As a vocational teacher myself, I am proud to have one of the most important professions in the world.
Teachers hold a lot of power in terms of being catalysts for change in the world.
Teachers are those who teach all other professions.
Teachers make a difference.
What would the world look like without teaching professionals?
Only those who can learn everything by themselves need no teachers.
Teachers do not only teach specific subjects.
Teachers also teach manners, ethics, and morals and aim to integrate students into societies.
More often than not, teachers succeed in this. Sometimes, unfortunately not.
Nevertheless, teachers should not be blamed or given the whole responsibility of matters concerning parenting or the lack thereof, nor blamed for general problems in a country, region or society.
Teachers are not parents, although many teachers take on the responsibility when there is a lack of parenting. For many students worldwide, school or an educational institution is their only home/hope.
Never forget that as a teacher. Never forget that as a student. Never forget that as a citizen (of the world).
Remember to give thanks to all your teachers who made a difference in your life.
Stop blaming and putting all responsibility on your teachers, and start taking responsibility for your own behavior and for your own learning.
“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear”. – Buddha
Precisely one year ago I wrote an article about education, a topic close to my heart, that I would like to share with my global network on social media.
This is dedicated especially to those who know how to read, who enjoy reading or who would like to improve their reading skills. Reading is actually a skill that too many people in the world lack either completely due to illiteracy, or through various forms of dyslexia.
According to Unesco, at least 750 million people (more than half of them are women) worldwide are illiterate. Furthermore, it is estimated that an average of 20% of world population have some form of dyslexia. It is not tied to family origin: the King of Sweden Carl Gustaf and his eldest daughter, Crown Princess Victoria, are both dyslexic.
Dyslexia is of course no reason to stop reading or writing. It may just make reading and writing a bit more challenging or time-consuming.
Thus, this article is also dedicated to those who enjoy learning, in general, including learning foreign languages (I have been learning nine different languages beside my mother tongue Finnish, some of which I speak fluently, others less), learning about different cultures, learning about history, learning through traveling, and of course learning through life experiences. Dyslexics included.
It is an article about the possible consequences of when education is not being valued in a country, and about how dangerous it is when the wrong people get to run a country. In this case these were communists, but in the contemporary world a democracy can be torn down by any elitistic group of people who fail to understand the importance and the true meaning of DEMOCRACY.
Anne-Maria Yritys. MBA & Vocational Teacher. 27.8.2018.
Tasan vuosi sitten kirjoitin artikkelin koulutuksesta, aihe joka on lähellä sydäntäni. Haluaisin jakaa tämän kirjoituksen globaalille verkostolleni sosiaalisessa mediassa.
Artikkeli on omistettu etenkin ihmisille jotka osaavat lukea, jotka pitävät lukemisesta tai jotka haluavat parantaa lukutaitoaan. Lukeminen on valitettavasti taito joka puuttuu liian monelta ihmiseltä maailmassa: joko he ovat täysin lukutaidottomia, tai sitten heillä on jonkinasteinen lukihäiriö.
Unescon mukaan ainakin 750 miljoonaa ihmistä (yli puolet heistä on naisia) maailmassa on lukutaidottomia. Lisäksi noin 20% maailman väestöstä kärsii jonkinasteisesta lukihäiriöstä. Lukihäiriöllä ei ole mitään tekemistä sosiaalisen statuksen kanssa, eikä sitä tarvitse hävetä. Esimerkiksi Ruotsin kuningas Carl Gustaf ja hänen vanhin tyttärensä, kruununprinsessa Victoria, kärsivät molemmat lukihäiriöstä.
Lukihäiriö ei tietenkään ole syy lopettaa lukemista tai kirjoittamista. Se saattaa vain hankaloittaa tai hidastaa lukemista ja kirjoittamista.
Siten tämä artikkeli on myös omistettu niille, jotka ylipäätään pitävät oppimisesta, ml. vieraiden kielten oppimisesta (olen itse opiskellut yhdeksää vierasta kieltä äidinkieleni suomen lisäksi, joista osaa puhun melko sujuvasti, toisia vähemmän sujuvasti), vieraiden kulttuurien oppimista, historian oppimista, oppimista matkustamisen kautta ja tietenkin oppimista elämänkokemusten kautta. Mukaan lukien lukihäiriöiset.
Artikkeli kertoo mahdollisista seurauksista kun maassa ei arvosteta koulutusta, ja kuinka vaarallista voi olla kun väärät ihmiset päästetään valtaan ja johtamaan maata. Tässä historiallisessa esimerkissä kyseessä olivat kommunistit, mutta nykymaailmassa demokratian vaaraksi ovat kaikenlaiset elitistiset ryhmittymät jotka eivät ymmärrä DEMOKRATIAN tärkeyttä tai DEMOKRATIAN todellista merkitystä.
