Hello,
And welcome to this guided meditation that will help you imagine a positive future.
As the world seemingly continues to grow darker around us,
We may begin to question whether a good future is even remotely possible.
A good future will always be a possibility,
As long as we have the courage to imagine it and the discipline to continue imagining it.
When humanity can collectively imagine a better future for itself,
It will manifest into reality.
In today's guided meditation,
We will imagine the schools of the future together.
I will give you my vision,
And I will insert a pause so that you can add to my vision or create your own.
At the end of the meditation,
I will invite you to share your own vision of the future of education.
Before we begin,
Close your eyes and take one deep breath in and out.
Deep breath in and out again.
Now breathe naturally as we start the meditation.
We're beginning with the old version of school,
And then we're going to remove each and every harmful,
Outdated aspect of the old version.
We're going to replace it with all the wonderful components of the new version.
Imagining the old versions of school could result in distress.
If you have a lot of negative memories attached to your schooling experiences,
You may want to opt out of this meditation.
Imagine that you're sitting in a plastic chair at your old high school,
Middle school,
Or elementary school.
Imagine that you're in the middle of taking a standardized test.
The teacher is stalking around the classroom.
She stops by your desk.
You can't breathe.
You can't focus.
After what feels like forever,
She moves on.
Your hands are sweating.
You can barely hold your pencil.
At this point in time,
You feel as though this test determines your entire future.
That's what everyone has told you,
So it must be true,
Right?
I want you to take this version of a memory that many of us have and wipe it away as though it's merely words or scribbles written on a whiteboard in a classroom.
Now you're left with a blissfully blank slate.
The walls of the classroom,
Your desk,
Your chair melt away.
You find yourself sitting in an outdoor rooftop garden.
You look around and realize that you're on top of a school building.
There are plants all around you.
You hear students happily chatting around you,
Doing various activities such as watering the plants,
Checking up on them,
Fertilizing them,
Teaching the younger students about them.
It's a calm,
Relaxed atmosphere,
Yet you immediately recognize that learning is still happening all around you.
The most important kind of learning,
How to feed oneself and each other and care for our precious home,
Planet Earth.
You think to yourself,
Yes,
This is what school was meant to be all along.
Not about high test scores or prestigious colleges and jobs,
But about living in harmony with the earth and with each other.
You smile and relate.
So what types of classes do you take in the school of the future?
Some of the subjects may be the same,
But the way they are taught and the content is different.
For instance,
Economics may heavily focus on negative externalities of capitalism and psychology focuses on the flawed ways of thinking that contributed to the climate crisis.
History focuses on the legacy of colonialism and industrialization and how they led human civilization astray.
Health wouldn't just be about STDs and eating your vegetables.
It would be about how your health and the health of the earth are deeply intertwined.
Literature would focus on environmental and anti-capitalist novels.
Physical education would note the environmental impact of different types of sports and ways of playing sports that are better for the planet.
Math would focus on modeling the past,
Present and future effects of greenhouse gases and conveying climate information in charts and graphs.
Biology wouldn't just involve learning abstract information about plants,
Animals and biomes,
But also about practical ways we can care for these things.
And there would be new classes as well,
Or reinstated classes of old that were phased out but never should have been,
Such as home economics and woodworking.
Classes that teach real life practical skills that you will use regardless of what career you have or even if you have a career because the economy of the future will not require you to work.
Without the burden and obligation of working,
Education would primarily be about expanding human consciousness rather than skills training for jobs.
In this new era,
Questions will be more important than answers.
Students will be encouraged to craft their own educational experiences with the guidance of their teachers and the fellowship of their peers.
School will not last as long,
But you will get much,
Much more out of it.
The exploratory vibe of school and life itself will be off the charts.
It will be normal to try new things and talk to new people.
School will be more about creating art and launching businesses than it will be about tests and grades,
Except for those few students who aspire to careers in the health or engineering fields.
And what will higher education look like then?
I'm glad you asked because that will be even more different.
There will only be colleges for law,
Medicine,
And engineering,
But little else.
Teachers will learn by teaching,
Programmers will learn by programming,
Writers will learn by writing,
Business people will learn by starting or joining businesses.
People will stack small micro-credentials on top of one another instead of opting for four-year degrees.
There will be communities of young people who gather together specifically to network and work on creative projects with help of mentors who are experienced and accomplished in their fields.
Communities may look a lot like college campuses,
But there will be no admissions,
Classes,
Tests,
Grades,
Or diplomas.
These communities will retain all the best aspects of the traditional college experience while eliminating practically all of the negatives.
Take a moment to evaluate how you feel hearing all of this.
Are you happy,
Excited,
Or are you perhaps a bit irritated that this vision does not match your own?
If that happens to be the case,
Take a moment to pause and ponder what your ideal future version of education would look like.
Can you see it?
It's okay if it doesn't look at all like mine.
In fact,
I'd prefer that it didn't because there's plenty of possible futures out there and there's a lot of danger that comes from one person defining something that's so nebulous.
It gives them far too much power.
So if you have the time and the energy,
Please tell me what your vision is.
Find my email in the meditation description.
You can also leave a review or perhaps even create your own meditation.
Imagine the future because our lives depend on it.
I hope you take this message to heart.
Thank you.
