learn no matter what they say! This doesn’t mean I am bad or stupid!” Because research shows that this is true.
“WE ARE IN A BELIEFS GAP, not an ACHIEVEMENT GAP” is a quote from. that from my years researching in schools, I have come to truly believe for every human being.
It is so important that we are mindful not to continue the belief’s gap that was accelerated during the pandemic by saying that everyone is "losing" in some way. We need to stay positive and talk in ways that are not fear-based to support our students to love to learn, and not to worry about where they are compared to a standard made by others. Enough already!
THE 2 MAIN EDUCATIONAL BELIEFS THAT WE NEED TO SHIFT
#1 - The more productive students are, and the better grades they have, the more successful they will be.
The students have become an educational system of DOER’s, believing that what someone else is telling them to DO, is what they need to DO to, and to get the highest grades will both ensure their future success. Students are “do-doing” all over themselves, to the point of exhaustion, and most of the time putting their own inspiration, intuition, self-discipline, and self-agency to learn on the back burner. After 2 centuries of this, our students and educators are done with this but they don't know yet what is better. They have a feeling, but they don't trust it.
When I was a college professor, I created a high-level wellness course that was designed to shift students away from the “doing” and into the flow of inspirational learning by having them practice a self-coaching framework and from their create their wellness plan. I was wanting for them to do a type of pass/fail, contract-type system of grading where they created what they wanted to learn and then agreed to carry it out. On the first day, when I tried to described this new way of being to them (not very well may I add since it was my first attempt), many of the students got frustrated. They complained to my Dean that I was "out there" and needed to know how to get the "A". They didn’t care about learning a new way of “being” that lowered stress and made life easier and feel more successful. I was forced to add all the tests and projects back into a regular grading scale.
For many years, these students had already been a part of an education system that had reinforced their belief of "more is better" as well as, "I don't know what I want to learn", so much so that they would rather do 3X the work and be spoon-fed the information, than to move into a new way of learning. I, to say the least, didn't get good evaluations from that class. Unfortunately, they didn't want to know that these types of chronic demanding experiences actually are the root cause of their toxic stress, burnout, unhappiness, and un-fulfillment. They are focusing on outcomes dictated by a system created 250 years ago by people who believed that more is better.
I have come to know many of the school struggles of the Millennials and Gen-Z's by coaching them through their anxiety, depression, low self-worth, confusion about their purpose, and even more seriously, around their addictions, thoughts of suicide, violent impulses, and chronic disease. Our current archaic, disconnected, one-size-fits-all education system is not working to support them to thrive. To say it bluntly, it is actually unintentionally causing primary and secondary trauma in our students and in many cases our teachers*.
From this perspective, the pandemic could be one of the best things that has ever happened to our current education system and to its students and teachers.** But as of now, many journalists are scooping up the fear to sell their writings and putting what I believe to be, unnecessary fear and worry on our students (especially our high school juniors and seniors) about the negative effects of their lost days of school. “They will fall behind; it will take years to catch back up.” “They won’t get into a good college.”They may be traumatized from being out of school, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.
#2 - You can LOSE LEARNING.
Students can’t actually fall behind in learning, unless their learning is being measured by increases in outcomes such as the number of classes they finish, tests they pass, grades they make, honors they receive, and if they progress on time to the next grade. But, obviously just by students having high numbers in these things doesn't mean that they have learned anything. Learning isn't about outcomes, it happens because of an inner process that works best with choice and little stress. Young people can learn anything if they are inspired, and their brains are in learning mode. If they believe that they are not smart enough or are "less than" others because they believe they are falling behind, this increases their chance of being in a fight, flight or freeze response (stress/survival mode) where it is more difficult to focus and learn.
During the pandemic, it didn't surprise me that high school students weren't actually showing up for their online schooling. Some teachers reported that fewer than half of their student were regularly participating. (2) This is true, from my perspective, because most secondary students attend school because of the social aspect and this had been taken away during COVID. I also believe that they were also tired of being robots in a more, better, different, outcome-based system of “DOING” , and were hungry for something different. After they got a taste of Zoom learning with inexperienced teachers who were just "barking" at them to try and get them to DO what they wanted (which is unfair to the teachers), they had had enough.
Learning happens best when students' hearts are inspired and their brains are in learning mode.
So it is not that the learners fell behind during Covid, or anytime, because there is nothing to fall behind from. Someone made up arbitrary learning points where they believe kids should be for them to be successful in school, not in life. So the pandemic actually gave students and teachers a break from the disempowering, unhealthy education system and the ways it has always been done.
