Growing up, “school” was always just a required part of life, somewhere I was expected to show up every day. As most parents like to tell their children, “you need an education to get anywhere in the world”.  But what experiences and information truly prepare us for the life we’ll lead as adults? For those of us fortunate enough to have had an opportunity to do so, we were in school Monday through Friday. In fact, it was against the law not to be.  Sure, some kids skipped school more than others, and of course, we all know about Huck Finn. And not to sound spoiled, since I did at least have a school to go to, but I didn’t enjoy it much.  Can’t think of many good times in those early school years. But I did manage to finish K-12, eventually got my BA and joined the work force.  Wasn’t that the original goal of education?  But more importantly, did I get the right education, a balanced education?

Now that I have children of my own, I’m looking at education through a different lens.  As we all know, there are many problems with the current educational system, certainly more issues than we can cover in this blog entry.  From public school funding and a government divided on the issues, to the public versus private school debate; from the issues of free speech and prayer in schools, to the preoccupation with test scores and the rising stakes of bullying. We will do a series of blogs on these issues, but for starters, I thought it was worth going back to the beginning, posing a question: What is the real goal of education?  And then consider where we are headed.

After much research, there were a lot of answers to this basic question, but these answers kept coming up in one form or another:

1. To provide academics and Learning skills
2. To give our kids social skills and build character
3. To give our kids tools to achieve personal goals and realize potential
4. To create life-long learners
5. To get the knowledge and ability to put it into action to succeed outside the classroom

At the end of the day, we all want our kids to be successful, and have an opportunity to lead a fulfilling life as adults, make their contribution to the world.  Interestingly, many successful people did not get a good education.  And many people who did, are not successful.  Perhaps then, success is not determined by knowledge, but character.  And true character requires balanced learning.  Unfortunately too many schools have routines and systems that do not put this concept into play when it comes to the work they do with our children. Most schools seem to focus too much on the academics and less about character building, and of course there is quite a debate about of the importance of family time (sharing family meals, actually talking to each other), the value of homework (cramming information in that isn’t relevant but geared only towards test taking) and tests…tests…tests… how much are kids actually retaining these days?

Studies have proven that kids absorb & retain much less if they are studying to take a test than if they work in a group on a project.  This project-based learning encourages so many other traits, from patience to leadership, a myriad of social skills and experiential learning.  This brings us back to balance, and what many educators are considering an increased value of EQ (Emotional Intelligence) vs IQ (Intelligence quotient).  It seems clear that to achieve balance, we need adequate doses of values and morals, as well as skills in decision-making and problem solving.  And a combination of street smarts, book smarts.  One helps more in life, another more with tests.  One is more social, another solves problems.

EQ is increasingly relevant to organizational development because EQ principles provide a new way to understand and evaluate people's behavior, attitudes, interpersonal skills, as well as potential. EQ connects with concepts of love and compassion. It’s not just what we know but how we use what we know in our daily interactions with the world around us that makes us who we are, for better or for worse.

IQ, or conventional intelligence, is so limiting.  Perhaps, the broader spectrum of Emotional Intelligence contributes to how successful we are. Success clearly requires more than IQ, which has traditionally been the measure of intelligence. We've all met people who are academically brilliant, yet socially, morally, and emotionally bankrupt.

To take this a step further, I’ve personally seen examples of how a strong EQ can be demonstrated with acts of kindness, even at a young age.  I remember the excitement and genuine concern my daughter expressed as a preschooler when given the opportunity to join some friends give clothing to the homeless at Christmas. Or how her school has a custom of cooking from scratch and delivering food to the less fortunate at Thanksgiving. Building a sense of character, driven by compassion and seeing first hand the difference we can all make, even at a young age, is empowering and inspiring and can help make the world a better place. This act of giving comes from a balanced education that addresses all of who our children are.

We know as a species that our kids are our future.  And they need genuine opportunities to realize their full potential, to become productive and satisfied for generations to come.

Here is a list of some of the better films made over the years, related to education, along with some valuable links to help parents get more involved, and help take action.  Together, we can improve education for the future.

NARRATIVE FILMS

1.  THE BREAKFAST CLUB

2.  DEAD POETS SOCIETY

3.  GOOD WILL HUNTING

4.  STAND AND DELIVER

5.  PRECIOUS

DOCUMENTARY FILMS

6.    BUILDING HOPE
7.    RACE TO NOWHERE
8.    A SMALL ACT
9.    WAITING FOR "SUPERMAN"
10.  THE LOTTERY