EduQuest Dialogue Café

A learning journey of inquiry into 21st Century school education in Lebanon

There is no power greater than a community discovering what it cares about

- Margaret J. Wheatley

Q1: How do you feel the current education is affecting you,

your children and your environment in Lebanon right now?
~ Not one definition for education

~ the current educational system is making me love my country more and

realize that we need to work harder and together to change things

~ the education, in general, comes with a lot of passion in Lebanon

~ I think highly of the education in Lebanon

o it is enriching

o It has a very broad spectrum

o It is challenging

~ I feel we are entering a period of GREAT CHANGE and CREATIVITY

o I see signs of a coming re-birth in our field

~ Unity and global awareness of connection

~ new ways of thinking are opening up new possibilities and multi-

disciplinary approaches

~ better preparation for future

~ I am excited to help bring about change and creative

growth

~ How are we raising children?

o who will they become?

~ my children are focusing me to rethink

www.nnow.org _ p.o.box 13-5274 _ beirut, lebanon _ t+ 961 3 20 07 16

 concepts that I took for granted

~ my children seem to grow and mature. They are leaning how to tackle
real life situations with innovative methods. They are also learning to
face failures and pick themselves up.

~ my children are academically doing well but socially having some

problems

~ personally, my current education is affecting me positively, making me

know other people, extending knowledge

~ Hazy

~ preventing open exploration of research based growth

~ as students we are not allowed to study what we want

~ no OWN education

~ no FREEDOM of Thought

~ Competition

o I feel like I can not trust anyone in the scope of education

~ individual effort and motivation is needed to be able to compete

~ it limits the personal motivation in learning. rather than fostering

individual motivation towards learning, it tends to focus on learning for
tests or for passing a course. Mostly evident in the history and
geography taught in Baccalaureate where facts are just memorized.

o too much memorization considered wasted energy on the parts

of students and parents

~ Limits curiosity

~ developing children along traditional patterns that may not suffice for
the future and may worsen the divisions in the country

~ It does not prepare children and maximize their potential

o many students become at risk and finally drop-out of school as

early as Grade 6

o then we have many students who seek any job at an early age
and the environment becomes deprived of a big percentage of
productive educated youth

~ weakened

o the language barrier that I keep in place

 ~ taking the curriculum into account, it is not making us any better

~ In Lebanon, it is thinking within the box

~ current system: traditional, non-critical thinking based, limits the vast

majority of Lebanese students to develop as fully as they might

~ it is not equipping our children, our future with the skills and knowledge
necessary for change and growth in the country

~ enhances segregation instead of solidarity

~ encourages "ready made" ideas instead of creativity

~ encourages blind obedience instead of leadership

~ does not in practice enhance the spirit of protection towards community

and environment

~ I feel it is neglected

n Facilitators:
~ giving major pushes to some and obstacles to others
Hala Makarem
Joumana Mattar Moukarzel ~ superficially but positively
with
Kamyar Houbakht
~ too many uncertainties about final product
Place: ACS
Date: May 23rd, 2009
~ variable due to different educational systems applied in different
schools
awareness through the
art of conversation
and creative expression ~ driven by old values in new methods

~ when you LOVE your school, you learn more about yourself

~ regarding the way we teach and learn, it is really great and we are still
improving

~ efforts can be channeled to a more reproductive process

~ there are steps to recognize the importance of life long learning

~ As adults, are we able to teach, model and become who we want and
need to be?

o are we aware?

o can we change?

~ teachers are models, so we have to keep on cooking and having great

teachers

~ makes me a learner
 ~ makes me share

~ brings dialogue

~ as a developing country, education will determine the future of

Lebanon

~ It is what we can afford as citizens that will impact the type of education
we'll get. Unfortunately, the budget budget that each school has is
shaping the quality of education it provides

~ allows private schools to grow with little control, so we are able to

adopt changes easily

~ ACS is helping children and parents think outside the box

o well rounded students

~ pride that ACS is progressing as a leader in a style of education helpful

to progress in general

~ I am very content, I feel I can finally live my classroom the way I

believe it should be

~ I feel that I am responsible to take an active role to improve the

education system

Q2 - when I reflect on the future of myself and my

environment, I see education …
~ education must radically and rapidly change to provide for my well
being and the well being of our plant

~ we need to keep up - rush, fast, chasing, never become experts ...

