RACHID MOUSTAFY (teacher): “Education is the solution”

RACHID MOUSTAFY is a French and Moroccan citizen born in Casablanca. His parents moved to France in 1968. Education is one of his passions.

Civilisation 2.0

Civilisation 2.0, to me, will begin when we all have understood that providing a good education is imperative. An education that will empower children to cultivate their own secret garden in order to produce the fruit that they will benefit from and that they will share with others. Every human being on Earth will have their own definition of what success is. Children will have to, under the watchful eye of a guardian, literally write out their own definition and their own plan of action. In order to accomplish this, they will need to understand that their calm hearts will give them the right objective, their brains will conceive of the correct method, their hands will accomplish the right actions and their legs will help them to resist and to overcome any obstacle they will certainly meet in the pursuit of this objective. You will have therefore surely understood that what I propose is a holistic approach. It engages a physical as well as a mental effort, emotions as well as the intellect. Everyone will realize that what is really at stake is the establishment of a more peaceful World. We all know that hostility leads to war and war leads to environmental destruction and human suicide. We also know and see that harmony leads to Peace and peace leads to construction and self development.



I must admit right away that when I was a first-year university student, it was not my intention to become a teacher, it was not my primary goal. The world changed dramatically for me when, during the first class I ever gave, a student told me: “Sir, you need to do roll call so you know who’s absent.” I realized that after being a student for many years, I was now at the other side of the desk. From that moment I began a wonderful and passionate love story with teaching. Indeed, as Confucius highlighted: “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” It was a true revelation. Many memories come tumbling into recollection. Today, after more than thirty years of teaching, I now believe that I have become a sort of Education Engineer.

Chance has led me to have an unorthodox career. As a student, it was by sheer luck that I had the opportunity to work at the Statue of Liberty in New York City and to study at two American universities. As a teacher, I was able to teach classes at a primary school level at a time when English became mandatory. I also practiced my profession at middle school, high school and university level. I have had the privilege of teaching, educating and instilling values, knowledge and skills both for students in inner city schools as well as for students from prestigious international French schools abroad.

I am a GARDENER

Tarbilla, a word with many meanings derived from Arabic, means education. One of its meanings is to grow plants. With or without help, children grow, as plants, flowers or trees do. The results can very well be a beautiful Versailles garden or a hostile jungle. For children to live in peace with each other as well as their environment, it is necessary to sow and plant the seeds of PEACE in their hearts. If we leave it up to chance, it would be the advent of an even more dangerous and violent world, dominated by the law of the jungle. Therefore, to be sure that a plant grows upright, it is necessary that we lend it a helping hand, in order for it to be supported, and to be accompanied by a tutor to be raised properly.

My theoretical circle

Because of the most natural of reflexes that is gratitude, I must thank those who, along with good fortune, helped to ensure that I was accepted as an educational trainer. I therefore am grateful to those who helped me become a university educational trainer for students, for novice and experienced teachers within the INSPE.

I also would like to thank all the parents and friends who helped me take my students to Harvard. I was told that it was the first time in the history of France that students from French middle schools and high schools participated in the Model United Nations conferences of Harvard and Yale University.

My theoretical circle is a corpus of solidly consolidated knowledge. The use of the expression “theoretical circle” is deliberate and chosen, favored over the expression “theoretical framework”. In fact, since I have started working in Asia, the inhabitants of this continent have made me realize that a square is pointed and therefore possibly aggressive. A circle, on the other hand, is more open to discussion and to influences.

Education in the 21st century will be global, or it will not be.

Education in the 21st century will be global, or it will not be. Il has therefore become imperative to educate global competence, and at the same time to make education the first defense against radicalization. I am extremely lucky to have met students, parents and professors from many cities, countries and continents, such as Sydney, Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Stockholm, Paris, Casablanca, New York and San Francisco to name a few of the more well-known ones. All these encounters became the subject of many very interesting conversations that would not have been possible if I had not used the taut net represented by the piece of written work you are now holding. Be prepared therefore to be at times disconcerted by the theoretical and cultural contributions that come from dimensions other than yours, by the circular structure of this work. After nearly thirty years of teaching and training, my empirical and theoretical research has been marked by the worry of balance. It was for me a way to rely on certain educational theories whilst placing theoretical concepts to the test against facts.

Quotes

“Education is the solution”

“We all know that hostility leads to war and war leads to environmental destruction and human suicide. We also know and see that harmony leads to Peace and peace leads to construction and self development”

“Civilization 2.0, to me, will begin when we will have understood that providing a good education is imperative, an education that will empower children to cultivate their own secret garden in order to produce the fruit that they will benefit from and that they will share with others”

My theoretical circle is a corpus of solidly consolidated knowledge. The use of the expression “theoretical circle” is deliberate and chosen, favored over the expression “theoretical framework”. In fact, since I have started working in Asia, the inhabitants of this continent have made me realize that a square is pointed and therefore possibly aggressive. A circle, on the other hand, is more open to discussions and to influences.

Read more information about Rachid Moustafy here: Rachid Moustafy.