“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.”
-Aristotle
Incredibly proud and honored to have had the opportunity to work with Stanford Video on this project for SCOPE (Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education). The opportunity to transform the hard work of Frank Adamson and his teams research into an animated video, very well may be the most important motion design work I’ve done this year.
Please like, love, and share this, like it’s the most important thing you do all year. Because it probably is. What’s more important than education? You might be thinking food, financial stability and health for your family. But with education, we can teach a village to fish, we can educate a young adult about financial bookkeeping, and we can learn more about the medicine needed to help your ailing family member.
Education is of the utmost importance and should always be our primary focus as humans. We’re curious beings. We like to learn. Our civilization has advanced thanks to education and innovation in technology, exploration, and developing new scientific methods. Without science, we wouldn’t have mobile phones, Ben Franklin would have never attached a key to a kite, and you wouldn’t be reading this post.
Senior Policy and Research Analyst Frank Adamson and his team studied private and public investment models of education, which you can read about and purchase here. After having the opportunity to turn their research into a short animation, I’m convinced we should be investing in a public model of education. This will bring fair and equal educational opportunities to everyone. It will support educators, allowing them to hone their craft, and earn a proper living wage. As a result, teachers will improve their skills, their teaching will improve, students will learn more, and as we see in the animation, scores will improve. We need look no further than the stark comparison of New Orleans, and the state of Massachusetts, which have drastically different models of education. Massachusetts has some of the highest test scores in America.
We’ve now seen how private investment models fail us as a society. Private charter schools often leave people behind, by selecting the ‘good and easier to teach’ students. Children who cannot afford private schooling in areas of the world, do not receive the same educational opportunities as those with a financial advantage. For a detailed info-graphic, please look at more of the research here.
No matter what your political beliefs are… whether you think America needs to be made ‘great again’, always has been great, or never was great – we have to start with education and use it to build a foundation for our society. From the first day we open our eyes in this world, we are learning. There is no time like the present. The best way to promote a well-founded society, is in education. Yes, this happens by teaching math, science, english, arts, and history. But most importantly, TOLERANCE, LOVE, KINDNESS, CARE, SUPPORT, RESPECT, and COMPASSION. These fundamental traits make us human; they can be taught in preschool and lay the foundation work for a progressive, well functioning, and safe society. By continuing to invest in our teachers and students throughout their education, we can be sure we are investing in the success of our communities. We can no longer afford to leave others behind, whether it’s your next-door neighbor, or someone 1800 miles away. By denying educational opportunity, we are hurting ourselves. It has far reaching repercussions and scary consequences. Call your state representative and let them know we must move to a public investment model for our schools.
