Conference report
First of all, this is what I learn from the conference last Wednesday. It is about finding democracy through education. One of the problem facing the United States today is that education is not the core of democracy in US. We need to recognize that education and democracy are interdependant. Professor Allen from the University of Washington mentioned the story of the penguine. Male penguines are taking care of their eggs for two months straight not because they are good fathers. It is because of the culture. Culture can replace genetic code. American culture focuses on right and not responsibility. He also mentioned communication as a big part of democracy. What is democracy if there is no feed back? Since communication plays such an important role in democracy, it must be accurate. That is why we are in school. And by being in school, we learn responsibility. To conclude his speech, professor Allen stated that education is essential to survival and I could not agree more. Professor Tim from HCC continued the topic by asking the question: " Are we (the United States of America) democratic?" The US aspired to be democratic. For that reason, we need to educate people. If you are going to rule yourselves, you better know how to do it. The US is a Republic, which has elements of democracy. True Democracy values everyone. To have democracy, we need to have education. However, there is a big difference between education and schooling eventhough they are interrelated. The society rise and fall with educational system. We no longer need to live by instince, we got to have education to success. Professor Patricia from HCC, the last speaker of the day, also asked a question: " What is the purpose of education?" It was set up to maintain status quote. Education is a two-way process and it requires critical thinking. It is clear that we need education to protect democracy but education would not be democracy if students don't get to influence what is happening in the classroom. American is losing their edge on global economy. We better started "walk the talk" this election year. Find your voice through your vote.
Through the conference, many arts of democracy were mentioned. First and the most obvious is active listening. The audience was encouraging the speaker by listen quitely and attentively.At the end, many relevant questions were asked. In addition, I also noticed the art of political imagination. We reimagine our future as being the world's 3rd largest economy, behind China and India, we reimagine our future generation with extensive knowledge and admiration for sport icons and entertainers instead of scholars if we continue to ignore the importance of education. Other arts of democracy are public dialogue, evaluation and reflection.
On the side note, I really enjoyed the conference. It was interesting, enjoyable and educational. I hope to have the chance to experience it again in the near future.