A letter, which I sent to two cousins of mine: husband and wife, both retired teachers.
Question: Why don't we learn Personal Development in school and high school?
My dear Jacqueline,
My dear Paul,
I am preparing a conference on Personal Development, which I will give shortly.
The question I asked is of particular interest to me, and I would like to hear your opinions as retired teachers.
In my blog yosipatt.com I broach this subject, in the following post, among others: How to cope with issues in life?
Don't you think Personal Development should be taught?
Isn't it more important than biology, for example? All those who will not study this subject will quickly forget everything they were taught in high school. As for those who will really need it later, they will have to relearn it from the beginning in university anyway.
On the other hand, Personal Development will interest everyone throughout their life.
Questions like:
- How to manage your emotions?
- How to work efficiently?
- How to cope with anxiety, fatigue, boredom, overwork, addictions, laziness, procrastination, shyness, obsessive thoughts and depression?
- How to improve your concentration?
These questions find their answers, which are not very complicated to learn and which can change the course of our life completely.
When I say that we don't learn these things at school, it's actually a lot worse than that! A lot of bad teachers take the liberty of giving us stupid advice on this matter.
To take just one example: how many times have I heard this reproach: "Why do you complain about always being tired when you actually don't do anything, neither in class nor at home?".
Well, now, Mr. Professor, that one can be perfectly tired (psychological fatigue), precisely because one does not do anything which "fills his soul", whereas people who are always active, who work with passion, are hardly ever tired. I know something about it to be passed in both states (active and inactive).
But what does the poor student deduce? I am terribly tired, and annoyed by what my teacher told me. But then, if I start to work, according to their logic I will be even more tired. So what? I'm just a good-for-nothing!
It seems obvious to me that I am not the first to ask myself this question. What do you think? What do your colleagues think? What does the Ministry of National Education say about this?
Kisses,
Yossi