KYTHING HEART-Istry in Education

7/27/2019 KYTHING HEART-Istry in Education

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KYTHING:HEART-istry in Education

A Perspective onRethinking the Purpose and Meaning of Education

Presented at One Nation LearningNational Education for LifeConference

Baguio Teachers CampJuly 25-29, 2010

FATHER RODERICK C. SALAZAR JR., SVD

Regional Secretary for AsiaOffice International de lEnseignment Catholique (OIEC)

Executive SecretaryOffice of Education and Faith Formation (OEFF)

of the Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences (FABC)

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I thank Henry Tenedero, our Conference

Director, for the invitation to join you, a dynamic group of educators, in this gathering

called ONE NATION LEARNING, a National Educating for LifeConference.

As we all know, today, President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III will be delivering his first

State of the Nation address. What I have for you is no such SONA. But, given our

own knowledge ofSONE ( State of National Education), I will share certain ideas for

us to mull over as together we re-think the purpose and meaning of education. And I

hope that in this our conference we shall find not that our collective educational coffers

are empty or near-empty as, it has been leaked, our national treasury is which

some people say would be one of the things P-Noys first SONA would be mentioning.

Rather, I hope that despite our problems and inadequacies, we truly believe and are one

with the whole thrust of our conference: that we are not giving up on ourselves and our

educational system; that indeed between despair and hope, EDUCATION, for us, is

still the greater equalizer.


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For a start, let me offer to you three little cartoon messages. The first is from

yesterdays comics section of Hagar the Horrible (who, as some of you might know, is a

Viking character). The second is also a Hagar presentation from an older time, and the

third is from an undated presentation of Peanuts, featuring Lucy and Charlie Brown.

First, Hagar the Horrible. The comics has a white-bearded professor in an academic

toga wearing a mortar-board cap, standing on a pedestal pontificating thus: I know a

lot of people think:Do we really need philosophers ? Well, I can be very philosophical

about this Ive devoted my life to discovering the basic purpose of life! Ive studied at

prestigious universities and examined the writing of famous scholars the world over!

(and Hagar the Horrible has come with two others, the court jester and a court page,

to listen to the academician. The professor continues:Ive consulted with

philosophers, theologians, doctors, lawyers, politicians, and other learned people!! All

my research has led me to this conclusion And his three listeners are eagerly

asking in unison, What is it, Professor? What is it? And the learned answer from the

professor on his pedestal with mortar board cap on his head and an academic toga

around him is simply, Everday, live it up a little.

Heres the second cartoon. Hagar again, and the court jester. This time, they are

climbing mountain after mountain after mountain. Their goal? To seek out the worlds

guru sitting and meditating on top of the highest mountain of the world, and to ask him

about life. They reach the man, and they ask, panting, O great guru, we have

traveled far and wide in search of the meaning of life? You have meditated long and

hard on it. Pray, tell us, what is life? Life? responds the guru. LIFE is a

magazine full of beautiful pictures and articles. And the two life-seekers who were

expecting a much more profound answer than this, look at each other dumb-founded

and ask, You meanto say that we traveled this far only to get this kind of answer?

And the great guru shrugs his shoulders and says, Well, thats LIFE!


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Enter now Peanuts. Lucy is telling Charlie Brown, Life is like a deck chair.

Like awhat? asks Charlie Brown. Like a deck chair,answers Lucy, Some people put

their deck chair at the front of the ship so they can see where they are going.

Some people put their deck chair at the rear of the ship so they can see where they

have been. On the cruise ship of life, Charlie Brown, which way is your deck chair

facing? And poor Charlie Brown, ever the loser, ever the odd person out, says,

Oh, I havent figured out how to get my deck chair unfolded.

As we gather to consider the purpose and meaning of education, where is our deck chair

facing the front or the back? How do we fit our understanding of the purpose and

meaning of education with our understanding of the purpose and meaning of life?

What is LIFE for us, a magazine with beautiful pictures or something else? Havinggone through many years of study in various fields, what is our conclusion about

education? Do we also conclude that in the end, we all really just need to live it up a

little everyday?

