To live life fully!
Education, as affirmed by the International Commission on Education, aims at the “complete fulfillment” of the human person. This is the reason why we continue to educate, to give our youth the possibility to live life fully.
But does our present educational system ensure a fuller and richer life for all graduates? Have our educational experts ever considered this aim in order to focus all educational efforts towards its achievement?
Remarkable steps have already been made, and in fact, in 2011, our country assisted in the launching of the K to 12 program. Its primary aim is to provide students an education that offers greater possibilities in career choices and better preparation for the future, as well as allow our youth to gain a competitive edge in terms of job opportunities here and abroad.
But not everybody is positive about this. In fact, various sectors are calling for the suspension of the program, claiming that the new system is “insufficient preparation for life after school.” Promoting the cause of “life after school” is to consider the formation of the whole person, including their physical, social, and cultural needs.
Although these are being considered in the whole educational system, and other new educational initiatives are also being introduced, they all seem unable to equip our youth to face the challenges of life in this global culture.
Are we missing the point? One essential thing should be done: educational institutions should adapt to the changing needs of students, instead of the students adapting to them.
Thomas Masters, PhD., engaged with a variety of educational reforms through the Focolare Movement’s Education in Unity, pointed out that there is an educational initiative that is responsive… and capable of enriching the life of the students: the need to recognize that all learners bring to their learning, varying experiences, abilities, talents, and prior learning… culture, and family and community values that are assets that can be used to promote their learning, and therefore their well-being.
All these should be taken seriously at every level of education to contribute to achieving the person’s lifelong task of becoming fully human, and thus allowing one to experience complete fulfillment in life.
But, is this educational vision at arriving to become fully human possible, or is too far from reality—a utopia? A “utopian” element in education is actually not entirely new. Rather, it is an integral part of the educational vision.
As Chiara Lubich asserted in her address to the Catholic University of America in November 10, 2000: “Every authentic educational approach includes a utopian thrust, that is, a guiding principle that stimulates people to build together a world which is not yet a reality, but ought to be. In this perspective, education can be viewed as a means to draw nearer to this utopian goal.”
We hope that in the near future, we will witness the fruits of our collective effort to realize the aim of education, enriched by our shared vision in life.
