Staff Rooms as a cognitive Womb
I am not bothered about how these spaces were functioning so far. I am prognosticating on how staff rooms could turn into great building blocks to strengthen the perception of future school education. A normal school going kid believes that there are different subjects and each subject taught by different teachers and each teacher has their own theories of understanding of what their subject is all about. Of course, they are successful in sending those children out of the school with good grades, but simultaneously throwing them into a web of puzzles like, where can I apply my learnings? How do I choose my career? Where am I good at?. Etc.
In my standpoint, schools are learning spaces where a child acquires the basic essence of the world of art and science. It is a place where they learn how to see the world around them by understanding its past and its basic principles. But the big question posing to all the educators is that are we realizing the intrinsic philosophy of schooling? Are we acquainted with the socioeconomic liability of producing world-class human resources? To its south, the global industrial needs are augmenting with the advancement of technological developments, and the perennial social concerns are still crying for attention. Under these circumstances how are we going to be equipped to tackle these challenges?
I believe that the solution for this situation should be in basic perceptual patterns of teachers pertaining to staff rooms. Preliminary task of teachers to overthrow the fallacy notion of prokaryote nature of seeing subjects as isolated books with different authors and objectives. They should take a minute and think to bring a paradigm shift in the understanding of intrinsic connection among the textual concepts of domains of art and science. Imbibing this understanding is critically important as the global market is looking for students who are skillful in cross domain and interdisciplinary knowledge. This is not a new idea to the world, all the ancient scholars and intellectuals were polymaths, right from Socrates to Steve job every change maker is good in cross domain knowledge. This paradigm shift in making a singularity of subjects lies on the shoulders of architectures of the future. All Teachers irrespective of their core subject they should cultivate the habit of connecting the dots between concepts of art and science or among sciences.
“Study the science of art. Study the art of science. Develop your senses — especially learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else.”
— Leonardo Da Vinci
Yet, this is possible only when we retrospect frequently, as teachers are also part of contemporary social changes, so quite oftenly they should reflect on their work cultures. Unfortunately so many impotent Staff rooms are still like lairs filled with shallow workers who cookup sorrows on number of substitutions or on the unpleasant appraisal percentage. Since it is an information economy, the ubiquitous access to the world of the net also leaving some teachers to swim in unwanted information led to prophesying future world politics or entertainment, which is truly unworthy of time .
It is time to cultivate the ability of deep work by concentrating without distraction as the ability to focus is considered a crucial occupational skill, deep work is becoming key currency. At the culmination of my narration I would like to emphasise on the role being a techno optimistic, where all educators amalgamate the technology and deep work to give birth to modern polymaths where children rescue themselves from the web of puzzles of their future.
