Introduction
Greetings to all the readers. This monthly article will take us into the great educational theme and how it can coexist without stifling personal potential. This brief introduction shows us, how these two tracks can become a problem if not properly calibrated. We will also discover how education is a fascinating circular process, which only appears to have a beginning and an end.
Analysis
When we talk about education, we are not only referring to the child, as one might naturally think, but to any person. This is simply because each of us is part of a network of relationships which, on the basis of specific rules, are created and carried out.
The aim of this network is to seek the encounter between a person’s individuality and the rules that society lays down. The existence of these two worlds, sometimes totally different and sometimes less so, can create problems. These can be accentuated whenever the vital energy of the individual does not find adequate space for development within society, and vice versa when society becomes too suffocating for it.
In addition to these two systems (that of the social rules and that of the specific personality of each one of us), we add another extremely important factor, “that is, the educator”, which is fundamental to mediate the encounter of the first two by intervening directly on the person. The educator transmits precise beliefs, and uses them to teach how to approach society/life. We can use following visual explanatory metaphor relating to education: the one who is being educated can be seen as a sponge absorbing everything, and thereby learning and deeply incorporating, what the educator proposes (consciously or subconsciously).
Based on these few lines, we become aware, that the arduous task of the educator (parent, teacher,etc….) becomes that of someone who needs:
to develop an intense awareness of what they are educating. A low awareness corresponds to not having a clear idea, of what is really being taught. On the contrary, with a greater awareness, you will obtain a far greater effectiveness, both in the communication transmitted and in the result being obtained.
To make the person express himself or herself in his or her naturalness, without hindering his or her progress and grasping his or her potential. This point tells us how much each one of us has enormous capacities ready to be developed and strengthened. Being able to grasp them, in their authenticity, will lead to the development of a person who is highly integrated and focused on achieving what he or she really feels is fundamental.
Create healthy boundaries that allow individual potentials to exist in harmony with the outside world. The lack of them will lead to an explosiveness of potentials in a dysfunctional way towards the outside world, without them being properly integrated with the environment.
We exist in an environment of life, and we must consider it as a frame of reference in which to move. Equally true is, that the failure to take into account the needs and potentials of the person will lead him/her to an implosion, without having the opportunity to find his/her own space. Breaking these balances (the unhealthy expressiveness of both the person and society) will generate possible explosions or implosions of anger in these two systems.
Conclusion
We see education as a game in which three parties participate: the individual (child), a mediator (parent) and society.
Until the child matures properly and then takes proper responsibility for managing his or her individuality in the relationship with society, the parent will carry out the task of:
filter the child’s language (i.e. his or her personality) properly and as close as possible to the original.
translate the language of society so that there can be a healthy encounter with the world of the child
The parent will have an important task regarding the need to continuously put himself in play so that his mental schemes/beliefs do not become a dysfunctional element in the overall educational process. Just as a child is constantly learning and learning, so too a parent/educator acquires new ways and/or modifies his or her own dysfunctionality so that his or her work becomes as effective and efficient as possible.
We deduce from everything that the educational process is something that we provide and at the same time we receive, we educate and are being educated. There is no univocal and unidirectional beginning of teaching, but rather a continuation and learning at the same time as teaching.