Dr. Alexiou Thomai
The crisis we are experiencing nowadays
is first and foremost a crisis of moral values.
Values stem from our education.
The cultivation we all receive.
Education and principles start predominantly within the family.
On a second level, they stem from school and then pass on to our society.
Believe me, if we prioritize education even during periods of adversity,
miracles will happen.
And, believe me, it is never too late for miracles.
I believe a lot in teaching, but I believe even more in education.
In the morals and values of individuals and their holistic development.
According to Plato, education can change and define lives.
It's like a second sun for people.
So, let's start with the first part, which has to do with the family.
It is the main core of the society, after all.
What do we need to provide for a child
in order to ensure a proper and balanced upbringing?
Love?
Care?
Protection? Security?
Indeed, but these are self-evident.
I don't know of any parents who don't love their children.
With the exception of clinical cases, of course.
What children really need to grow up in a proper and balanced way
is roots and wings.
Roots, to feel that they belong somewhere,
but also wings, to feel that they can fly.
This expression was first used around 1920
and was then used in 1950 by Carter,
but, really, it doesn't matter who said it first.
What matters is that something as old as this
is considered contemporary and timeless.
Roots and wings, quite contradictive.
From this, I will move on to my personal story to convince you.
I grew up in Kastoria. Yes, I was lucky.
My schoolyard and house had a view of the lake,
the swans, and the ducks.
The value of this experience for my life and sense of taste
is something I realized much later.
Because some things define our lives, but we recognize them much later.
The value of our childhood environment
is something that recurs over and over again.
Even during the difficult times in our lives.
I am lucky enough to travel a lot.
But every time I go back to Kastoria,
this sense of "coming home" is beyond all other feelings.
You go home for a while.
Therefore, you go back to your self.
I remember when I was young, while studying
my mother would quietly bring me some sage tea or orange juice.
Even today, these smells remind me of my childhood.
They bring back feelings of
warmth, comfort, security, love.
My father had his own business and worked long hours.
Still, I can't forget that he asked our mother
to keep both me and my sister up at night for fifteen minutes
so that he could play with us, at least for fifteen minutes every day.
Even today, thinking about this moves me deeply.
I remember when I entered university,
the Department of Early Childhood Education in Ioannina,
my mother had a very typical "mum" reaction.
Some of you, especially the younger ones,
will recognize this reaction.
She said "It's so far away, you aren't going anywhere!".
Of course, my father's reaction was
"No matter how far it is, you are going there to study."
Four years later, I went to England to do my master's degree.
My panic-stricken mother came to help me "settle in".
The very first day, I remember, she made a tempting suggestion
to spend some tuition money on shopping or whatever I wanted
and go back home to Kastoria the next day.
My father's instant reaction to this suggestion was
"Send your mother back home packing on the first available flight."
Which is what I did.
A few years later, I received a full scholarship at a U.K. university
for a three-year PhD.
It was September and I was working in Ioannina.
My parents lived in Kastoria.
I called to let them know and my mom had again a typical reaction.
"You can't leave for three years now, we just brought you winter rugs."
Unbeatable arguments, as you can see.
My father told me not to miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
From these stories, you can tell who gave me roots and who gave me wings.
Both of which are important, however.
About three years later, I returned to Greece with my PhD.
I gave up a university position there, because I wanted to contribute here.
For about five years, I was working in different universities in Greece.
Until I found a full-time position.
I want to say this for all the young people to hear.
I had no contacts or parents in the academic world.
In fact, my father only finished primary school.
From the place that I am now, I can say he's my greatest teacher.
He gave me the strongest wings in the world.
My mother comes from a similar educational background.
But she raised me not only with milk,
but with "milk and honey", as Fromm rightly says.
With roots so strong, I always find ways and reasons to go back home.
What I want to say is, if a family is solid and strong,
nothing can shatter it.
No child has a problem on its own. A child develops a problem,
if not properly guarded.
From a very young age, I learned that I don't need expensive brands
to feel that I am of value and, above all, to be happy.
I also learned that education means thinking on your own
and not always following the crowd.
Only when you manage not to care about the image, thoughts,
and opinions of others,
will you manage to isolate the noise and listen to your own voice.
It's not always easy.
As my grandma used to tell me, when she was alive,
"Don't ask me for advice about the future, but only about the present,
because I have a lot to offer you from the past."
"But if you ask me about the future, it is you who must decide."
"Because your sun looks to the east, while mine to the west."
So, let's move on to school education.
Let's see what's going on here.
A month ago, we received an official report.
It foreshadows a bright future for education in Greece.
I really believe that this can happen under certain conditions.
Indeed, our school drop-out rates are low compared to other European countries.
This means that our children don't leave school.
I am very proud of this, as well as of the fact that,
according to the report, our educators are highly qualified.
Especially in this time of crisis that we are going through today,
offering high-quality public education,
for free, as I would like to highlight,
is something actually quite significant.
On the other hand, having travelled to multiple universities and schools
across the world,
I can personally assure you that our schools,
the education quality we offer,
as well as the qualification level of our educators,
are by no means of lesser value compared to schools abroad.
We are vastly inferior though with regard to infrastructure.
But there are reasons behind that.
What I would also like to mention
are the countless opportunities we offer for further education.