För exakt ett år sedan skrev jag en artikel om utbildning, en fråga som jag ställer stor vikt på. Jag skulle vilja dela denna artikel med mitt globala nätverk via sociala medier.
Artikeln är tillägnad speciellt för människor som kan läsa, som tycker om att läsa eller som vill förbättra sin läsförmåga. Läsning är tyvärr en kunskap som alltför många människor i världen saknar: antingen är de analfabeta eller så lider de av någon sorts dyslexi.
Enligt Unesco är minst 750 miljoner människor (över hälften av dem är kvinnor) i världen analfabeter. Dessutom lider cirka 20% av världens befolkning av någon slags dyslexi. Dyslexi har ingenting med social status att göra och det är ingenting att skämmas för. Till exempel Sveriges kung Carl Gustaf och hans äldsta dotter, kronprincessan Victoria, har bägge två dyslexi.
Dyslexi är naturligtvis ingen orsak att sluta läsa eller skriva. Det kan bara komplicera eller sakta ner läsning och skrivning.
Denna artikel är också tillägnad åt dem som överhuvudtaget tycker om att lära sig nya saker, bl.a. främdspråk, (Personligen har jag lärt mig nio olika språk vid sidan om mitt modersmål finska. En del av dessa språk behärskar jag flytande, andra mindre flytande), lära sig om andra kulturer, historia, lära sig genom resor och förstås lära sig genom livserfarenheter. Inklusive dyslektiker.
Artikeln handlar om möjliga konsekvenser i ett land där utbildning inte uppskattas, och hur farligt det kan vara när fel människor får makt och leder ett land. I detta historiska exempel handlade det om kommunister, men i nuvarande världen blir demokratin hotad av flera slags elitistiska grupperingar som inte förstår vikten eller den verkliga betydelsen av DEMOKRATI.
Citing On internet privacy, be very afraid, a scholarly article published by Liz Mineo on Harvard Law Today on August 25, 2017, where she writes that “Americans in general tend to mistrust government and trust corporations. Europeans tend to trust government and mistrust corporations”. Although Mineo here refers to general government surveillance, the statement that Europeans tend to trust government and mistrust corporations is, in my opinion, a generalization.
This informative article about internet surveillance allowed my mind to awkwardly transit from one topic to another concerning our educational system in Finland and mis/trusting government.
In Finland, where I currently live, the very basis of our educational system is to provide free-of-charge, public education at all levels and to every (EU) citizen living in this country. However, following the recession that begun in 2008 as a consequence of a series of world events and as a conclusion of many factors, our current government decided, against earlier promises not to make any cuts into the educational system, to make a major cut (600 million euros) in Finland´s educational system.
As a consequence of these decisions, many teachers, university lecturers, professors and researchers lost their jobs, many of whom are now either unemployed or found new vacancies in universities around the world, e.g. in our neighbouring country Sweden.
Teaching used to be a rather secure profession in Finland. That, however, has drastically changed. Today, many teachers not only graduate to become unemployed or work with constant temporary contracts, but also have to face continuous challenges in their profession e.g. caused by the fact that teachers, in general, are no longer as valued as they used to be at schools. What happened to authority and respect?
Especially since Finland has ranked so high in PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) surveys and has for long been a leading country as of having one of the best educational systems in the world, the recent drastic financial cuts into our educational system have received a lot of attention both on national and international levels. Finland, a leading country within research and development, received notes from a number of sources: the academia, private individuals, economists, the European Commission, and OECD, only to mention a few. The news was shocking to many.
Is this a method of psychological influence, a straight way of destroying intellectual capital in a country? Who can estimate the long-term effects of our current government´s decisions upon the future of Finland that has, historically excelled at education. Especially now that our government, simultaneously to making these unreasonable financial cuts in our educational system, makes efforts to export Finnish education to the world.
The financial cuts into our national educational system remind me of what happened to teachers and other academics/intellectuals in Cambodia in the 1970´s, where a communist regime, the Khmer Rouge, suddenly took over the country only to slaughter at least two (2) million (according to some estimations, the number was more than 3,3 million people, which at that time was 25% of the total population in Cambodia) of its own population within a few years as an effort to get rid of educated people in the country. Finland is neither a communist state nor comparable to Cambodia, but I keep asking myself what exactly our current government thinks they are doing.
Furthermore, it is highly questionable why a country invests such a high amount of tax payers´ money into an educational system that quite clearly no longer works. Why does this country offer free-of-charge (financed through tax incomes) education to its citizens widely, when it simultaneously and/or as a consequence leads to academics and highly educated people ending up being unemployed, or, basically being more or less forced to either a) employing themselves b) starting their own businesses and/or c) leaving the country to live and work in a country where academics are still held in high value?
