people's stories on edu from Haiku to child labor
collaboration entrepreneur
www.omidyar.net/group/transition/news/63/18/">question</a> how do I
look around the closing onet community of 20000 humanitarians for
those whose stories on edu I most trust or simply would love to see
people explore further with Q&A
I think this question generalises to any community. If you play with
that idea and find that it does, do bring us an example of a person
with a story that helps us explore education. (Even better ask the
person to join this community)
collaboration entrepreneur
HAIKU -guide - Paul Conneally
http://www.omidyar.net/user/u586 072869/news/16/ what could we have
learnt if we'd Q&A'd Paul Conneally's love of haiku
New Edition of World Haiku Review now PublishedPosted to:
The new edition of the World Haiku Review is now out. I've put
together the Collaborative Verse section and the marlene mountain
section. They can be found here: collaborative verse http://www.worldhaikureview.org/
5-1/whccollaborativeverse.shtml
It seems that this max 17 word poetry format from Japan has become a
worldwide cross-cultural game aimed at discovering personal meaning-
here are some quotes from an amazing talk at one of the world haiku
congresses held in Romania http://www.worldhaikureview.org/ 5-1/
whf2005/whf2005_takiguchi.ht m
...What is education? In a sense it is as serious an act for one human
being to educate another as for one human being, say, to judge
another. Both affect the other person fundamentally and almost
forever. Nowadays, education means mainly the process of teaching at
schools and through the university system. In olden times, education
seems to have had two aspects in the original terminology. One was,
according to its Latin meaning, to bring up, rear, foster or train
(educare), like bringing up a child or training an apprentice, in
other words a much broader sense. And the other was to lead out, or,
as in a modern English word, educe, to bring out, elicit or evoke
(educere), like "all things were educed from the ancient slime" (OED),
namely to help people to realise themselves with their innate talents
and qualities extracted. Both are derivatives from the Latin ducere,
meaning to lead. These two aspects are very instructive when we think
of the main theme of this year's World Haiku Festival: "Haiku and
Education."
...I happen to believe that haiku, or something like a primordial
sensibility for haiku, is actually in every one of us, regardless of
race, culture, language or religion. Put another way, if we compare
haiku to cooking, its ingredients are to be found in every one of us.
We only have to cook it. And like food, every haiku tastes different,
unless, that is, one gets it from McDonald's. You, as haiku poets from
various countries, are living testimonies to this. The question, then,
is how to extract haiku from within ourselves, and this question
relates to the second aspect of education as applied to haiku
haiku has played a useful role in education in various ways. The
evidence is abundant. It ranges from school curricula that make the
teaching of haiku to children compulsory to cases where haiku is used
for an educational programme in prisons. Haiku in education has been
one of the most important policy areas of the World Haiku Club since
the club's inception in 1998. In the first World Haiku Festival back
in 2000 in London and Oxford, a special seminar was organised that was
exclusively devoted to this theme. Our members are disseminating haiku
among children across the world through school systems or by holding
workshops, ginko or kukai all the time. Children are natural haiku
poets even before they know anything about it.
There are many interesting things to discuss under the theme of "Haiku
and Education." However, today I would like to try to examine with you
what I believe to be one of the ultimate aims of education as applied
to haiku. This particular aim of education is to provide each person
with ways in which he or she can try to reach truths. Science provides
ways in which to explore scientific truths through experiments.
Philosophy provides philosophical truths through contemplation. Arts -
artistic truths through pictorial or musical language. What, then,
does haiku provide? I believe that haiku provides ways in which we can
explore what I call poetic truths, or truths found and expressed in
the haiku language. Here I am talking about what Basho was seeking
both in his writing and teaching of haikai-no-renga and hokku, namely,
fuga no makoto, or poetic truths. One of Basho's disciples, Hattori
Dohoh, went so far as to say that haikai became capable of reaching
truths for the first time with Basho because his haikai was not that
of the old but haikai of makoto, namely truths.*
I am sure you will agree with me when I say that haiku opens up for us
a very different way of looking at things around us. You probably can
never forget the first time when a haiku poem hit you and suddenly you
were experiencing something totally new and different. Perhaps you
remember that particular haiku by heart. As you walked along the haiku
path since then and were consciously or unconsciously acquiring a
different outlook from your usual views, haiku must have changed you
permanently even in the subtlest way. The world, it seems, would not
be the same again. You would not see nazuna (a shepherd's purse) or a
spider in the same way again. You would not feel the same again when
you get wet with spring rain or hit by hail. You would not look up at
the sky in the same way again, as you would become more conscious of
the moon or the Milky Way all the time. You would not pass narcissi by
without trying to find if they were bent by the first snow.
Thus haiku can teach children or any other learners a totally new way
of looking at the world around us. If they are deeply moved by what
they see, it is likely that they have hit some haiku gold mine. And if
they can put such poetic experience in a few right haiku words, then
they will probably achieve fuga no makoto, or poetic truths.
collaboration entrepreneur
http://www.omidyar.net/user/u686 114690/news/8/
Eric Wanjamah (thank you all)
Child labor is one of the major problems facing young children in
their quest for education in South Sudan. In Kiech kuon for example,
so many children of school going age spend most of their time at home
undertaking household chores.Worth noting is that girls are mostly the
victims; they wash, cook, clean and have no time to go to school.
However, even boys are affected and spend most of their time looking
after cattle. In an area that is underdeveloped, education does not
make a lot of sense for the locals. Any meaningful approach to
education development must address impediments of education. Unless we
root out child labor, then any education campaign will not be
thorough. Community awareness is a key focal point for such a
campaign; parents need to be educated on the value of education if at
all they are to embrace it. Most African countries are facing this
problem despite being signatories to the United Nations Convection on
the Rights of children (UNCRC). The population in South Sudan has not
seen the fruits of Education per se; this explains why they value
their herds of cattle more than education of their children. It is
generally a matter of what places food on the table. There are no role
models, people who have succeeded because of their educational levels;
there is no major source of motivation. Great needs of efforts aimed
at eradicating the problem are definitely required. One of the ways we
can address the issue is by providing role models to both parents and
children. During our internship in kiech kuon, most parents envied our
achievements and desired their children to be like us when they grow
up. We would discuss with the children what they wanted to be and
amazingly most wanted to be teachers and health workers, exactly what
we were doing in K-kuon. It is good to note that enrolment in school
increased during our stay in K-kuon, it took us persuasion in
community meetings to advocate for more children in school. Perhaps we
can say that development will take care of the problem but what about
countries that are relatively developed and yet experience the same
problem? I invite contributions on how best the issue can be tackled.
.