Logan LaPlante does a beautiful job at illustrating the image of what school is missing; happiness. I guess it comes down to a matter of personal philosophy, but I believe that the purpose of life is to be happy. We go to school to learn more, to be able to achieve at higher rates. We find jobs that we love because we enjoy work and value what we do. We seek relationships and get married so that we have someone to become close intimate with. Although school seems to be more focused on a grade and rather then learning, we have many people who hate their jobs and make little money, we have an extremely high divorce rate in this country.
The quality of life seems to be existent but maybe harder to obtain then we imagine. LaPlante provides me the image of what it might take to offer everyone the chance at a life of happiness. He states that there are rules that we need to follow in order to achieve happiness; Exercise, Diet and Nutrition, Time in Nature, Contribution and Service, Relationships, Recreation, Relaxation and Stress management, Religious and Spiritual connection. If we could teach all of these skills in a classroom or be able to bring content into each one of these areas respectively I think the culture would start to morph.
“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life” - John Lennon. This was the first thing I thought of and kept thinking about through the video. What is the purpose of schooling if not to make a life better, more meaningful and happy? Is the job of educators to educate simply for the sake of learning something, or are we here to educate with a meaning?
I do not believe that if we start to integrate happiness as part of the culture of school that there will be no homeless and hungry, no divorce rate, everyone working people win an industry they are passionate about. I do believe that there will be a smaller amount of negativity in this world, that with the happiness that our children have as they leave the doors of school they will seek to spread it to others. They will feed the homeless, maybe try and mend a broken relationship or try to seek a profession they are proud of. I dont think that happiness is the silver bullet, but I do think its a step in the right direction.
The quality of life seems to be existent but maybe harder to obtain then we imagine. LaPlante provides me the image of what it might take to offer everyone the chance at a life of happiness. He states that there are rules that we need to follow in order to achieve happiness; Exercise, Diet and Nutrition, Time in Nature, Contribution and Service, Relationships, Recreation, Relaxation and Stress management, Religious and Spiritual connection. If we could teach all of these skills in a classroom or be able to bring content into each one of these areas respectively I think the culture would start to morph.
“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life” - John Lennon. This was the first thing I thought of and kept thinking about through the video. What is the purpose of schooling if not to make a life better, more meaningful and happy? Is the job of educators to educate simply for the sake of learning something, or are we here to educate with a meaning?
I do not believe that if we start to integrate happiness as part of the culture of school that there will be no homeless and hungry, no divorce rate, everyone working people win an industry they are passionate about. I do believe that there will be a smaller amount of negativity in this world, that with the happiness that our children have as they leave the doors of school they will seek to spread it to others. They will feed the homeless, maybe try and mend a broken relationship or try to seek a profession they are proud of. I dont think that happiness is the silver bullet, but I do think its a step in the right direction.