Educators On Montserrat Can Learn From The Art Of Brain Science

brain science
Author

Shwaniyah Marshall

Release Date

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

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Montserrat, as our good son of the soil, Mr. Danny Joseph, said 'is competing in the global market place'. The island is presently in a perfect position to be revamped, rebuilt, and revolutionized into a 21st century product. Our mother country, Great Britain, is in a more than ideal position to fully fund our modernization process.

But why hasn't Mother England given us all that we should rightfully have? Imagine our very own University of Montserrat. Imagine people from other islands sending their children to learn on our shores because of our excellent learning and teaching systems. It's not impossible. In my opinion, education is a very powerful marketing product. How and what we teach our future politicians will determine who gets to carry the mantle and improve the value of this education product.

Every human being has the right to a proper education. This is a fundamental right. What is education or proper education? Are we experiencing it on Montserrat? Is Mother England making sure that everything is ok with us?

The powers that rule our world do not care about the minds and brains of our young people; they do not care about us either. Destroying the African mind (keeping the black man behind) is a real project that many super powers invest billions of dollars into. Anyone of us who knows our real true history will tell you that the history being taught in Caribbean school is complete garbage. It is history specifically designed to inflict feelings of hate and fear into the minds of all our young people so that they would not think highly of themselves. As a history student in school I had no idea what happened in Africa before the slave trade. All I knew was that my ancestors where captured and put in chains and brought over to the Caribbean in chains, on a big boat.

We are all connected to the past, the history of a people is the weapon that is being used to empower and weaken all peoples. What you know about yourself will directly affect what you think about yourself. And many scientists have agreed on the common law of physics that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. In this new age, we have come to understand that thoughts are indeed subtle actions of the mind, and all thoughts have results in the real world. Hence a human being will become and/or experience what he thinks about most so long as he habitually continues to think those thoughts. Those who funded our history writing don't want us to know that we are creators with creative intelligence. They don't want us to know the power of our minds.

Whether or not the education leaders of Montserrat and the wider Caribbean know their true history, will affect their plans and goals for our future as a Caribbean continent. Dr Ivan VanSertima said this "When human beings are made to feel that they are inferior, the behave inferior and begin to think that they are indeed inferior. All human beings are made equal, people feel they are unequal when they are forced to believe that they are unequal and placed into economic disadvantages that make them feel unequal"

Our young people are being taught history that elevates the slave master as being better and more advanced than the slave. Since this is what we learn, that is how we will think for 5 years whilst in school and maybe forever after. And how we are living now is how we will live, until we make a change to what we teach our children their true history.

Isn't it true that our leaders are educated? I mean they are book smart people right? So why is our education system being allowed to become so weak? Quite frankly I think the fish stinks from the head down. It is abundantly clear that those in charge of the education product do not understand education and do not fully understand the conditions necessary for learning and teaching of young children and adolescents alike.

First of all, one can tell a lot about a country just by looking at the way it treats its most vulnerable citizens. The infants and young people of this country I believe are suffering from psychological abuse from the education system. Just look at the colour of the schools on Montserrat. It was Albert Einstein, the father of physics who said "I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions which they can learn".

The children on Montserrat are not being provided with proper conditions for learning and this will continue to affect the results of the annual examination results. Our population is the perfect size to create geniuses in any field we so desire, mainly because we are so small, which means our students should be receiving more attention in schools from teachers and the government. Science has taught us that are some special colours affect the learning of infants, and adolescents. It breaks my heart every time I have to pass by the lookout schools and see that the old people home is more welcoming than the two schools that are next to it. For our government to not know that the colour of the 'learning institution' affects the learning of the student is simply not good enough.

I write because I can't take it any more. I'm advising the government to research the effects of colours in learning. Our teachers should know the brain and know it well. There is so much information on the internet and in our library about how to teach children. I am a private tutor myself and it hurts my heart to see these schools painted in these colours because I know that if the right colours are being used we will begin to see more brilliant children.

I have been teaching (right brain education) with colours and sounds for a few years to private primary school students and adults, and many times with our own children and many other little ones on Montserrat and other countries. It's amazing to see that when a child is "put into right brain" even their hand writing changes. It works just like magic. If a few very basic principles are applied in our schools we all would be in awe at the intellectual products that we would be putting out. Simply stepping backwards puts any human being into right brain and opens up their learning channels.

The human brain is a marvellously complex and resilient thing but it operates within scientifically understandable parameters. We can use an understanding of the brain to gain an appreciation of different styles and types of advance learning. The brain has two sides which controls two different modes of thinking. Each human being prefers one mode more than the other. By simply observing a child or engaging in conversation with an adolescent one can tell whether the individual is left brain or right brain dominant. When we know how the student prefers to think it is so much easier to teach that person anything. Presently on Montserrat we are developing too many left brainers and this is creating an imbalance in society which is leading to a worsened state of poverty. Not all children are book smart. Some children don't need books to memorize many words and meanings. Physics is a well balanced subject, it uses the left brain activity of math but adds the right brain activities of being able to visualize problems and think creatively.

Our educators should focus on making the learning environment one of vibrant colour, music and positive words. The power of colours should not be underestimated any longer than it already has been. All the schools need to be painted as soon as possible we need to make our children 'want to go to school and want to learn'.

It is not very difficult to do. We can look at our neighbouring countries, and see what colour their schools are, especially the countries with the most intelligent students. Imagination is a crucial component for the educators of today. Our education leaders can look at others' ideas and envisage how they would use these in their classes and schools. I did this in my travels and realise that the schools in the other islands are so vibrant and energetic.

We cannot use old left brain teaching techniques to teach 21st century learners. Twenty first century teachers must be 21st century learners. Our teaching force should constantly be learning. Highly effective teachers need resources to help them. If the teaching environment is depressing it doesn't matter how effective the teacher is, the student will remain depressed. The 21st century educator is a leader. Like clear goals and objectives, effective leadership is crucial to the success or failure of any project.

Photo Credit To The Life I Choose

 

 

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