Let us consider who we are and where we are. Some of us are visionaries,

revolutionaries and creative thinkers and our deck chairs in the cruise ship of education

and life are facing forward. Some of us have our chairs facing the rear. For we are

traditionalists and seguristas and because we love and honor Rizal, we keep on looking

back because we believe with our hero that kung hindi tayo marunong lumingon sa

ating pinanggalingan hindi tayo makararating sa ating paroroonan.

On the other hand, some of us do follow Rizal but ask, hanggang ganoon na lang ba

tayo, puro lingon sa likod at sa nakaraan? Iyon nga ba kaya ang ibig sabihin ni Rizal,

that not only should we look back to where we had started from but we must keep our

deck chairs permanently facing the rear? And some of us, unfortunately, are like

Charlie Brown himself. It is the 21st century but we still have not really figured out not

just where our deck chairs should face but how to unfold our chairs in the first place.


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But this is the reality of our situation. We are in different places traveling at different

paces. And some of us dont know where to go, not because we do not really want to

move but we want to be sure of our direction. We hear people say that a journey of a

hundred miles begins with the first step.

But we also believe that the right direction is more important than even the first step.

So some of us are stuck, even if we also learn that not to move forward is actually to

move backward.

To rethink the purpose and meaning of education, we need to look into ourselves and

see what we believe. Then we compare our knowledge and beliefs with what others

are thinking.

Let us start with our very theme in this conference. The words in our brochures and

invitations and tarpaulins invite reflection. ONE NATION LEARNING is the title of our

gathering. Do we believe in that one-ness of our nation? Do we accept that one

united nation, our country the Philippines, is and should be learning together, as one?

What do we think of that learning? What is learning? How do we learn? What do we

learn? When do we learn? The philosopher Martin Heidegger once defined teaching

rather simply as to let learn. We understand the implications. Teaching is not the

pouring out of our knowledge into the brains of our students, but more our facilitating

the students learning. The e-ducere Latin root of the word education is more and

more being emphasized, meaning the process of leading out the potential in our

students. That, of course, still presupposes a sharing from the teachers part, a

pouring out, if you will, a training, an e-ducare, but it is not all of education. The

recognition of the innate abilities and varied abilities at that -- the multiple intelligences,

as is our catch word these days -- of our students is meant to lead us to adjust our

teaching styles and methods.


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The catchword in the subtitle of our conference is educating for life. Ours is a

National educating for lifeConference. We are affirming that education is education

not for the test not the quiz or periodical test, not the midterm and final, not the

licensure examination. We stand for the principle that though there are tests which are

needed for us to assess progress, and to award diplomas and degrees , the central point

of education is for the student to know and to use that knowledge to know how to live.

Education is for life and not for the degree .

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), we

remember, released in 1996, in anticipation of and preparation for the Twenty-first

century, the work of an international commission on education titled LEARNING: The

Treasure Within. Chairman Jacques Delors explained that the title was inspired by thefable of La Fontaine called The Ploughman and his Children. That fable had a

ploughman, a farmer, tell his children as he lay dying, that there was treasure in his

field. After his death, his children dug up the land in search of the treasure but found

nothing. One of the children, though frustrated too, saw that in their search for the

treasure, he and his siblings had practically plowed their fathers field. Smartly, he

planted seed in the already-plowed land. When the harvest came, he realized what

their father had meant by saying that there was treasure in the field. It was not ready

treasure to be just dug up and found. It was treasure to first be sowed and planted,

cared for and nourished, and only then found the fruit of ones labors.

Shifting to education, Delors and his team said that Learning is the treasure within.

They pointed to what they called the Four Pillars of Education: Learning to know,

Learning to do, Learning to live together with others, and finally, Learning to

Be. In the process of putting together the book, they first used the phrase life-long

learning by which they meant that learning should continue for the length of one s life.

They realized, however, that the phrase could be interpreted to mean not only that what

one learns should last for ones lifetime but also that one could stop learning new things.

