To or For?

As I struggled with my one legged tree pose in a recent yoga class, my mind wandered to the question that I have always wrestled with: When did education, in any form, become something that’s done to us, and not considered for us? Is it a mindset that we bring to the setting? Is it the grades that we use as an assessment (but often also as a punishment or reward)? Is it the lack of autonomy felt by the learner? And more importantly, can it be changed without a learner developing an intrinsic desire to learn?

I'm in my yoga class because I want to be. Yes, the studio has developed an accepting community, flexibility in choosing classes, provides guidance but no evaluation or judgment, and everyone who enters wants to be there. Our reasons may be different, but it is our choice. Can real education only exist when it is an individual’s choice? And how many of our students would choose to be in a classroom on a given day? 

I took a very unscientific survey asking the question: How did you see your education—as something done to you, or working for you? I was pleasantly surprised to hear that many felt it was working for them; even if there was not a direct correlation between learning a certain mathematical theory and their current position, they embraced the belief that those years, their efforts, the infrastructure, and the money spent indeed enhanced their lives. They felt that their studies were not, as a few suggested, only to satisfy the legal mandate of compulsory education. Some did mention the struggles with unacceptance by their peers. Hence the experience felt cold and even nightmarish at times, not because they did not have that magic known as intrinsic desire, but because it was instead buried by fear and a lack of security. 

As we start a new school year, let's look inward and outward, and ask ourselves: Am I here for something or someone? As you go about the day, examine your own list. How many items are have tos and how many are done fors? Is it possible to alter the way we see the list, like we used to be able to switch from AM radio to FM?