Evolving Mindflex
thinking about education and the use of words like development, growth and mindset.
We all know that children grow.
From babies until they reach their adult size. And then growth stops. Because if we continued to grow and grow there would be multiple problems. If all is well, we grow until we reach our adult height - and there is a great variation in this. There is not one fixed height that says - now you are an adult.
At the same time our skills, abilities, brain, knowledge etc develop. And this never stops. There is no maximum level to be achieved (except for external exams and tests) because we are constantly changing to respond to a constantly changing world. And just like growth - there is an enormous variety in the skills, abilities, knowledge, neural connections etc - there is not one fixed set of skills etc that means we have become an adult.
The same applies to this planet that we live on. The planet can evolve and develop in different ways depending on interactions of the human and more than human - but it cannot grow more or be more than the planet it is.
This is one of the reasons I am not keen on the idea of growth mindset. I much prefer to think about an evolving mindflex. Because. firstly I don’t like the word mindset - this idea that our mind is set on either growth or is fixed - partly because I am rebelling against all these binaries that keep being foisted upon us, and partly because we need to be flexible enough to have both and more. Sometimes we need to be fixed in our ways of thinking to help us hold true to being ourselves and our personal integrity, but we also need growth to understand how our ways of being mature over time, and also to evolve in order to respond to the situations we find ourselves in, that allows us to be safe, brave and empathic. So I much rather that we have a mind-flex than a mind-set because to be human in a community of humans and more than human (so the whole of nature - the planet) we need to be continuously adapting to our now, learning from our past and imagining the future we want to be a part of, and also imagining what the future might be if we don’t act or participate.
Then, as you have probably already gathered, I prefer the word evolve over growth - in fact I prefer it over develop also, and in my book The Original Learning Approach I strived to avoid writing develop and used evolve as much as possible instead. This is because the word develop tends to have a upward-linear-trajectory feel to it - and I don’t think that is how humans (or more than humans) evolve/develop. Its more messy, spiral like and can go in all directions (check out my post Polydiadromic - which is the idea of all possible directions).
So what if we could create not only an education, but also a culture, that is rooted in evolving instead of growth? That we nurtured different ways to contribute as citizens of a place, country, the earth and that we valued this instead of making more and more money. Because how can that economic growth continuously be done without harming the planet we live on and the people who are being exploited for the illusion/goal of growth?
How do we teach for sustainability that is not continuous growth based (which we deep down know is not sustainable because our planet has finite resources that are being extracted) but a sustainability that allows us to evolve comfortably with the earth? That people not profits come first - this does not mean profits cannot happen, merely that profits should not come at the expense of the suffering of others (human and more than human).
This means education should be properly invested in - not to get the maximum out of children through the minimum of investment - as that often requires children to learn in set ways, at set times, to set levels and often ruled through fear to get them to do this - and then they are expected to be empathic members of society. We need to harness the power of play - not as a tool to make children learn (and thus destroying the play as play) but by acknowledging this is the original learning of humans (get why I have chosen the term Original Learning - this is one of many reasons) and that a play-responsive education allows humans to evolve - provides opportunities to respond to a changing world and to know how to meet the future - which none of us knows how the future will unfold, or what kind of jobs there will be, or what state our planet will be in… we have clues, but we don’t know exactly.
We need to learn how to be in tune with our surroundings, learn how our surroundings is connected to the surroundings of other all over the globe. We need to act local think global.
We need to help children learn to listen. Listen to understand rather than to reply (and definitely avoid standard replies). To learn how to engage in dialogue with others, rather than debate. To learn about the nature that surrounds them - the names of fauna and flora - by being in nature and not only through books - so that we raise children to care about our planet enough to help save it from exploitation (and to be able to recognise exploitation)
It starts in the early years with connection - with projects like this one on Mini-Beasts (even if I don’t like the term mini-beast because I think this is a term for the adults rather than the children - but getting children out and connected is vital). For more thinking on this check out this paper “Planty Childhoods” by Sneha Parmer, Karen Malone and Tracey Charlotte Young.
this is part of my reflections on human values - my theme for the year
if you have comments, feedback or questions - I welcome them