Anyway, what one learned in ones early years one could use for ones whole life. So

they changed the phrase from life-long learning to learning throughout life. Here

is a subtle difference, we must note. The new term means that learning should be a


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process that must continue for as long as one lives. It means retaining what one learned

in ones early years, but it further means learning ever new things as well as unlearning

bad things of the past.

When we re-think the meaning and purpose of education, are we rethinking in this

direction?

But even this work of UNESCO though projected for the twenty-first century in which we

now live, was published in 1996, 14 years ago. Are the thoughts still relevant? That is

up to us to determine. Some good things last. But some other good things, Barbra

Streisand sang, never last. How is it with the Four Pillars of Learning?

We can place our deck chairs facing the rear, we can also make them face the sides and

the front. Let us try the sides, here around us, in our country. As you know, for

some of you may be part of it, there is a group that has already been thinking about the

meaning and purpose of Philippine education. They are a group called Education

Nation. This group affirms the four pillars of learning that we have just mentioned,

but adds a few more things relevant to our country. On May 18, 2009, at the University

of the Philippines, they released this statement:

WE ARE EDUCATION NATION !

Affirming that education is the most powerful means out of poverty, ignorance,exclusion and war;Believing that every Filipino must have access to quality education an educationfounded on the four pillars of learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together,and learning to be;Recognizing that the Philippine Education Systems cannot be left to government alone,as it takes a village to raise a child;Understanding that education reform, though an urgent need since the 1970s, has failed

to deliver the desired and sustained learning objectives as reform efforts have largelybeen project-ized and crisis-reform-driven; andUnderstanding further that politics has often been the bane of education reform, aspolitical considerations have poisoned education polices and decisions time and timeagain;


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We have banded together to form Education Nation.

For we believe that:

The Philippines must become an Education Nation

where every Filipino demands quality education for all, where a systems of education ensures our countrys global competitiveness, and where every election makes education a priority agenda.

Our government must become an education government

that makes education the national priority and key strategy to combat poverty,

that provides the needed resources for the right inputs, and

that ensures transparency and accountability in education governance andfinancing

Our next President must become an education President

one who shall lead a sustained education reform effort with learning and thelearner at the center

one who shall appoint education managers who truly understand the educationsystem and are committed to genuine reform, and

one who can create the conditions for our educators to perform better, aspirehigher, and deliver continuous improvements.

Thus the statement of Education Nation released just over a year ago. Can we identify

with what they said they want to do? We now have a new President of the republic.

He will be addressing the nation today. Is he an Education President? Is he the

Education President we have been longing for? Or, in the words of the disciples of John

the Baptist who asked Jesus, Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?

This, of course, remains to be seen. President Aquino has chosen what we believe to

be good education managers, and there is a team of dedicated and sincere people in his

government who, we think will help achieve the goals stated.

Are we an education nation? Are we prepared to follow the recommendations of the

group that wants us to be on par with the rest of the world with twelve years of basic

education? Or do we say as many are already saying, But its expensive! Of course,

reforms will be expensive. But if we dont want to spend, then, lets stop talking about

it. For, as the phrase says, We have to put our money where our mouth is. If we

dont want to, then for goodness sake lets stop talking about it. Education is

expensive; but try ignorance, and see if it is not much more.


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Beyond our country, with all our problems and dreams, what do we see,

education-wise, so we may adjust our deck chairs accordingly? Let me mention three

or four movements that may be worth considering.

First, there is a group called GATE: Global Alliance for Transforming Education.

In their statement called Education 2000, they define their perspective as Holistic.

Their preamble says that they are educators, parents, and citizens from diverse

backgrounds and educational movements who share a common concern for the future

of humanity and all life on earth. They say that our systems of education areanachronistic and dysfunctional. In sharp contrast to the conventional use of the word

education, we believe that our culture must restore the original meaning of the word

which is to draw forth. In this context, education means caring enough to draw

forth the greatness that is within each unique person.

Can we identify with this preamble? What about their ten principles?

1. Educating for Human Development

2. Honoring Students as Individuals

3. The Central Role of Experience

4. Holistic Education

5. New Role of Educators

6. Freedom of Choice

7. Educating for a Participatory Democracy

8. Educating for Global Citizenship

9. Educating for Earth Literacy

10. Spirituality and Education

Without my mentioning the specifics of each principle, by hearing the principles, can we

identify with them? Let me, however, tease out what they mean by holistic

perspective.


