Talking About Global Problems With Children

So again, let’s all remember this is just me, in my garden, thinking. I’m no specialist on Marxism, I don’t read Neiche, I don’t even know how a radio works, so just relax, realise I might be totally talking to faeries and carry on the conversation with the person closest to you later on.

THE PROBLEM 

So, blaming climate change, blaming capitalism, blaming racism, blaming gender inequality, blaming colonisation, these are all valid rages and brawls I’ve been privileged enough to entangle myself in over the course fo my lifetime. At poetry cafes, protests, educational institutions, pubs, living rooms, buses and street corners. But what if, the whole world as we know it today (the colonised one), the structure, is deeply rooted in fear of dying. What would the world look like if no one was scared of dying. Now we can all easily say we’re not afraid to die, but the vast majority would probably let out at least a yelp if tumbling from a clifftop into a canyon. But to return to this theme again, is because on a larger scale, I do believe a lot of our way of life not only ignores death, but the greed, the fears and the segregation of people from one another, from the spirit, from learning, from wonder, from aliens, from the unknown…causes so much suffering in our world. So instead of changing government policy or by me myself trying to become prime minister (massive fail – didn’t make the grades), instead of changing the curriculum, instead of considering the mass redistribution of wealth, instead of hoping, praying, storytelling and story-listening – or – alongside this, I want to entirely eradicate our fear of death as a global organism, and see how differently we operate. Now, I’m not advocating that everyone goes and slits their throats open and see’s what happens. Obviously. This is just one of many ideas, that I find interesting, and I’d like to discuss it in a place that’s not a street corner, not a psychologists chair, not a pub. I want a place. A big place. A special place. A place that doesn’t exist yet.

To walk the labyrinthth of understanding the nature of our world, our being, and so much more than death (that’s just my own personal interest), we need to seriously re-evaluate what the word ‘education’ means, how it is delivered, to whom and by whom. Schools. This is what we have got so far. Schools. Can you believe it? Classrooms? Homework? How have we put something as fascinating as education as the knowingness of all things possible, of the investigation of life itself into something so boring? How can we put the kings and queens of this world – teachers – in square white boxes? 

And yes, while I agree that we do need to teach children skillsets in order to get jobs and survive, why can there not be an everlasting school, where adults can still go to as well? To sit beside a six year old and learn something new together. Museums are great. Art galleries are great. Schools are great. But do you know what I reckon are the best…?

THE SOLUTION

Theme Parks. Rides. Food. Parklands. Magicians. Clowns. Mystics ~~~~ all merged with education. Imagine a ‘school’ / theme park, that kids couldn’t wait to get to? Open all day and all night. Surrounded by nature. Safe. With each ride illuminated by an actual theme? The rollercoaster of politics. The bumper cars of different personalities. The mirror maze of self awareness. The slippery slide of disappointment. The lake of why. The hologram of religion. The outa-space walk. The tunnels of chaos. The library of love. The wonder wheel of contradiction. The ghost train of our ancestors. Imagine if discovering and learning and discussing and revolutionary ideas and debates and spiritual awareness and concerts and cooking and learning about each other and understanding history (both real and fake) and changing the world and saving the world… could be done at a theme park? Could be fun?

HOW?

When I speak to kids these days I don’t ask them “What do you want to be when you grow up?” because it’s a bit like cornering a taipan. What are they gonna say? Doctor? Lawyer? Actor? That’s all well and good and that really works for some kids. But instead I ask most of them, “What do you want to do?” changing this one tiny word can make a huge difference. Firstly because it take the ego out of defining their specific role, and opens up a plethora of possibilities. For example one child said to me, “I want to help animals,” and we examined the endless rainbow of jobs or forms that adventure could take. If she had just said “I want to be a marine biologist,” she may not achieve that actual goal. But ‘helping animals’ well, she could be a journalist, a conservationist, a vet, a biologist, an engineer, a traveller who learns from other countries how they care for their animals, a politician and so on. Her life could take many twists and turns and he could still achieve her dream. 

So I pass the blueprint of this theme park to you, and whoever wants to build it, go for it. All I want is to go there, one day.

I have a back up plan too though. I love circles. Ands so, if we can’t build the theme park, then perhaps I’ll try and run a school. And I would focus the timetable around the interconnectedness of al the subjects to form a loop. So that, if a day went like this: Science, Literature, history, Arts, Maths, Philosophy, P.E – I would spend the last five minutes of each class interweaving ideas on how that particular subject connected to the next one. How has science changed literature? How has literature reflected or indeed created history? Why is the knowledge of history so important to the arts? Which pieces of art have inspired mathematical breakthroughs? How does maths relate to the theories of the universe and the meanings of balance? How do we shift our consciousness into our bodies? And all the classes would be in the playground.