Education as if people and the planet mattered

The purpose of education should be to create well-being.

• We should educate in way that places personal well-being at the center of all educational decision-making.
• We cannot achieve personal well-being without also simultaneously promoting economic well-being, social well-being, and
  environmental well-being.
• We must strive to understand the relationships between personal, economic, social and environmental well-being.

In schools, we need to:

1. Make learning enjoyable. Create opportunities for students to follow their interests and express their creativity.
2. Make learning relevant (see number one above).
3. Put economics into perspective. The purpose of an education should not be to support economies–economies should support people.
4. Promote the understanding that nature provides the ultimate source of wealth and well-being.
5. Re-examine competition amongst individuals, groups and nations.
6. Use nature as teacher; not ignore 3.8 billion years of research and design.
7. Understand the limits of knowledge, technology, and growth within a finite biosphere.
8. Measure what’s important and understand that what is important is not always measurable.
9. Teach integratively. Reality does not neatly fit into disciplines.
10. Understand the unwritten curriculum; some of our most powerful lessons are unintentional.