INTRODUCTION When given the option of being ordinary or being extraordinary, which would be your choice? Without a doubt, most of us will choose the latter, “being extraordinary”. This is no surprise because human nature is such that it craves power, excellence and perfection. On first thought, nobody would want to settle for less. We
Do childhood bookshelves hold the key to both our past and future selves?
Rereading feels like a self-indulgent act. Effortlessly sifting through familiar pages, like falling into the arms of your first love or an old friend you haven’t seen in a while. You may not remember every detail right off the top of your head but as soon as you sink into the pages memories come flooding
Before the Bull runs into the Girl
The heated confrontation in the New York’s Wall Street’s arena looks interesting but somewhat unfair; the Fearless Girl, who faces the gigantic Charging Bull, is not even the square root of his size. This looks insane, but all madness ever, had a fierce motive behind it. So definitely, here too, is an agenda. Feminism- that’s
Acquire power or be dominated in bondage
In the twenty first century, coupled with over seven billion people, nobody would want to live without power. The power we need as a human being is exhibited in different forms. I might need it to eat and another person may need it to buy a house. I remembered a moment in my past when
Find Your Self Within Stories
“She remembered, as every sensible person does, that you should never never shut yourself up in a wardrobe.” Clearing out my cupboard of children’s classics several months ago (a perfect procrastination from the mountains of marking that became a permanent feature of every weekend last year, when working as a secondary school English teacher), I
Education in the Laboratory
Education, when considered broadly as any process which involves delivering or receiving new knowledge or perfecting skills, is a rather delicate topic to deal with. Defined this way, words such as ‘uneducated’ cease to exist because everyone has received some new knowledge at one point or another. E.g. We all learned to speak. For specificity,
Get What You Should Have Had
We are born with our own right to choose what and how we want to live. Well, there are some accessories though, like our family, friends, and the 19other side of things such as wealth and health. Mostly, we like to discuss our problems with someone we trust, starting with chit-chat and progressing to a
Tangled Cables In My Brain
“In real life, I assure you there is no such thing as algebra.” – Fran Lebowitz I have never read this quote, actually. Also, I have never searched for the meaning. But I am assured that this means something bigger than I could imagine. I have lived on this earth for about sixteen years. I
Destiny of Power
“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” – Abraham Lincoln. The above statement is extremely true. Power has the ability to make you feel invincible. And, it is this invincibility that can sometimes lead a man to use it for harming others. Man is
Education and Global Problems
Jean-Jacques Rousseau said, “man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.” This seems to be an undeniable fact given the people who are in the chains because of religions, cultures, racial status and so on. On these grounds, people have been persecuted, subjugated, killed and mistreated. Now, to understand the difference and to
The Normal Complex
The term “Normal” according to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary simply means typical, usual, ordinary, and what you would expect. Every society across the world prescribes to its citizenry what is considered normal within its context and boundaries and anyone who chooses to be different in any way or happens to be different due to
Old friends sat on a good sofa
When you’re little, adults are always promising you that the next stage in your life is the place where you’re going to make friendships that’ll last a lifetime. ‘You have to go to school, that’s where you’ll make friends’ and ‘You can’t stay inside all summer, so go outside and form relationships’ roll off their
Learning lifelong lessons from children’s literature
Full disclosure: as librarian, it’s in my job description to promote books to the students and staff with whom I work: books that are ‘worth reading’, to quote Belfast boy and literary legend, C. S. Lewis. Lewis’s works are as comfortable piled on the bedside tables of children around the world as they are nestled
Because On Those Dark Winter Days, I Still Wind Up With A Roald Dahl
Yes, I remember those afternoons when I pictured myself flying over the neighborhood on the back of a bird. Back then I would only pay attention to the height of the buildings, if there were people trotting underneath and if they wore colorful scarves. Today, when I read over the same passages printed in black
Like Pearls on a String
It has been said that the best changes in life are the ones that awaken the soul and make us reach for more, that plant a fire in our hearts and bring peace to our minds. Never had that been more true to me than in the time of my parents divorce. I was only
Should Education Focus on Preparing Students for Employment or Broadening their Intellect?
“For those who are less fortunate, especially those who come from less-developed countries, the question of ‘why’ would not be important because their entire life almost exclusively focuses on the question of ‘how.’” I first heard the above statement while watching an American movie. The premise surprised me, prompting me to reflect on how young
Education the up righteousness of a society
Education is defined in the dictionary as an activity of acquiring knowledge through instructions or teachings. The bible in 2nd timothy 3:15-16 says “And that from a child thou hast known the holy scripture, which are able to make thee wise.” One should also say that it encompasses both the teaching and learning of knowledge,
Let Me Be A Girl, Not A Bride
Imagine if your parents mentioned marriage to you when you barely knew what marriage meant. Imagine if they called you a burden, told you to forget school, tore you apart from your family and allowed a man three times your age to lay his hands on you. Like a lamb to the slaughter, you’re dolled
Jobs said it best
Steve Jobs had an innovative mind that was beyond his time. Not only did he create technology that many people cannot live or function without, but he departed from this world leaving behind many important words of wisdom. In these days, when everyone has the same store-bought clothes and manufactured phones, a person’s inner voice,
What Teachers should be Teaching
After 20 years in and out of the Australian education system, I have come to some conclusions about the role of education. I have taught in four Australian states, in Catholic, Islamic, State and small private schools and across many learning areas and from Kindergarten to Year 12, but what I have learned is that