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We believe that education for this new era must be holistic. The holistic perspective is

the recognition that all life on this planet is interconnected in countless profound and

subtle ways. The view of Earth suspended alone in the black void of space underscores

the importance of a global perspective in dealing with social and educational realities.

Education must nurture respect for the global community of humankind.

Holism emphasizes the challenge of creating a sustainable, just, and peaceful society in

harmony with the Earth and its life. It involves an ecological sensitivity a deep

respect for both indigenous and modern cultures as wells as the diversity of life forms

on the planet. Holism seeks to expand the way we look at ourselves and our

relationship to the world by celebrating our innate human potentials the intuitive,

emotional, physical, imaginative and creative, as well as the rational, logical, and verbal.

Holistic education recognizes that human beings seek meaning, not just facts or skills,

as an intrinsic aspect of their full and healthy development. We believe that only

healthy, fulfilled human beings create a healthy society. Holistic education nurtures the

highest aspirations of the human spirit.

Holistic education is not one particular curriculum or methodology; it is a set of working

assumptions which include the following: Education is a dynamic, open human

relationship; education cultivates a critical awareness of the many contexts of learners

lives: moral, cultural, ecological, economic, technological, political; all persons hold vast

multi-faceted potentials which we are only beginning to understand. Human

intelligence is expressed through diverse styles and capacities, all of which we need to

respect; holistic thinking involves contextual, intuitive, creative, and physical ways of

knowing; learning is a lifelong process. All life situations may facilitate learning;

learning is both an inner process of self-discovery and a cooperative activity; learning is

active, self-motivated, supportive, and encouraging of the human spirit; a holistic

curriculum is interdisciplinary, integrating both community perspectives.


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narrow-minded versions of citizenship, they draw attention to the multicultural, multi

ethnic nature of society in the global village. They address the meaning of spirituality in

human development, distinguishing it from religious traditions but also showing how it

challenges the materialism and consumerism of secular culture.

Mike Seymour himself writes: Every epoch of human history has its own lesson for

humanity to learn. In our time, humanity is trying to learn that all life, human and

other-than-human, is one interconnected whole. This perception invites us into an

experience of the sacredness of everything. Understanding ones connections to the

whole brings an inner realization that each person, animate and inanimate thing has an

essence of its own, and a vital role to play in the web of life. With this comes a deep

sense of respect, relationship, and personal responsibility to the whole.

Educating for Humanity. I must admit that many of what the group is saying

resonate with me. What about you?

Lets look at a third development . This one is a book by Peter Senge called The Fifth

Discipline. The author details his model of what he calls a learning organization

which he defines as an organization that is continually expanding its capacity to create

its future. A learning organization, he says, excels at both adaptive learning also

known as survival learning and generative learning.

My guess is that Peter Senge has read, as I am sure, many of us have, Howard

Gardners Five Minds for the Future. But Senge offers his own views of what can be

added to the intellectual universe where we are in. Gardner, we recall, offered for our

consideration five kinds of mind that he says we need to cultivate for the future: the

Disciplined Mind, the Synthesizing Mind, the Creating Mind, the Respectful

Mind, and the Ethical Mind.

I will not expand on Gardners ideas as they have already been discussed in many a

conference.


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Senges learning organization model consists of the following five disciplines:

1. Systems thinking. Senge says that we must look at the patterns that connect

the larger system. Systems thinkers cure headaches by removing the cause,

rather than simply ingesting aspirin. They pay careful attention to how different

tasks and functions interact. Systems thinkers believe that by examining these

patterns of interplay, we can better pinpoint the important issues.

2. Personal mastery. The author stresses the significance of continually

clarifying and deepening our personal vision, focusing our energies, developing

patience, and seeing reality objectively.

3. Shared vision. This discipline is called the picture of the future. A shared

vision is intuitive and instinctive; its not something thats learned by rote. A

shared vision is also a collective experience . It is the cumulative total of eachparticipants personal vision.

