To Know Or Not To Know ?

 

Stallie got KO by a virus and that little bastard colored up my life in the rather disgusting sense of the word. My tissue- content is still the proof of that and I am quite sure that it will take a while before I am fully back into my normal beloved Stallie mode.  For the moment I am best friends with my pillow, Mickey Mouse duvet (Disney fan!) and my meds. Those last once I hate to take but they are the only weapons that I am granted by my GP to face the enemy.  And of course sleep... Sleepy head could be my second name for the moment.

 Of course I have tried to keep up with the news and while I was out it seems that the world close by has been quite busy....  Turns out that the future teaching force of my nation has got a gigantic problem. Not that I do consider it a real surprise. Having been a special needs teacher for over a decade I have been fully aware of how general knowledge is lately treated.  'I can look that up on Google'-attitude is a fact.  I have always been a bit the odd one out when it came down to finding out facts. My brain is triggered when I read a newspaper and I do not settle only with only a few paragraphs. I am the one who wants to find out more and then I also use Google but that is only step one in a very long process.  Not only when I read the newspaper I can happen to me at any time, any place and in any company. 

To give you an idea what all the havoc and outrage is about around here: About 1000 future teachers had to fill out 92 general knowledge questions and turns out that:

-85 % does not know that Herman Van Rompuy is the chairman of the European council.
-Over 60 % can not name certain countries of the EU on a map. 
-30 % wonders who Kris Peeters is. (The Flemish Minister-President)
-25 % thinks that the PS is part of the Flemish government. (PS is the socialist party of the French speaking part of this tiny nation, so in a way this is a mission impossible)
-30 % can't point out the USA on a blind map.
-20 % can't name  a picture of Nelson Mandela.
-45 % is not aware of the what the word 'inflation' means
  

Oh my dear, where the first words I did think of when I read those and then I did grab for my cold medicine once more. Then did rather not so flattering but so well known words about teachers in general come to my mind: 'Those who can, do,those who can't, teach."   Very well known words and used by many out there.  Woody Allen did even take that one even a step further by saying out loud:"Those who can't do teach. Those who can't teach, teach gym."  I guess that Woody never was good friends with his gym teachers but still...

I do worry about these figures. Yes, I filled out the test myself because I suddenly started to worry about my own general knowledge.   Do you even wonder about your general knowledge?  Let us be honest what can you buy with knowing some general facts about history, geography, politics and some general idioms that we all are suppose to know? 

I have spend over a decade in a special needs classroom where general knowledge is consiered a gigantic challenge. My teaching audience was even not considered to know many facts about life.  These were kids that had already trouble enough to tackle many tasks that we do take for granted. I did then find out that even tough they are not suppose to know much extra knowledge some of them wish to know who Obama is, where Palestina is located, why the price of oil price goes up and down constantly, why some people fled Afghanistan,  who won an Oscar and much more...

Suddenly I felt responsible when these same pupils had questions about the world they were trying to function in. These children did not have the same posibilities in order to find things out about general knowledge. Okay some had parents who must have been aware of some basic facts and figures but many of them do not have the time to talk with their children on their level about these things. Yes, I was one of these teachers who did take the time in her class room to let pupils think about general knowledge.  

I can't tell you what the effect of these lesson moments are... As a teacher you never 100% know where your influence ends. It might already be at the end of the day.  The thing is that I was (still am) very convinced that you as a teacher need general knowledge in order to manage a classroom.  How to obtain that knowledge?

Well, this is the tricky part.  Why? Because very sorry to break the news to you but this is one you won't be able to cover with a course. It is more like an attitude thing. Yes, I had parents who made me get into some insane sounding facts and we discussed those during dinner time (headaches were very common at our house when you were a table guest) and my sibblings and I were pushed on that part to care about this. But also some memorable teachers, college and university professors triggered this part of my brain. Yes I cursed at having to keep up with my subscription on Newsweek, Time or the Economist.  I wondered why I had to learn to  fill out American tax papers if I was moving back to my home country soon and I never got it why I had to learn boat-related vocabulary while reading 'The Old Man&The Sea' if I did not plan to take a sailing course. Yes, I questioned these people more then once because where did they have the right to tell me this was useful knowledge. 