Students can feel this, but since they have been so conditioned to believe that the current system is their magic ticket to success, they can’t trust their instincts nor imagine schooling being any other way. Even when school is a place where many children feel are fed, and may even feel more safe than at home, most of them will still experience some type of primary or secondary trauma from the education system itself because of these two beliefs.
Now What?
If the education system would truly allow educators to learn to set up learning environments where the whole-child is prioritized, we will see a huge positive change in our students in school and beyond. If we help them embody that the process of purposeful, fun learning is the goal, they will naturally expand themselves way beyond what they could imagine and naturally contribute to their school community and beyond. Supporting students in enhancing their personal passions will allow them to gain confidence and step up with new ways of learning that feel really good and contribute in making our world more safe, peaceful and sustainable.
This is what I have found when continuing to implement the principles of Empowerment Education®, a new-paradigm, trauma-informed, transformational system of learning that can be implemented in any classroom or school to help shift it into a healthy and empowering learning environment where everyone thrives.
Let's quit putting all young people in the same educational box by making them believe that there is only one way to learn and it is the way we have been doing it for 250 years. They all have their own amazing shapes. Let’s quit telling them that if they don’t do well on the ACT and SAT and don’t get A’s, and don’t go to the best college, that they won’t be successful in life. It’s just not true. Every young person has a beautiful and amazing life journey to experience if we offer them a truly healthy and empowering learning environment where they have the freedom, confidence and skills to recognize and trust their unique brilliance, and then support them in cultivating the courage to step into their creative ideas, and allow them to unleash it!
Fortunately, in 2025, the current education system is in the process of breaking down so it can be built back up in a new healthy and empowering way. If we all can see this, something amazing can truly prevail. All levels of educational leaders globally can collaborate to harness the intrinsic power of the current educators and Gen Z and Alpha generations who are in school now. Teachers, principals and students can become the main voices and catalysts for a positive shift in education. New ideas in communication, evaluation, courses, textbooks, online resources, technology, learning methodologies and ways to collaborate will powerfully come to life, like a flower blooming for the first time. College admittance guidelines will shift into something we can’t even imagine yet that supports our students in being intrinsically motivated to learn and grow and contribute to our society (not forced).
Our one-size fits all practices will go away and a new way of education will come through that truly sees, hears and values every student as a unique, brilliant individual with everything they need to be successful in their lives already inside themselves.
The COVID-19 Pandemic
I believe that the pandemic will be a catalyst in the unfolding of a truly healthy and empowering system of education where everyone thrives. (3) Is it any coincidence that the pandemic happened towards the end of the Gen Z’s schooling and the beginning of a new generation? The pandemic is giving the Gen Z’s a chance to go inward and say, “What do I really want? What is important to me? What do I need?”
It is giving them a chance to connect to their dreams and reevaluate.***
They are beginning to realize…something is wrong with the current system.
They are beginning to be done with the old way.
Feeling successful because you passed four math classes and have an A average is a thing of the past.
So what is the new definition of success for education? What does it look like? Feel like?
Lets not keep doing things from a "lack of abundance and more is better" belief system that was established 250 years ago.
It is time for all humans, young and old to create their learning fro their heart's intuition and open minds and be provided the guided, healthy, and empowering learning environments to do it.
Welcome to Empowerment Education®!
Join us today for free and get started!
Resources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/us/coronavirus-schools-attendance-absent.html
https://www.ncsl.org/research/education/public-education-response-to-coronavirus-covid-19.aspx
https://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/map-coronavirus-and-school-closures.html
*According to the Adverse Childhood Study (ACE Study) and other research, there are many things that can happen to us growing up that can become a traumatic experience. My research is uncovering the significance of the role that the current education system unintentionally plays on creating new or further trauma in our young people and educators.
**We had a serious Covid-19 flu pandemic. My heart go out to the families who have lost their loved ones and whose lives have been drastically altered. In no way, because I believe that the pandemic could be a catalyst for change for our education system that I want to minimize the hurt, stress, trauma, and sadness that many are experiencing during this time.
***The result of my mission is for educators and their students to have the freedom, confidence and skills to know, love, trust and be themselves so they can experience and share their highest and healthiest vision for themselves, their relationships, their community and their world...-so every human-being counts and is a W.E.L.L. Kid NOW®! (WELL, Empowered, heart-centered Leaders, who love to Learn, love Life, and are living their Legacies NOW!)