4. Team learning. Any groups collective IQ will always be much higher than an

individuals IQ. The only way to begin building group IQ is to open the channels

of communication within the group and start talking to one another.

5. Mental models. Senge defines mental models as the deeply ingrained

assumptions, generalizations, and even pictures or images that influence how we

understand the world. Since how we act is based on our impressions of our

surrounding environment, it is imperative that we recognize and re-evaluate our

mental models and preconceived assumptions.

Senges five components of a learning organization are all interrelated. But systems

thinking, is the cement that holds it all together. In order for the learning

organization to work, each of the five disciplines must be developed simultaneously and

integrated with one another.


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To his thesis that systems thinking is the fifth discipline, Senge adds what he calls

its 11 Laws:

1. Todays problems come from yesterdays solutions.2. The harder you push, the harder the system pushes back.

3. Behavior grows better before it grows worse4. The easy way out usually leads back in.5. The cure can be worse that the disease6. Faster is slower7. Cause and effect are not closely related in time and space8. Small changes can produce big results but the areas of highest leverage are

often the least obvious.9. You can have your cake and eat it too but not all at once.10. Dividing an elephant in half does not produce two small elephants11. There is no blame.

If we applied Peters Fifth Discipline of Systems Thinking and its 11 laws to our quest for

meaning and purpose of education, what do we find?

So far, I have shared with you examples of how people individuals and groups have

questioned the meaning and purpose of education and have offered solutions: One

Nation Learning, Education Nation, Global Alliance for Transforming

Education, Education for Humanity, the Fifth Discipline.

Each one urges us to check what we are already doing and what we can perhaps do

differently or for the first time

so that what we conceive education to be can beachieved in our schools.

Absorbing the good points of what I have shared with you, my personal take on the

purpose and meaning of education is this: The heart of education is the education

of the heart. By this I mean not that what we are already doing is wrong. Maybe

some of them are, and if they are, then we correct them. But there is a lot of good

already going on in education. I do not demean intellectual, academic habits or

vocational, technical skills. There is room for all these in education. But the heart of

education is the education of the heart. HEART-istry, I call what we need to do

in education, and with this word I also offer for our consideration the word KYTHING.


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KYTHING comes from an old Scottish word, kythe, meaning to make visible.

Author Madeleine LEngle used it to describe a type of communication, in a sense like

telepathy, found in several of the books in her Time Quartet, particularly in the 1973

book, A Wind in the Door. As Madeleine LEngle used the word, it meant a sort of

wordless, mind to mind communication in which one person, in essence, almost

becomes another, seeing through their eyes and feeling through their senses.

Taking that word, Louis M. Savary and Patricia Berne, wrote a book with it as title:

KYTHING, the Art of Spiritual Presence. While we all know what it means to be

physically present to someone, and many know what it means to be psychologically

present to another, fewer are aware of the possibility of soul-to-soul- or spirit-to-spirit

presence. This is what Savary and Berne present in their book under the titleKYTHING. Communion, they say, is spirit-to-spirit presence. This word, to kythe,

rhymes with the word tithe, and it means to show your soul to another or to

show your true self to another.

Savary and Bernbe give many examples of the ways in which kything may be used to

promote healing. One of the most natural contexts for kything is in the family, where it

can promote love, sincerity and openness.

Kything may be used in physical healing, therapy, and relaxation techniques, in

providing emotional support, and dealing with loneliness or grief. It can affirm and

strengthen your courage, self-esteem, and capacity for compassion. It can increase

your commitment to spiritual values.

Savary and Berne list three essential steps to the process of kything:

Step One: Get Centered. Since kything is a spiritual process, it is important from

the start that you be present to your own human spirit. The simplest and most sure

way of doing this is to get centered. Centering is a holistic process and means quietly

focusing the attention of your body, mind, and spirit on yourself. When centered, you

are able to say, I am present to myself. Kything does not require you to use any

particular centering technique. You can practice what you feel most comfortable with.


