We say that the human brain is on an empty blank state when we are born, and it is capable of storing enormous amount of information and all knowledge through experience and perception, this epistemological idea is also known as Tabula Rasa. Learning is a way of life, it is not limited to the four corners of a classroom, to the use of books, pen and paper, and not bounded by six to eight hours of lectures and study, learning is much more than that. We can learn from our experiences, we even learn deep and hard to forget things from our mistakes and failures, we learn through the different relationships we build, we learn through people, media, and culture.
Michel de Montaigne, one of the most influential writers of the French Renaissance, in the field of education said that learning is living, and living is learning it is also worthy of note that he said; that when we interact with things in the world, we involve all of our senses. He emphasized the child as a full human being, rather than one who is in the mode of preparing to live a full and real life.This gives birth to the idea of non-conventional way of learning.
Dealing with 21st century learners is both a challenge and a privilege. We are seeing how the present generation of learners enjoys the emoluments of liberty that our ancestors paid their life with, and it is indeed the very reason why they chose to fight for it with their lives, for the next generation to benefit a joyous fate through that freedom. To some, it appears that the exercise of freedom of our youths nowadays became a little inappropriate, yet to some it is encouraged and tolerated.
The days of old, with strict, authoritative, disciplinarian teachers are now gone, we enter into a new era of learning strategies that will is best suitable to the attitudes and preference of the millennial. Teachers who cannot ride the wave of this transition in the way of education will find themselves struggling and ineffective in facilitating learning. This hypothesis could be supported by the statistics, in a survey conducted by FLEMMS (Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey). Results showed that of the nearly 4 million out-of-school children and youth, 22.9 percent have entered into union or marriage. Another 19.2 percent cited insufficient family income to send child to school as the reason for not attending school (this refers to all educational expenses other than tuition fee), while 19.1 percent lack the interest in attending school. These top three reasons from out-of-school youths could be reversed in different approach, the first two reasons needs other interventions that the education system alone can’t handle, other government agencies must be involved in it, however the latter which has 19.1 percent or almost 764,000 of OSY who simply doesn’t have interest attending school must be encouraged to do so. How? This is the challenge to the present education system that we have. To the 4 million aforementioned out-of-school youths, we can win back at least 764, 000 if we make schools more interesting to them.
That’s why Institutions nowadays makes a selling point to lure 21st century learners to go to school by offering a new approach to learning. They are projecting schools a “cool” place to be and a venue for them to express themselves while gaining access to quality education. That is also the reason why today, some schools take down restrictions and rules in order to create a more liberated environment free of judgments and prejudices to everyone. And learners tend to be more responsive and interested to this kind of setting. No prescribed haircut, no prescribed uniform, no forceful implementation of classroom discipline, all these and more gives the learner the feeling of independence and so paved way for self learning and cultivate natural learning impulse and critical thinking.Though freedom and independence could open doors of opportunities for the promotion of learning and education to the 21st century learners, the dilemma lies in the question; How far can our freedom go, and would it still be freedom when there are set of limitations?Because learning is not only about knowledge and information we register in our brains, it is encapsulated with value, morals and principles that only the heart can understand.
By: Rachelle Ann A. Enriquez RN, LPT