It is by no means incidental, and it is indeed inconcievable,
how much progress has been done in this section.
For instance, with MOOCs, distance learning programmes, and so on,
access to education and training has been simplified.
Namely, someone living in a remote village on a Greek mountain
can enter an educational platform and without any charge, or for very little
attend courses from Yale, Sydney, or anywhere else.
These were inconceivable in the past.
So, we have open access to education.
To make a comment based on my field of studies,
I'd like to say that one of the reasons for such opportunities
is the fact that we have a high level of English language knowledge.
The language of access to the world.
Recently, since we are trying to emphasize English language teaching,
English is now being taught from the first grade of primary school.
I need to say, though, that with one teaching hour
we will see no difference.
These are not breakthroughs. They are half-measures.
That was my field-specific comment. Let me ask something.
Since we have a good education and our educators are of a high level,
why is cultivation giving us such a hard time?
So, let's move on to the school.
Do we have love in schools?
Are we ever going to add it to our reformation,
as the dearly departed teacher, Mr. Tsolakis, used to say?
Our schools are, unfortunately, even today, a sports field of grades.
Their objectives are exam-based.
The recent report also pointed out
that less emphasis is to be placed on exams.
We place too much emphasis on them.
Therefore, we keep having obsessions.
Grammar, maths, certificates of course, and technology more recently.
We ask children to memorize information they will probably never need.
We ask for one question only one correct answer.
How against Socrates is this in learning?
We essentially ask children to do things they won't need.
Children lose their childhood. They lose unique talents in school.
In our schools, children suffocate in their talents.
Picasso used to say:
"It took me four years to learn how to paint like Raphael
and an entire lifetime to learn how to paint like a child."
Yet we insist.
We dictate pictures, shapes, letters
we instruct them on how to logically remember history.
God forbid they change anything in history.
Mr. Trivizas is right when he says
that what we need to cultivate in schools is imagination
and innovation.
This is a talent that we unfortunately strangle.
I remember my godchild, back when she was three or four years old,
we were drawing together,
and I noticed that out of five markers, she was only using two: red and black.
No blue, light blue, or green. Nothing.
I became alarmed.
I was looking between the lines for any other issues.
I talked to her in person and asked:
"Sweetheart, why don't you use more colours?"
"Why only black and red?"
She looked at me like I asked the most stupid thing in the world.
In her childlike naivety she said:
"But my other markers have dried out, godmother."
I didn't even think of the simplest thing.
So, let's move on to the practical part.
What can we do to add cultivation in education?
What can we do to guard children inside schools?
Disciplines change and what we are teaching now
might be outmoded in five or ten years.
This is how things are, because everything runs fast.
Humanitarian studies, however, never dissapoint.
We need life lessons, as Mr. Yosafat has been saying for years,
and we must begin in Kindergarten.
Love lessons.
Teach children empathy, ethics, respect for the other,
what is actually the other, what is finally emotional intelligence.
We need lessons of basic world knowledge that children will always need.
From what to eat,
because even eighteen-year-olds don't know how to eat,
to what fills their heart during hard times.
We emphasize all the rest so much, that we forget about the basics.
Music, dance, culture, arts.
These add quality to our life and can truly help us
during hard times.
Of course, we also need digital education and Internet lessons, especially today.
I could, but I wouldn't like to mention the emphasis we place on technology
in today's schools.
Many dangers lurk, I can confirm that,
but I am not among those against technology.
I am, however, against one-sided obsession.
In robotics lessons only, emotions cannot be cultivated.
I'm moving on to the heart of cultivation in education.
This is the teacher.
Everybody in this space teaches, but we forget that we are educators.
All teachers, in all levels, and of all fields,
are above all educators, and therefore role models.
Their influence is permanent through time.
To convince you, close your eyes, and think of your favourite teacher.
Of your childhood.
You all recalled someone, a name.
Do you know why this happens?
Because, simply, nobody forgets a good teacher.
If I ask each one of you why you remember this particular teacher,
you won't say you remember them because of maths or grammar.
Children don't remember what we taught them,
but they forever remember how we made them feel.
Therefore, the inspiring teacher, the one who envisions,
knows that they are don't just teach, they educate.
They facilitate learning and they educate.
This is their main role.
Moreover, they accept mistakes and failures,
because they are part of the next success.
Many people fail until they succeed.
Therefore, we don't condemn mistakes. We embrace them.
Finally, the right teacher knows that teaching stems from the heart,
not from the brain.
So, the example is always more effective than the lesson.
Finally, and to conclude...
to change everything, not just the education and family,
but also the society, in order for it to offer the child
roots and wings,
we must change our mindset and take on our responsibilites.
Change, re-evaluation of role models, based on humanitarian values and culture,
to have meaningful education.
Let's cultivate ourselves, enough with our image.
Exupéry told us this years ago.
The meaningful is invisible to the eye.
The question is...
The parents, educators, citizens of this world...
Do we want to give our children roots and wings?
I'm asking you.
Do we want to? I didn't hear you, louder.
Mediocrity and desire don't go together.
Let's get pumped, open our eyes, open our heart above all,
and let's take on life differently.
Nothing mediocre fits or is worth it for our children.
Thank you.