'How to make education in school more practical?'

Good afternoon. …..And today I am going to reflect on such a question as how to make education in school more practical.

Let me begin my speech with a saying ‘Much education today is monumentally ineffective. All too often we are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them to grow their own plants.’ The author of this saying is John Gardner and I totally agree with him. I mean nowadays, the ultimate goal of educational system is to not stuff children with theoretical knowledge, but to introduce and popularize practice, cooperation and critical thinking.

Despite the fact that education in the USSR occupied a leading position, nowadays cramming and frontal work can give no results. Today, one person, even  the brainiest one, is nobody. A person should be able to communicate, to discuss and to cooperate. Unfortunately, school is associated with rivalry. On the one hand, it helps students to reach new heights and be competitive, on the other, however, rivalry has negative sides. It makes lagging pupils feel more depressed and unsuccessful. And it prevents high ability students from further intellectual and spiritual development. What is more, the system of traditional assessment is a system of producing children’s neuroses and mental breakdowns. The reason for this is that a child is not helped to develop inborn abilities and talents in school but is assessed and compared with others. School works with an average student and in this way equalizes everyone. As the result, school doesn’t help students to deal with each other, it teaches them to be egoists as well as cheaters in some way.

I think everyone here will agree that all people are different. And this difference is valuable, isn’t it? No one can be the best in everything. But when united, people can do impossible things, they can solve any problem. Let’s recall any plot of any action film for example. A small group of people has one common task. They can disgust, even hate, each other, however they understand that together they can overcome any difficulties and fulfil any task, that everyone in the team is a valuable element. One can be quick, another - witty, the third can be strong, and the forth can be sensitive.   So, the features and talents of each person in a team contribute to the success of a common task. What I mean is, Our life is full of problems and difficulties and the main aim of education is to make children be ready for them and teach to cope with them cooperatively. And I am totally convinced there is no use in doing it just in theories, children need practice and skills.

In other countries, practice occupies the head place.  Thus, studying is aimed at preparation for future life and assimilation of knowledge by means of practice.

So, what can be changed in our education to make it more practical? This is a key area of importance in the 21 century. We need to develop replicable educational model that supports young people in developing a sense of wholeness and of connection with self and others and in preparing them to live in a complex and changing world.

 In my view, a good way to make Russian education more practical is integral education. The essence of this way of studying is to teach students to work as a team, feel the necessity in each member of the team. From my point of view, integral studying helps to understand that nowadays collective attitude is more significant than individual opinion. This specifically develops and integrates the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual intelligences throughout the curriculum from pre-school to high school.

The primary school can be organized traditionally on the basis of age division. But we should add some extra-curricular activities to widen horizons and develop basic skills. We should introduce some games to develop cooperation and to prevent shyness.

There should be greater changes in secondary school. Students should be divided according to their interests and talents. Groups and classes should always be mixed. In this way, children will constantly feel the need for cooperation and team work.

Moreover, curriculum must be compiled for each student individually, it will allow students to develop skills, which they are interested in. So, these measures will raise students’ motivation and they will be ready to study.  More practical activities should be added like cooking or designing or handmaking or computing or role playing. There should be more projects and debates and lessons based on case study technology. Motivation should also be developed through creative problematic home tasks. There should be more social practices and volunteering which also contributes to the necessity of support and dependence on each other.

To my mind, another good way to make education more practical is to organize different master classes, meetings with representatives of various fields of work.  Students need to see the variety of their future possibilities and the appliances of their studying.

In order to make education more practical we must change our mind. In other words teachers and pupils must perceive education less formally.  
It would be better if teachers started to relate to students regardless of their academic achievements. However, nowadays marks define teacher's attitude. It would be great to assess the individual progress of a student or to put one mark for a group of people working together.  

To conclude, I want to say that our world requires a different kind of human being- one who can think, create, imagine, cooperate and act with flexibility and adaptability in this complex world. The main objective of education is to raise thoughtful, knowledgeable, compassionate global citizens and workers, in a nutshell, individuals who embody integral values.

 I’d like to finish my speech with a quotation by  Tarthang Tulku “Knowledge is not a matter for the head alone, but for the heart and spirit, the body and mind; it is an adventure for the whole of our human being’.