César Bona, finalist for the so-called Nobel Prize for teachers ( Global Teacher Prize ), affirms that ” children are not adults of the future, but people of the present .” For this renowned teacher, the future is something that does not yet exist, so referring to children in these terms is absurd and ineffective, almost as much as if we were talking about current adults and the elderly of the future. Furthermore, far from liking this terminology more or less, the truth is that observing children from that futuristic point of view can lead us to forget a bit about the present, and the present is vital for those who are still developing and forming.
If we forget about education in the present as what we are (children or adults), what we can actually achieve is to end up frustrating that positive future that we dream of so much. At least this is the perspective of Bona, a Spanish teacher and lecturer who has had to educate in difficult times full of boredom, as he himself has confessed in different interviews.
The panorama of education according to César Bona
And regarding whether or not we should say that children are the adults of tomorrow, we want to emphasize in this article that way of seeing the panorama of education by César Bona, also highlighting his main perspectives regarding today’s education in day and the proposals for change that he proposes to us through his books and conferences.
Through four main points we can learn a little more about the figure of this teacher, whose career and commitment to improving the perspective of education has been recognized even internationally, being a finalist for the highest educational awards that are the previously mentioned Global Teacher Prize or Nobel Prize for education.
But what points are we referring to?
- César Bona refers to the way a child should see school , which should not be other than a place they want to go and where they are happy. That is the only way in which a child can come to see that learning is a pleasure, so provoking that enthusiasm and that pleasant feeling is essential so that the little ones can open up to new knowledge.
- Bona also refers to the importance of imparting the value of tolerance and diversity. The absence of these values in children is the cause, among other things, of the so-called bullying, a problem that has always existed but that today occurs almost more than before or is more visible, and that it is essential to eradicate so that children feel safe in your schools and don’t end up dreading the fact of learning and going to school every day. Bona also highlights the importance of finding channels for children to report bullying, because according to what he confesses, 85% of students know that there is bullying but are never able to report it.
- Regarding the issue of bullying, Bona also refers to the fact that in any case of bullying there are two victims, the harassed and the harasser. The bullied is always talked about, which is good and essential, but we must not forget that the bully is also a possible victim of his parents, other adults, his environment … and surely he is suffering a lot from something that leads to those terrible acts.
- Another important thing to take into account is the need to teach tools for emotional management , since most of the important decisions in life are made by the manifestation of an emotion, whether of anger, sadness, joy or any other. Managing emotions is very important, as it can condition our lives, and working on it has to be something for both students and teachers. The fact of not being able to manage our emotions can undermine self-esteem and lead us down paths that we did not really want, and that César Bona knows well, because he lived in his own flesh the decision to discard a career with mathematics for having a bad teacher in that subject.
Who hasn’t something similar happened to? Is César Bona right in his manifestos regarding the educational landscape?
