Do we want schools that teach children to obey rigid rules unquestionably and reproduce knowledge uncritically? When there is a public outcry for a “back to the basics” approach, isn’t this what is being demanded? Now ask the question: do you want your children to simply “fit in” to the world as it is? Then there is another movement toward greater flexibility in schools - to prepare children to adapt to an ever-changing world. Yet, ask yourself the question: do you want your children to simply adjust to the world as it evolves?
Instead of fitting in or adapting, what about transforming? A mentor and good friend of mine, Fernanda Liberali, recently gave a very moving lecture on education for transformation. During her lecture I was reminded of a impactful quote by Martin Luther King in which he warns us of the perils of fitting into or adjusting to the world around us. I think it provides a lot of food for thought:
“There are some things in our social system that I’m proud to be maladjusted to, and I cal upon you to be maladjusted to. I never intend to adjust myself to the viciousness of lynch mobs; I never intend to become adjusted to the evils of segregation and discrimination; I never intend to become adjusted to the tragic inequalities of the economic system which will take necessity from the masses to give luxury to the classes; I never intend to become adjusted to the insanity’s of militarism, the self-defeating method of physical violence. There are some things that I never intend to become adjusted to, and I call upon you to continue to be maladjusted (Martin Luther King).”
Image Source: MLK by Derek Russell
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