PFA is an Education Eco System
PFA is an Education Eco System
About a year ago, I was invited to speak at an international educational conference at Stanford University, about PFA’s emphasis on creating young global leaders. The conference was attended by schoolteachers and school administrators from around the world, including Finland, the top performing country in Education. These educators were unanimous in their view that cultivating young innovative global leaders with a social conscience was essential for the future of Education.
The methodology which I presented and discussed at Stanford, was based upon the premise that these leaders are cultivated within a vibrant, thriving, living, breathing “Education Eco System”.
Purpose of the What is Smart book
This year, the 8th Grade Editors of PFA, together with high school student Shannon, CEO of Girl Smart Africa, are working on a book called “What is Smart ?”. To me, this book is an opportunity to demonstrate the interdependent and interwoven fabric of the PFA Education Eco System.
Take, as an analogy, a conversation between Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet:
Just as Winnie-the-Pooh may have a conversation with Piglet, Ella may have a Skype call with James in Kenya, or, Nicolas may have a Skype conversation with Jackson in Uganda.
However, while Ella may have a conversation with James by Skype, or, Ella interviews James for the What is Smart book; simultaneously, or peripherally, or in relation to this interview by Ella:
James is also interacting with Charlie, Jake and Josh on building the Samburu App, and interacting with the Samburu community and Samburu Tribal Elders.
While Nicolas may have had a conversation with Jackson by Skype when PFA Editor-in-Chief, and, now that he is the CEO of OPPC, writes an essay about his meeting with Jackson for the What is Smart book; simultaneously, or peripherally, or in relation to this essay by Nicolas:
Jackson is also having conversations with Paola about African Grandmothers, and a conversation with Harvard Professor Sarah Dryden-Peterson on the education of children in war zones in Africa, or a conversation with Ms Weitzman and the Nyaka Grandmothers about PFA’s Quilting Project.
In a vibrant, thriving, living, breathing “Education Eco System” such as PFA all of these individual interactions are part of a larger, broader, meta-perspective of an “Education Eco System”.
In the same way, when there is a conversation between Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet, that conversation is taking place simultaneously, or peripherally, or in relation to all the interweaving story narrative threads within the “Storytelling Eco System” which is The Hundred Acre Wood.