Raising the Next Generation

Melissa (9) and Kengo (12) attend a traditional Tokyo school: rigid schedules, standardized tests, and classrooms that feel frozen in time. Yet outside, the world is shifting faster than any bell can ring. We must reimagine elementary and middle schools as sanctuaries where children learn to become great, centered, caring, and ethical human beings instead of mindless little robots full of meaningless facts, dates and math formulas.

In today´s world, where AI is becoming the steward and vault of knowledge, there has got to be a better way to move forward when it comes to the future we want for our kids. If AI holds the facts, then the future of society will truly require of humans that have grown and developed within courses based on values, empathy, compassion, ethics and creativity. To me, this is the evolution schooling must reflect.

From Parroting to Reflection

Melissa comes home with endless math drills. Kengo recites mountains of historical dates. But what they aren’t learning is just as crucial.

Why do children learn? It's gotta be more than just getting good grades. School should fuel a lifelong love of inquiry in those little minds..

What does our society want children to become? Not just a test-taker, but a compassionate leader, an ethical and moral, positive role model and law abiding citizen.

That´s why if the school system decided to attach, let's say… a designed, beginner type of Socratic inquiry structure at every grade level, where they would be practicing and thinking through questions like, "What does fairness mean when playing a video game?" Well, society could start to train young minds to question assumptions and grow in moral clarity.

Emotional and Community Intelligence

I believe that children today need more than only math and science. They need:

Emotional Literacy: Vocabulary for feelings and strategies to manage conflict.

Empathy Labs: Role-playing exercises, where Melissa steps into Kengo’s shoes to resolve a classroom dispute.

Circle Time with Elders: Inviting local artisans and farmers and artists to share stories about life, creativity, about harmony with the natural world.

Integrating Indigenous Wisdom in the classroom

For example, imagine a unit that was co-designed with Kogui teachers - and any other indigenous communities from Colombia - where millennia wisdom could be a part of the classroom. For example, 

Mother Earth Workshops where students can learn traditional farming techniques that honor soil health and biodiversity.

How about story telling time, where students listen and then share their thoughts based on an origin story from an indigenous community like the Kogui. After that they could start to write their own narratives about their own earth relationship experience.

How about having moments of reflection and ethics based on practice. For example, daily reflections on how personal choices, like food and trash, or plastic and paper, or diversity and acceptance can actually affect the relationships within the larger community.

These should be designed to become core courses. As essential as reading and writing.

Creativity as Core Curriculum

Art and Music Every Day: What if Melissa were to experiment with traditional Japanese instruments? It would just be her spending her own personal time with these objects. What if Kengo could explore digital storytelling and imagination without constraints. No grades, just open ended exploration.

Hands-on projects and Green Labs: Children could be outside getting their hands dirty by touching the land, dirt or water. From building biodegradable planters to coding simple eco-sensors - using AI Agents tools - that could spark wonder and resilience and planning and focus.

Assessment Reimagined

Today, standardized tests reduce children to scores. How can this really be the only way to measure a child's innate abilities? Instead, we need to focus on having Growth Portfolios. For example, where Kengo can collect or have a scrapbook of reflections, ideas and thoughts. Or a portfolio of art and music with samples of drawing and songs.

What if a student could just demonstrate growth in knowledge and experience by presenting his or her  completed empathy project. It could be about anything. For example, the student worked on a journal written from the point of view of someone else. Maybe a person with a disability, or a kid who just moved to the country, a stray dog, a classmate from a different religion, etc. Could you imagine this kind of learning?

What about a final exam based on children sharing how they’ve contributed to the school's or their building or their community's collective well-being? 

In Conclusion

Melissa and Kengo deserve more than following an outdated school system - that as of today is beginning to feel the pressure of accessible always ready knowledge - without any of the forced and graded teaching methods of the past. Today children deserve a school that:

Champions character over compliance, that nurtures wonder instead of regurgitating facts, that builds ethical, earth caring citizens and not just future workers.

When education becomes about human flourishing, every lesson, from math to mythology, becomes a step toward raising centered, caring, and ethical individuals ready to guide our planet and society.

Isn’t that the future we all want for our children?

Thanks for reading. Abrazos.

Diego Rojas