We have general knowledge at our hands everywhere we go.  In a way humans designed machines to make this knowledge more accesible to all of us.The average human living in the European nation does not have a single excuse to say that he or she has got can not get  to general knowledge. To give you an idea:many Southern American libraries are mostly still privately owned and do you need to pay higher fees to get access to books.  That does make it a bit harder for the average Argentinian or Mexican to find out who Mandela or who Herman Van Rompuy are, don't you think?  And how many of us do have got a Smart-phone? That thing is designed not only to have hour long phone calls with your mother or best friend.  I do hope that you are aware of this!  There are also free newspapers  (not that these are high quality ones but still it is a good start) and once you get on the internet you can dive into the knowledge pool and go wild.

It is not easy to teach the 21st century generation.  But teaching we all do and most of the teaching force are sentenced to be Life Long Learners. In every profession many of us are told more then once that what you do know now won't be good enough to keep the job you get hired for at this present moment. You will need to be on top of things constantly. My other significant one does sometimes wonder why I do care so much about details. But what he considers a detail I don't.  My mind has been triggered and I wish to find out more, stretch my brain and keep it fit. Do I need it in order to be a better teaching assistant, partner, mother, friend, Belgian, European, global citizen or human being?
Well, I don't know... Honestly I don't know. I can only tell you what I do know what kind of effect general knowledge has on my well being. I feel more alive and kicking because I do care about my own and personal general knowledge.

 So yes, in a way I am a bit worried about the present mind-state of future teachers in this nation. They are the ones that will enter the lives of many young people whose mind canvas is still partly blank.  You might consider yourself only responsible for a certain subject but I do think that you as a teacher have to be aware constantly that you are just one color and that if you want to make sure that your pupils open up their minds and create mind blowing art that you have to open once in a while the window of your classroom and also think about what you try to teach them. Before you know there will be questions and chances are likely that the answers are not to be found in your five star and fantastically illustrated course book. 

What I perhaps try to say is that I do think it are not only the future teachers of this nation who have a gap in their general knowledge... I am more likely to say that many around us to not nuture that part of our brain that well. There is less time and many things have changed or are still in the process of changing.  I am somtimes amazed what my 8 year old son already has to manage on the math front that I wonder if he even is granted the time to breath or question his teacher.  A human being who has to make sure she gets her lesson plan covered by the time the bell rings for recess and have I already mentioned the paper work that she has to fill out for assessment and ordering chalk or print paper?

In a way we can now all start to blame the future teachers that they are not going to do a proper job but general knowledge is also our own responsibility.  You might have the impression that you are living in a society where the individual needs and greed are wide spread. You might even feel so self assured about your own knowledge that once whe you graduate you can walk into a interview room and demand a company car,  extra benefits, a more then decent pay check and this all because you are on paper for sure the specialist they after. Well, take a good look around you, you are not alone out there and that piece of paper you obtained by passing exams is just a tiny part of being a global citizen.

This is not easy and you need to learn this step by step. In all of this you need teachers and many relationships with many different kind of people. So to speak you are pupil and teacher at the same time. The ones with the teaching certificate are mainly temporary guides who hope that one day you can figure out a few facts about how to keep the fire going strong in your brain.   

To end perhaps this little brain exercise.  These are three education related quotes and I do think that these have to do with general knowledge. You might know the people who said them out loud quite well. They all have been in the media the last 5 years.  In my honest and personal opinion I do consider me a responsible teacher if I have stayed true to these three.  Any chance you can match up the next quotes with their owners: A. Martin Luther King (lawyer/civil right activist)   B. "Mopsy" allias Lord Alan Sugar (Apprentice-show master/Captain of Industry ) C. John Donne (poet, priest, lawyer)

1."No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main." 

2."The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education."

 3."I did a degree in first aid, I didn’t enjoy doing mouth to mouth resuscitation, but I have to do it when it’s needed to be done." 

And then I honestly hope that the following conversation that I came across during the "Apprentice" was for sure part of a script. Because I do wonder if Tom was aware that Nick was being sarcastic?

"Tom: "Didn't Christopher Columbus discover the potato?"

Helen: "Yes he did."

Nick Hewer: "Columbus, he's British?" (sarcastically)
Tom: "You're kidding."3

(quotes of The Apprentice, season 11)

The music to go along with this entry is for sure a great brushing up of your general knowledge content. Enjoy!