Education needs freedom

Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.

John Dewey

The freedom to enjoy learning and education is one of our basic needs. And at the same time, it can be so much more. Do you know those people who love to learn? Who are hungry for brain food? I guess you are one of them – otherwise, you wouldn’t read this blog article. And even if your daily routine doesn’t allow you to spend much time exploring new things most of us are curious.

Children for sure show these abilities. Willing to learn they spend hours exploring new things or try to figure out how things work. If they are allowed to spend enough time on it, they go on educational trips every single day. But what is necessary to be willing to learn and to have fun doing it?

Freedom!

The freedom to have experiences and to make mistakes without being punished or blamed for it. By being in a learning-friendly environment children can trust and make decisions. Life is full of choices and the best way to learn to make the right decisions is by learning it at a very early age.

Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.

Anthony J. D’Angelo

For this, we need to support each other to learn. Then the fun will come along by itself. In children we can see every day that learning lies in our nature. Nothing should hold you back from reading a new book, joining free learning courses or going to an educational festival. It’s even been proved scientifically by Michael P. Domjan that the urge to learn lies within every being.

Learning lies within our nature

So give in to your natural behaviour! At the Spring Academy, you will find exactly this. Freedom to learn

• what you want.
• where you want.
• when you want.

And this freedom doesn’t know about ages, interests, or abilities. It is you, your friends, and your family who can enrich the experience of learning, education, and freedom by taking part, sharing, and caring.

Learning in daily life

How can you integrate learning in your daily life routine? You know how difficult it might be to spare some time between work, cleaning, bringing your kids to school, searching for a parking space, waiting for the bus… The trap lies within our subconscious which simply loves routines. But by following the same path every day, nothing new will happen.

Did you ever try the other road to drive or walk to work? Give it a try! Don’t choose the same coffee again. Re-arrange your furniture or your wardrobe. Brush your teeth this morning with the other hand. Those are small changes with a low risk. In the end, it’s not about knowing what the other road to your work looks like (even though this can be very fulfilling if you find a new beautiful place). What happens is that you push your subconscious out of the comfort zone.

A comfort zone is a beautiful place, but nothing ever grows there.

And don’t forget: a comfort zone where learning isn’t happening is unnatural in the end. It grew away from your childish need of learning. By changing small things in your daily life you will find your way back to curiosity and freedom.

Trust your children

Children aren’t far away from their inner drive to learn. And this is something you can give more room to. It is important for them to feel safe and trusted. Nothing should be silly or wrong. It might take time, but with patience and love, the understanding and the benefit of learning will increase. Learning doesn’t have to happen by sitting in front of a chalkboard and repeating sentence by sentence. It can be in detail in your daily life.

And that is what it is about in the end: Let learning happen!

By Petra