~ changes are happening rapidly, so people need to adapt to such

changes to meet the new needs and knowledge that the educational
system will provide

~ changing and growing

o growing positively

~ Hopefully, a strong source

~ I see the education system as a vehicle for better lives

~ vital

o more significant that I see it now

~ coming together with common values and goals - cohesive

~ I see a system that is able to cleanup the mess that previous

generations had created

~ we are all able to come together finding and creating reform in

education

~ young energetic teachers and admins will be re-defining Lebanese

schools for 21st century learning

~ my university students will be shaking the foundations of Lebanese

education

~ I imagine the education system will evolve, make some positive

changes and some negative ones

o progressing in the right direction but slowly

~ I see the education system as full of challenges and competency

~ authentic education in the real world

~ I see the need to work to bridge the gap between life and school life

~ divided

o Hierarchy of

ƒ smart and disciplined vs free thought and rebellious

o disasters in the community + adding to our quality of life

~ fear

o fear of losing important aspects of education as the human

interaction/ relations to a more computerized technological
aspects

o fear that the more important social relationships integral to

children might be sidestepped by the competitive race for
"bigger, better, faster"

o the bettering of education system will be influenced by the

stabilization of Lebanon's political and economical situation over
the next few years

o I see it as being much the same as now; neglected and

confused, children thrive and fail as individuals becoming more
influenced by models from the business world
~ Education should start at home and continued at school

~ I feel that education should come form parent as school because the
school itself can't do it alone

~ Character Education

~ I hope that the educational system will focus on essential human skills
and ideas and realize that preparing for the future is beyond its
capability

~ I see more consistency among different schools

~ I see it converging towards a more open learning environment

~ more informal

~ bigger role of technology to facilitate learning

~ I see the education system as a well developed and computerized

system

~ much more interaction based

o lots of hands-on experiences and learning through discovering

instead of observing

~ engages the learner and prepares them to handle technological

advancements that are in rapid growth today

~ the type of education will care about educating the whole child

~ teaching how to learn, not what

o the education will be more of how to learn than what you learn

~ Kids need to learn to think

~ schools reformed their curriculums

~ needy of introducing problem solving at early age

~ more personalized

o more choice because of abundance of information

~ teach cooperation

~ more diversity even at lower level

~ youth are guided to discover their interest, find a matching career, a job
to stay in Lebanon
~ new majors

~ new jobs

~ new technologies

~ systematic

~ open to new ideas based on education research and best professional

practices

~ focus on how to use information for sustained development

~ contributing to the shape of society/world in which I find myself in 2020

~ eco-friendly society focused on the well being of all living things.

o non materialistic

o all working together for self and others

~ education system can help shape up communities and improve the

way of life what we are struggling in today

~ I see education coming with magic solutions to world poverty and

hunger, to eliminate social segregation and to bring people closer as
they understand their differences better

~ I would like to belong to a system that actively participates in raising a

generation acquiring the following features

o sense of community

o critical awareness

o sense of inquiry and judicious decision-making

o sense of intimate protection to the environment

~ I see

o process valued as well as product

o cleaner Lebanon

o sharing out

o more equal

o critical thinking problem solving not isolated skills

o unknown, not certain

~ new forms of education

~ we need to start thinking about an education system that replaces the

"educational ladder" by the "educational tree"

~ I see education moving outside the confines of classrooms and books

to tackle real life issues

~ Students are going to teach while teachers observe and learn from
them

~ I see myself as an agent of change bringing reform to education in

Lebanon which is a long process

~ I would see myself more open to change

~ I see myself evolving and open to more and more discoveries and
techniques
~ so I see my environment evolving (because if their is one person like
me, open to change the world and education will definitely evolve)