Why should you care?
Why should we care?
Why should you care?
Well, this depends on your vantage point.
As a parent ... I want my child to feel loved, embraced, given the opportunity to explore the world and find out what they like, what they are interested in, and to develop a sense of self and agency that leads to their well-being and, yes, "happiness."
As a citizen in my community and the world ... I want others to be happy. I want them to feel "self-actualized" (read Maslow and Czickszentmihalyi). And I want a better, more humane world. A world that is "just." A world where we look out for the well-being of all, and we are gratified by the well being of all. A socially "just" world. I want everyone to feel that they can live the "generative" life, and that part of that is giving back to others and our world.
Why should we care?
Well, if you are like me, I care about everyone's daily experience. Are they valued? Are they happy? Do they feel "actualized"? Are they given opportunity to contribute? Are they given the opportunity to contribute to our humanity?
These are big questions for me.
So why the sandcastles?
What I see in these pictures is kids (young kids on their way to hopefully some form of self-discovery and growth into adulthood) playing (1st and foremost) and building, creating, using their imagination, making something, and doing that out of their imagination with what they have around them – sand, water, an accomplice (smiley face). They are engrossed, engaged. I would conjecture – happy. Liking if not loving what they are doing. Building something.
This is the state of happiness for me. Building, creating, making something new, creating something out of one's imagination, if not contributing to something not there before. ALSO, the pictures of individual effort vs. building something with someone is big for me. I love it when I build something alone. But I also love to be engaged with and build things with others.
In my small mind, at its most basic, these pictures have at heart the very spirit of what I want all students, no less all adults, are able to engage in. Personally meaningful engagement in the world. This is what I see in these pictures.
While the material and challenge of engagement with the world here is in the material of sand and what one can make with the mixture of sand and water (at the beach), as we grow forth into the world, I would hope that each child/youth is given the opportunity to at least consider if not be engaged in their possible engagement in the world with other materials, persons, and contexts – whether that be in art, any of the sciences, public service, art, etc. The sand then is then a metaphor for the materials of the rest of the world. The context (beach) is a metaphor for the other contexts we could travel to or find ourselves part of. The other in these pictures stands for others we can build, create, play and design with.
The only thing missing in these pictures is the others who might act as mentors or facilitators in our exploration of the sand and building of structures in the contexts. These are our mentors or teachers or facilitators.
But, in the end, at the most basic level, if you can extend the reach, the pictures of building sandcastles is a metaphor for future engagement in one's pursuit of meaningful work and activity. And if we should agree that this would be the ultimate end of education, to play in the sand, the question then becomes ... what should our educational systems, communities, and opportunities for all youth look like and be.
Finally, beyond the simply personal and individual, I would HOPE that the intrinsic empathy to care beyond ourselves would have our youth ask the questions: What can I do to benefit others? What can I discern in the fabric and ecosystem of our behaviors and care to lead me consider the difference I can make for the well-being of everyone?
That is the final set of questions I hope the support of our youth's development leads one too. Not just what makes ME happy ... but what can I do to contribute to the happiness of all?
Why should we care?
Why should you care?
Well, this depends on your vantage point.
As a parent ... I want my child to feel loved, embraced, given the opportunity to explore the world and find out what they like, what they are interested in, and to develop a sense of self and agency that leads to their well-being and, yes, "happiness."
As a citizen in my community and the world ... I want others to be happy. I want them to feel "self-actualized" (read Maslow and Czickszentmihalyi). And I want a better, more humane world. A world that is "just." A world where we look out for the well-being of all, and we are gratified by the well being of all. A socially "just" world. I want everyone to feel that they can live the "generative" life, and that part of that is giving back to others and our world.
Why should we care?
Well, if you are like me, I care about everyone's daily experience. Are they valued? Are they happy? Do they feel "actualized"? Are they given opportunity to contribute? Are they given the opportunity to contribute to our humanity?
These are big questions for me.
So why the sandcastles?
What I see in these pictures is kids (young kids on their way to hopefully some form of self-discovery and growth into adulthood) playing (1st and foremost) and building, creating, using their imagination, making something, and doing that out of their imagination with what they have around them – sand, water, an accomplice (smiley face). They are engrossed, engaged. I would conjecture – happy. Liking if not loving what they are doing. Building something.
This is the state of happiness for me. Building, creating, making something new, creating something out of one's imagination, if not contributing to something not there before. ALSO, the pictures of individual effort vs. building something with someone is big for me. I love it when I build something alone. But I also love to be engaged with and build things with others.
In my small mind, at its most basic, these pictures have at heart the very spirit of what I want all students, no less all adults, are able to engage in. Personally meaningful engagement in the world. This is what I see in these pictures.
While the material and challenge of engagement with the world here is in the material of sand and what one can make with the mixture of sand and water (at the beach), as we grow forth into the world, I would hope that each child/youth is given the opportunity to at least consider if not be engaged in their possible engagement in the world with other materials, persons, and contexts – whether that be in art, any of the sciences, public service, art, etc. The sand then is then a metaphor for the materials of the rest of the world. The context (beach) is a metaphor for the other contexts we could travel to or find ourselves part of. The other in these pictures stands for others we can build, create, play and design with.
The only thing missing in these pictures is the others who might act as mentors or facilitators in our exploration of the sand and building of structures in the contexts. These are our mentors or teachers or facilitators.
But, in the end, at the most basic level, if you can extend the reach, the pictures of building sandcastles is a metaphor for future engagement in one's pursuit of meaningful work and activity. And if we should agree that this would be the ultimate end of education, to play in the sand, the question then becomes ... what should our educational systems, communities, and opportunities for all youth look like and be.
Finally, beyond the simply personal and individual, I would HOPE that the intrinsic empathy to care beyond ourselves would have our youth ask the questions: What can I do to benefit others? What can I discern in the fabric and ecosystem of our behaviors and care to lead me consider the difference I can make for the well-being of everyone?
That is the final set of questions I hope the support of our youth's development leads one too. Not just what makes ME happy ... but what can I do to contribute to the happiness of all?
Proudly powered by Weebly