< Más Articulos : From Education to Execution (Times of Israel - Nov 4 2024)
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From Education to Execution (Times of Israel - Nov 4 2024)
Abraham Lincoln said, "The philosophy of the classroom in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next." The more I ponder this quote, the more I see its truth. Who else but the young people preparing academically today in various disciplines will be those in charge tomorrow? They will be the ones leading the three branches of government, the military, municipalities, local councils, media, academia, guilds, unions, banking, industry, commerce and agriculture. In short, all the sectors that drive a country.
What is taught today, both inside and outside the classroom, in schools and universities, establishes the conceptual, ideological, and functional foundations for how this generation's youth will address and manage social, economic, and political issues. If we take the time to analyze and understand what is taught in classrooms and how young people are assimilating it, we can practically predict what things will be like in 20, 30, or 40 years. If others have understood this before us, they may have already prepared their master plan to indoctrinate youth with the ideas and beliefs they consider best. These may align with our own beliefs and make us comfortable, or they may be completely opposed.
Thus, if we capture what is happening well, we inevitably capture what the medium-term future will look like. If it pleases us and we agree with what we see, we can feel proud of being part of a generation that is passing the right torch to the next.
Did you know that every 120 years, none of those who once lived are still here, and all of humanity is completely renewed? Yet humanity as a collective entity continues to live. Through our descendants, we too remain alive. One never loses their responsibility for humanity’s direction; we were there, we lived, we were part of it. The question is: Were we participants in guiding it toward well-being and prosperity for everyone, in every sense?
Despite this task sometimes seeming daunting, and despite sometimes feeling that the entire institutional apparatus of the country where we live seems to go in the opposite direction, we are not alone. More often than not, family and community support us, and ideological alignment is strong. Archimedes said, "Give me a place to stand, and I will move the earth." They are your support.
Organize, get involved, find out what your children, nieces and nephews, and the youth in your community are learning. Who are their friends in school and university, and do their families share your values and principles? Who are the teachers and administrative authorities? What is their ideology? Who provides the study materials and determines the curriculum? By now, we should all agree that the kind of education this generation receives will predict what happens in the world in the coming years.
If we knew for sure, in writing and with a signed statement, what purpose humanity was created for, it would certainly be easier to evaluate which actions to take. All we can do is trust our instincts and common sense to ensure that each person is better off. We start with ourselves, our family, and our community, yet the responsibility is universal. Some formulas work, others have already failed, and some have yet to emerge. We are responsible, at the very least, for leaving a generation better than ours, who in turn, will leave a better one after them, and so on.
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Note: The author originally published this article in Spanish in Prensa Libre, Guatemala, on May 11th, 2024. Given the crucial role of education in shaping a country's future—and in light of recent mass antisemitic protests across universities in the U.S. and abroad—the piece has taken on heightened significance, therefore now being published in English in TOI for a broader audience.https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/from-education-to-execution/
( Por: Yehudi Sabbagh , 04/11/2024 )
