A few months ago one of my childhood friends who had moved back from the US to Hong Kong after walking the stage in 2008, decided to quit his job. He had always been very passionate and talented in music, he loved little kids and had a big heart. Understandably he did not like his job in the banking industry, and was sure he wanted to do something, anything, for our future generation – education!
Recently we found time to catch up over gchat (thank you Google!) and he told me how he had begun doing some part-time work at a children’s music/education center, and how he had been brainstorming ideas as to how this whole education dream of his would come to shape. We talked about concepts, ideaologies, which countries did it better, what places needed to see education reforms, and then I remembered having seen an article in the New York Times some time ago called Forest Kindergarten. At that time of reading, it struck me as something real, something that “made sense’! Why should our children be cooped up in classrooms, and learn about trees, flowers and animals from picture books or at best videos, when everything was just right out there!!
Excerpt from article:
Here in Saratoga Springs, the children crossed into the forest at midmorning, greeted by the rich smell of earth and leaves. A fallen branch had created an arch to climb through as if they were entering a hidden place straight out of a storybook.
Trails had been worn through the thickets. An old stone wall ran through the center of the trees toward huge tepees the children had built from sticks and vines.
Everywhere, there were things to discover. A branch balanced on a split tree trunk became a seesaw. A teacher sawed thick stumps into logs the children used to bridge bogs. A pit became a monster house, complete with boys standing in the rain shouting warnings: “You don’t want to come over here! You’ll get smushed!”
Piper Whalen, 5, turned toward her own treasure: an enormous fallen tree. She climbed on and lifted her arms. “I’m riding a roller coaster,” she said. “Come on and ride with me.”
The raindrops continued to fall until, finally, it poured, hard enough to splash though the canopy of trees. The children were delighted.
“It’s wet!” exclaimed one.
“My hair is getting a drink of water!” another said.
Piper began to laugh. She stuck out her tongue and turned her face toward the sky.
Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times
Education has always been something close to my heart. I suppose it has everything to do with the fact that my parents never ceased to stress the importance of learning, and more so to enjoy the process of doing so. I have always loved reading, loved people-watching, and as a little kid I would often find myself on the subway going to and fro school just looking at people. Now that I’ve been in Beijing, China for four years already and have every desire to return here, or to remain in close proximity (perhaps somewhere around HK/Asia?) once I am done with graduate school, I find myself thinking more and more about the importance of education for children in terms of availability and quality, especially education in China. What do children here need? What is best for them? What can we learn from those who have gone before us? What can we learn from the like-minded?
End Rant (for now).
