Years ago, I was working in a university research institute developing projects that focused on how media can be used constructively and creatively in
schools. We did a few cross-cultural projects with schools in Germany, Kenya,
and Canada. Since the projects were research projects, we gave out questionnaires
to the participants and their teachers before and after each project.
The questions of the pre-trail survey established current practices
of media use and what did they like or dislike about going to school. The questions
of the post-trail were focus on the children’s experiences, team communication,
and learning motivation during the duration of their project. Even though this
sounds very academic, it was really interesting to read the stories of the
participants through the numbers.
Most notably, was the difference in children’s attitudes towards going to school.
As in the case with Jonathan in the video above, his attitude of “school is good”
was prevalent in all the responses of the school children in Kimilili, Kenya
and the inner-city school children in Toronto. Whereas, the children in Germany
often saw having to go to school as a chore and not a privilege.
What a disservice parents and society are doing towards our children,
if we cannot communicate how marvellous education is. We need to tell them how proud we are that
they are working hard and are doing well. Not the marks on the report card, but the day-to-day
effort they extend towards learning all that they can.
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