We need a new revolution, a massive radical attitudinal and behavioral change, if  we wish to halt the race towards catastrophe and save the world for the future generations. We need no less than a ‘re-education of humankind.'”

–Dr. Lourdes R. Quisumbing, an educator par excellence who has been the first women Secretary of Education, Culture and Sports in the Philippines. Quotes in this post are from Dr. Quisumbing’s article, “Values Education for Human Solidarity.”

Today’s Need For A More Holistic View Of Education

This calls for a paradigm shift in our educational philosophy and practice.

Instead of a rigid and compartmentalized knowledge-based curriculum, we should adopt a more holistic view of education which aims at the development of the faculties and powers of the whole person – cognitive, affective, emotional, aesthetic, volitional, behavioral; a teaching-learning approach which does not stop at knowledge and information at developing skills and competence, but proceeds to understanding and gaining insights, that educates the heart and the emotions and develops the ability to choose freely and to value, to make decisions and to translate knowledge and values into action.

The heart of education is the education of the heart.”

Cross-Cultural Human Solidarity: A Major Part Of The New Educational Paradigm

One cannot underestimate the role of education for international and intercultural understanding, which consists not merely in knowing more about different peoples and their cultures – their geography, history, economy, government, value-systems – but more in understanding and gaining insight into the factors and motivations underlying their behavior and appreciating their cultural patterns, traditions, customs, values and beliefs.

Human solidarity is likewise fostered by the realization and strengthening of the ties that bind us together in our common humanity: our human nature and the human condition, our common habitat and destiny, our universally shared values.”

Values Education: How To Love & Appreciate, & How To Translate That Into Human Behavior

Modern day education must espouse Scientific Humanism, a new Science with a Conscience, and a new Technology with a heart.

Valuing our common humanity, as well as our local cultural traditions, provides challenges and guides for designing civic education curricula towards responsible citizenship for our fast-changing world. …

But by values education we do not mean merely teaching about values but rather learning how to value, how to bring knowledge into the deeper level of understandings and insights; into the affective realm of our feelings and emotions, our cherished choices and priorities into loving and appreciating, and how to internalize and translate them into our behavior. Truly, values education is a holistic process and a total learning experience.”

Image courtesy of scottchan at FreeDigitalPhotos.net