Transformative Education: Learning from the Past, Gearing Towards Sustainable Development

Frank Elie V. Morales

The past provides us lessons. The past gives us information. The past serves us caution. The memories of these distant past still wanders in the farthest regions of my mind.

The memories of distant past still echoes in my mind. Used to be contented with reciting poems, solving arithmetic problems and tilling the soil for seasonal harvests. These have been the traditions passed down from generations to generations. The memories of distant past served strong foundation for the colossal monuments of today.

It is amazing how people achieve great things, cover great spaces and reach great heights. Education indeed has evolved from the simplest plan to the most complicated yet effective process of empowering young minds. Now education is still in the process of evolving, at the same time learners are evolving alongside with it. A level up in the procedure, a notch higher in the trend, a raised bar of excellence seen and observed as projection of the young minds of today. Gone are the days that students learn only what can be seen inside the classroom. Now they can expand their horizons with a click of a button. Truly, education has gone a long way of development yet these changes are far from being done. In this phase of transition, it is most definite that confusion sets in. When chaos settles in, order must be sought. When questions are raised answers must follow. When divided by knowledge, principle unites them. Even if nations are separated by waters, connections are never lost. With the aid of neighbors in the farthest side of our continent, we sustain development. We survive changes. We grow to be stronger, better, fuller.

The association of south-east Asian nations (ASEAN) has paved the way for people to come together not to conquer each other but to promote progress for all. Truly the distant past has given us a foundation for today. It now serves as a mound to build on something better so that we could reach higher grounds.

The memories of distant past still lingers in my mind. Used to be contented with how other treat me, view me or even abuse me. Now that people have come to their senses, that as a nation, everyone is treated equal. The battle of the gender has now become a vague image of the society. In our time and age, both men and women strive to be a complement for one another not a competitor against each other. Men have seen the value of women and women has discovered their capability to help shape the nation. No longer do we see women as a member of the lower strata of the society. No longer do we view minorities as remnants of past ready for extinction. No longer do we perceive our neighbors as opponents for supremacy but collaborators of glory. These views we used to possess no longer drive people to conspire against each other. But instead, the shifting of our perspectives has made us reach the full capacities of a nation united towards a common goal. With the integration of the nations, ASEAN has concretized the notion that people are equal no matter how different their race, language or cultural heritage would be.

Neighbors look out for each other cares for one another and pushes each other in achieving greater goals. We may have stumbled and groped from the dark past of our nation but now that we see the light of hope it now guides us through the night until the morning sun breaks and fades the darkness away until it is nothing but a bitter memory left in the back of our minds ready to be forgotten.

The memories of distant past still haunts my mind. Used to be carefree and ignore the welfare of the environment. Nothing mattered but enjoying what we have now and not thinking of what might come in the future. Now we see the aftermath of our negligence, of our indifference of our ignorance. Long ago we only care of what we can take and not of what we can give back. We only thought of extracting and not injecting. We only sought what we can gain and not what we will lose eventually. And now nature has started to collect the dues we owe her. We took lives from her and so in return she also collected lives as payment for our abusive power. Numerous calamities, hundreds of catastrophes passed by only to wake us up from the naïve mindset that nature will always be there to supply us. Pollution in all sorts of ways have conquered mother earth. Wild life destroyed, resources exploited and natural habitats distorted. All of these for the cost of progress. But the ends never really do justify the means. Now we reap what we have sown, now we see the damage we made now we experience the troubles we caused.

But it’s not yet too late for us to turn around. It is not yet the end of the road for salvation. Now that people are slowly being enlightened by the power of nature to give and to take away life, we now appreciate it better. Numerous efforts are now being taken in to action to help aid Mother Nature. People have commented that climate has developed Alzheimer’s, raining when it’s supposed to be dry season and very hot when it’s supposed to rain, not knowing that the explanation to this is climate change. Several organizations from different nations have made efforts to make us all aware that nature desperately needs nurture. Joining together, coming from different corners of the continent, we shed a light of hope for the future of nature. Not far from now we will become educated that mother earth shares the same process of giving and taking of sharing and providing of creating and destroying.

The memories of distant past now serves as a lesson for us all.

Now that we have a better perspective of knowledge and education we now learn more and are able to use the information for a better future. Now that we have wider understanding of our society we now help each other to promote improvement. Now that we have a clearer vision of our future we now extend efforts of preserving and developing nature. With this with us, we the guardians of morality, as an educator face a common future.

In the post millennial generation, gone are the days where we feed knowledge passively to the learners. In this digital age, where learners are actively engages throughout the different process of learning. I remember one of the African proverb states that “it takes a village to raise a child.” meaning to say that there is a lot of time, patience and process to make the learner transform. The transformative education or transformative learning where it is being able to transform a passive learner to a lifelong learner. A learner who is driven and autonomous. A learner who finds joy in learning and is fulfilled in doing so. If we would be able to lead our learners in the right path where they can go.

These memories of distant pasts will not serve their purpose, will all be futile, will all be in vain if we keep them as memories and not use them as driving force for development and also for inclusive type of change.

About the Author:

Frank Elie V. Morales is a licensed professional teacher. He served as a Youth Ambassador as sole delegate from his town in 2015 Youth for UNESCO held at University of Santo Tomas. He developed an Instructional Material entitled Treasure Hunt, a collaborative and experiential learning designed for the 21st century learners especially for the Grade-7 studying Asian Studies applying the learning spaces approach. He is also a part-timer reviewer and lecturer at Carl E. Balita Review Center for the Board of Licensure Examination for Professional Teachers, specialized coach in Social Science. He is also an event organizer and executive manager of MV Creative Events and designs in catering any occasions and special events. He is also continuing his post-baccalaureate degree of Master of Arts in Social Science Education at Philippine Normal University, Taft Avenue, Manila. He is now a faculty member of the Don Honorio Ventura State University Lubao Campus.