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dispositions, and we relate person to person, human to human in our respective social

situations. When we are able to do that, we will have achieved what education was for

from the start. This is why I said that the heart of education is the education of the

heart. A heart that knows how to relate, a heart that understands that my knowledge,

my degree, my title do not entitle me to look down on others or take advantage of

them.

We miss this in our country today. We may be an educated nation, perhaps, but I

fear not yet an education nation -- because we have not used our education to

establish better communities whether economically, politically, or spiritually. We need

to shape our hearts, soften our spirits, learn to reach out to one another more and more

each day.

Our conference here affirms that spirit: we are invited to accept that in the midst of all

our problems Education is still worth pursuing. For as I submit, the heart of education

is the education of the heart.

Once upon a time, the colors of the world started to quarrel. All claimed that they were

the best. The most important. The most useful. The favorite.

Green said: Clearly, I am the most important. I am the sign of life and of hope. I

was chosen for grass, trees and leaves. Without me, all animals would die. Look over

the countryside and you will see that I am in the majority.

Blue interrupted: You only think about the earth, but consider the sky and the sea. It

is the water that is the basis of life and drawn up by the clouds from the deep sea. The

sky gives space and peace and serenity. Without my peace, you would all be nothing.

Yellow chuckled: You are all so serious. I ring laughter, gaiety, and warmth into the

world. The sun is yellow, the moon is yellow, the stars are yellow. Every time you

look at a sunflower, the whole world starts to smile. Without me, there would be no

fun.


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Orange started next to blow her trumpet: I am the color of health and strength. I

may be scarce, but I am precious for I serve the needs of human life. I carry the most

important vitamins. Think of carrots, pumpkins, oranges, mangoes, and papayas. I

dont hang around all the time, but when I fill the sky at sunrise or sunset, my beauty is

so striking that no one gives another thought to any of you.

Red could stand it no longer as he shouted out. I am the ruler of all of you. I am

blood lifes blood. I am the color of danger and of bravery. I am willing to fight for a

cause. I bring fire into the blood. Without me, the earth would be as empty as the

moon. I am the color of passion and of love, the red rose, the poinsettia and the

poppy.

Purple rose up to his full height. He was very tall and he spoke with great pomp:

I am the color of royalty and power. Kings, chiefs, and bishops have always chosen

me for I am the sign of authority and wisdom. People do not question me. They listen

and obey.

Finally, Indigo spoke, much more quietly than all the others, but with just as much

determination: Think of me. I am the color of silence. You hardly notice me, but

without me, you all become superficial. I represent thought and reflection, twilight and

deep water. You need me for balance and contrast, for prayer and inner peace.

And so the colors went on boasting, each convinced of his or her own superiority. Their

quarreling became louder and louder.

Suddenly there was a startling flash of bright lightning. Thunder rolled and boomed.

Rain started to pour down relentlessly. The colors crouched down in fear, drawing

close to one another for comfort.

In the midst of the clamor, Rain began to speak: You foolish colors, fighting amongst


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yourselves, each trying to dominate the rest. Dont you know that you were each made

for a special purpose, unique and different? Join hands with one another and come to

me.

Doing as they were told, the colors united and joined hands.

Rain continued: From now on, when it rains, each of you will stretch across the sky in

a great bow of color as a reminder that you can all live in peace. The Rainbow is a

sign of hope for tomorrow.

And so, goes the story, whenever a good rain washes the world, and a Rainbow appears

in the sky, let us remember to appreciate one another.

Education, like friendship, is like a rainbow. Red like an apple, sweet to the core.

Orange, like a burning flame, never dying out. Yellow like the sun that brighten your

day. Green like a plant that keep on growing. Blue like the water that is so pure.

Purple like a flower that is ready to bloom. Indigo like the dreams that fill your heart.

But, dear ONE NATION LEARNING, you and I know that we don t have to wait for the

rain to come, for us to become a rainbow of hope for our country and the world. We

know that if we kythe with one another, and develop heart-istry in education, the

purpose of education will have been achieved, and its meaning reached.

KYTHING. HEART-istry in Education.

*****

FATHER RODERICK C. SALAZAR JR., SVD

July 26, 2010Baguio Teachers Camp

KYTHING HEART-Istry in Education

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