There is something very wrong with our current educational system, and it remains to be seen what exactly the consequences of these decisions will be. For it is certain that drastic cuts into the educational system will have consequences, both short-term, and long-term.
It takes less time to do things right than to explain why you did it wrong. (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
As citizens of planet Earth, those of us who have been fortunate enough to have access to education and good living standards have to take responsibility and progressive actions in order to improve living conditions for less fortunate individuals.
There are certainly many ways of contributing to sustainable global development, starting with using the knowledge that we have in responsible ways through integrating ethics and sustainability into our societies, into our business practices, and into political activities. In fact, into all activities, be it political or non-political.
According to forecasts by the UN, two-thirds of all world population will live in water scarcity in 2025. If and when this occurs, it is not difficult to understand that this will affect every single citizen of the world either directly or indirectly. Actions need to be taken NOW.
Currently about 57 million children worldwide have no access to primary schooling. The reasons behind this vary, starting from the fact that there is a shortage of about one million teachers in the regions affected (the situation is worst in Sub-Saharan Africa, but also many other geographical regions worldwide suffer from shortages in the very basic human needs, and human rights). Those who have the privilege of education ought to realize how important it is for all children worldwide to have access to primary AND secondary education, and support the development of regions where education is a luxury that currently only wealthy families can afford for their children.
Primary and secondary education is a cost that poor families cannot afford. Instead, poor parents are obliged to send their children to work rather than giving their children the opportunity to work themselves out of poverty through the benefits that education could offer them.
Around 168 million children worldwide work every day instead of going to school. Girls are obliged to drop out of school more often than boys, due to cultural traditions supporting the old beliefs that a girl is a burden for a family rather than a gift like a male child. Nevertheless, both boys and girls are being exploited and utilized as workforce, many of them working long hours in hazardous working environments or forced into becoming child soldiers (in certain areas).
The majority of child labor occurs in Asia and the Pacific, and Sub-Saharan Africa. The reasons for this vary – often due to the fact that poor parents prefer sending their children to work because they need the money to support their families, or, parents prefer sending their children to work because the job is too poorly paid – thus, it “makes more sense” to send the child to the poorly paid, often hazardous job (slavery?). Agriculture is by far the largest sector employing children. Child labor is a violation against human rights, and against the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child.
Why, in a world with so many laws, conventions, declarations, standards, policies, and transparent business processes, do we still have to face child labor and lack of education?
Poor people, including children of poor families, without any external support or support from their state´s governments, are weak to defend themselves taking into consideration the fact that they lack the skills and knowledge to defend themselves and their human rights. Our world has 750 million illiterates alone. Having no reading or writing skills makes it so much more difficult for an individual to improve his/her living standards, unless given the opportunity to learn these basic human skills for thriving and having access to a human life.
Developing sustainable societies and economies brings along many benefits for mankind and helps us leave a legacy for our children and for generations to come, rather than destroying our planet through unethical business practices, ignorance and intolerance.
What are the benefits of creating, and developing ethical and sustainable business/societal practices? A few suggestions to start with:
SAVE OUR PLANET AND ITS INHABITANTS. Sad but true: Our world is running out of water. Instead of panicking, take action NOW and do what you can to improve/prevent the situation. It is not hard to figure out what an impact water shortage will have upon all mankind. If one region runs out of water, it most definitely will have a huge impact on all other regions worldwide as well, leading to significant problems around the world.
IMPROVE YOUR BUSINESS PROCESSES AND MAKE THEM TRANSPARENT (UNLESS THEY ALREADY ARE). Your business activities and consumption have direct and indirect impacts on just about everything, including child labor. It is never too late to make a difference.
SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS & GOVERNMENTS TO TRANSFORM AND TO GIVE ALL CHILDREN ACCESS TO BOTH PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION. Education improves people´s lives and helps them to work themselves out of poverty & to develop their societies. It is a long-term investment serving us all.
EMPOWER WOMEN WORLDWIDE. Women are suffering in many countries (in fact, in most countries worldwide), and the suffering of women increases the suffering of children as well. The best way to help children is to help their mother´s first.
PLEASE SPREAD THIS MESSAGE AND TAKE ACTION. It will benefit us all.
The Importance of Developing an Effective Ethics Program (The ACFE):
Ethical behavior is doing the right thing when no one else is watching – even when doing the wrong thing is legal (Aldo Leopold)
A leadership strategy without ethical clarity produces moral and economic bankruptcy (Bill Donahue)
Our Planet does not need more successful people. Our planet craves for more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of all kind. (The Dalai Lama)
Ethics is the aesthetics of the soul. (Pierre Reverdy)
Thank you for reading, reflecting, commenting, for taking action to improve living conditions for all human beings.
Anne-Maria Yritys 
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