Record numbers of children are dropping out of school. This is attributed to a range of factors. One publication blames the severe lockdowns over the covid period where children are struggling to readjust to full-time study. Another focuses on lack of academic achievement. Then there are emotional and mental issues. Some of these reasons have validity, others do not. Of the relevant factors, the questions must be asked: why is there a lack of achievement? Why are there emotional and mental health issues?

One study hits the nail on the head. Nearly half of the students reported dropping out due to uninteresting classes (Bridgeland et al., 2006, p. iii). Children are just not being engaged. I spent 6 years in the education system working as a casual relief teacher. In this capacity I encountered children from a host of schools and a host of ages. I noticed many things. I saw children enter the system with imagination and a sense of adventure and leave devoid of fun and life. I saw a brilliant artist in tears because she couldn’t do maths. I saw children who were disruptive labelled as having ADHD but were mostly agitated because they were bored. Some children were so disengaged that they simply refused to do the work. Also I remember my own schooling. I remember suicidal thoughts in my final year of school due to the pressure of exams and assignments. I remember getting in trouble for not doing homework. I remember avoiding school because I was being left behind.

Somehow I got through and I became a teacher because I wanted to inspire children. When I left teaching I had come to the conclusion that the current education system breeds mediocrity and is a waste of time that only serves to crush the spirit. I wonder how much of this is on purpose. The system drains children and I am reminded of the Rockefeller desire for nation of workers not thinkers. Whatever the reason, something has to change. Education needs to be overhauled.

The school of the future will be radically different. What the current system does not acknowledge is that all children are capable of genius. Genius flourishes when children are engaged by what they love. Rather than a sterile curriculum, guide children toward self directed learning where children learn what interests them at their own pace and without the need to be constantly assessed. When a child is engaged there is a passion to learn.

Imagine children delving into subjects that excite them. Imagine sports fanatics learning about the rules of the game, playing the game and filming the game, learning about how to negotiate contracts, researching their favourite players. Then being able to play the game whenever they felt like it. Or writers researching favourite authors, being able to sit outside in the sun watching clouds while letting their imaginations run wild or learning how to attract agents and get published. Or artists being able to paint and draw all day and visit galleries to view the original works of their favourite artists. The possibilities are endless.

The school of the future not only lets children engage with their passions, it will have parents doing inner work. Most people are ignorant of their true power. Inner work is necessary to access this power. Everything a person needs to know for their evolution comes from within. All gifts and talents come from within. Parents will access inner gifts by processing their shadows, clearing their chakras and allowing the flow of divine energy into themselves and the family. This divine energy is the signature of the soul and embodies the soul’s uniqueness. It is a soul’s true power.

Something has to change in the current system if children are to be inspired to learn. Self directed learning where children research passions at their own pace is the first step. Realising that everything people need comes from within is the next step. Parents work to together to release their soul’s power and with it innate gifts and talents of both themselves and their children. If families adopt these two steps then there will be no need for children to sit in a boring classroom hour upon hour, being dictated to by an authority figure and learning subjects that have no relevance. Instead there will be a society of empowered, conscious, passionate children wielding their genius to cure this world. And what a wonderful legacy that would be.

References

Bridgeland, M, Dilulio, J & Morison, K 2006, The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts, Gates Foundation, viewed 6 April 2025, https://docs.gatesfoundation.org.