Happy education is what is worth pursuing

During a long time of teaching, from the perspective of someone working in a university environment, I think that the most beautiful and most worthy thing to pursue in education is the two words 'liberal'.

The challenge of liberal education

I have been questioned several times about the word “liberal education”, sometimes by people outside the education sector who are skeptical about its meaning, and sometimes by young colleagues who are eager to find something sacred in their professional mission. Liberal education focuses on the goal of nurturing students’ independent thinking, critical thinking, humanistic emotions, and lifelong learning capacity. This perspective leads to an educational practice that does not prioritize early vocational training but prioritizes the development of the capacity for a free person who can live a life of awareness, thinking, understanding, and acting with a spirit of self-enlightenment.

Happy education is the bridge that brings the spirit of liberation into the real life of students.

Photo: Ngoc Duong

Easier said than done. Practicing liberal education as both teacher and student is not easy.

For teachers, practicing liberal education is not just a method, but a "transformation" from the familiar image: the teacher is the omniscient transmitter, the one who holds absolute control in the classroom. Teaching in the spirit of liberalism means accepting to let go of the safety of textbook knowledge to venture with students into the land of questions that have no ready answers. Teachers do not automatically position themselves as the one who brings the light of knowledge to the classroom, but try to be the one who inspires, the one who opens, the one who accompanies, the one who awakens the potential of students. That role requires patience, humility and courage. It is the courage to say "I don't know" when students ask questions that go beyond the lesson plan. It is the courage to endure skeptical looks from colleagues, from parents, even from students themselves when they are not used to the freedom that comes with responsibility. It is the courage to accept that education cannot be measured by the yardstick of achievement. The results of enlightenment sometimes lie silently in the hearts of learners like seeds waiting to sprout in some bright future.

For learners, liberal education is a silent challenge, when they have to position themselves in a space without walls, without a transcript to guide them, without sample essays, without exam questions that are only limited to textbook knowledge. Learning in the spirit of liberalism is learning to live in freedom. But true freedom is not easy. Freedom means choice. Choice means responsibility. And responsibility is sometimes a burden that learners are not mentally prepared to bear. When there is no one to remind them to do their homework, when there are no more scores to motivate them, when there is no longer a predetermined model to follow, it is also the time when learners have to face themselves: Who am I learning for? What do I want to understand? Who am I in this class? The more difficult the question, the deeper the silence. And in that confusion, many people feel lost, skeptical, even choose to return to the old path, just follow the available model and receive the reward.

With enough sunshine, flowers will bloom. With enough patience and courage to embark on the journey of self-liberation, learners will have the opportunity to find themselves and learn to live with a system of values ​​they themselves create. Liberal education does not promise immediate results or a pre-planned future, but gives learners a more precious gift: maturity and leadership from within - a capacity that no one can take away from them later.

But then I myself also see that the liberal education argument faces many challenges in the modern learning society, where most people go to school first to find a job, to ensure a livelihood. The beautiful spirit of liberal education is not always effective enough to explain the lives of those who seek education as a path to livelihood.

Do teachers really look into a worried eye, listen to a clumsy question of a student? Education for happiness not only tries to lead learners to career opportunities, but also builds a solid character for them.

Photo: Dao Ngoc Thach

Happy education

Many people born into difficult circumstances choose to study not because they want to "understand who they are" but because they want to have a job tomorrow, have money to help their parents, and have a place in a fiercely competitive market.

In such circumstances, the ideal of liberal education is easily seen as a luxury. Critical thinking, lifelong learning, the ability to enlighten oneself, these concepts sometimes become too big a coat for students who only want to get enough points to graduate and have a job to live.

But is the spirit of liberal arts at odds with livelihood? Or is it simply that liberal arts education has not yet found a bridge to the hardships of life? Liberal arts education must become a matter of personal relevance, answering the simple yet powerful question of students: "After finishing school, how will I live?". We cannot continue to talk about "freedom of mind" vaguely when students are stuck between confusion and practical pressure. Liberal arts education needs to be redesigned to help students be nurtured in thinking and personality, and equipped with life skills, professional capacity and adaptability.

It is not about “trading the ideal,” but about making that ideal live in everyday life. Teach people to be free thinkers, but also teach them how to write a decent resume, how to read and understand a labor contract, how to negotiate in an interview, and how to maintain dignity in the marketplace. Teach them to question a stereotype, but also teach them how to create value to support themselves.

When students not only crave freedom but also need a steady livelihood; when teachers not only want to teach the right things but also hope that students will not be hurt in the vortex of practicality, the goal of "happy education" gradually appears as a new support. It is not happiness in ease or indulgence, but happiness associated with the feeling of being oneself, being recognized, and living in a decent educational environment, whether studying for a big dream or simply for a living.

Happiness education is the bridge that brings the spirit of liberation to land in the real life of students. Do teachers really look into the anxious eyes, listen to the awkward questions of students? Happiness education not only tries to lead students to career opportunities, but also builds a solid character for them. Happiness education not only teaches how to "get things done", but also always preserves and creates a space wide enough to help students keep a leisurely pace, feel safe, have the opportunity to correct mistakes and heal mental wounds.

And teachers too, need to live and work in a happy educational environment. Teachers and students are not turned into production tools, not forced to become "optimal versions of the labor market", but are nurtured to live decently, know who they are, what they need and what they deserve.

That is exactly what our country's education should aim for, must aim for if we also think about the goal of becoming a happy nation.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/giao-duc-hanh-phuc-moi-la-dieu-dang-theo-duoi-185250828155342709.htm