Pathways

Life and Education in The Age of Aquarius

The Age of Aquarius has arrived.  It arrived on the heels – or the midst depending on your perspective – of a pandemic and has already presented a whole array of changes from traditional settings and routines. 

The Age of Aquarius started in November/December 2020, depending on how you interpret the stars, and has been entering our world for approximately the last 30-50 years: slowly it moved us away from the Age of Pisces. Some people will argue it began at the end of 2011.  Yet, the Great Conjunction we witnesses in December 2020 is the sign that is now here.  We have seen in the past years a shift in how we do things, what matters, and in general: a sense of “refinding” the path.  That is what happens in the shifting of Ages.  This Age of Aquarius will be with us for about the next 2000 years – so get adjusted!

My whole life I have been arguing and assisting people to “BE” themselves and have seen a future where we are more connected, more focused on humanity in a global sense, and living life to the fullest.  Indeed, there is a consensus that the Age of Aquarius is the age that is more focused on unity, community, networking, a drive towards more quality, and an inner knowing or inner connection to one’s path.  Have we not seen this play out in the past few years?

In this new Age we have also witnessed a shift in education.  The Age of Aquarius is more connected globally, more connected virtually to ensure the understanding of one-another. At the same time, though this connectivity has also shown us challenges, such as a feeling of “loneliness” or “separation” especially among our youth.  A lot of educational resources have been online and the online learning environment continues to grow.  Based on what we have seen, especially in the U.S. educational system virtual segments are integrated in face-to-face settings as if the teachers could not provide the same information personally, we now use videos and song & dance to illustrate lesson plans.  In the past year, most schools in the U.S. went virtual due to the pandemic.  This has shown the lack of equality, the lack of feeling part of a community even more.  Our Youth are suffering from that. 

What we can clearly see is that none of those methods in the U.S. are working and what they show most is: inequality. It illustrates this through:  those who have connectivity and those who don’t; those whose parents are able to homeschool and those who are not; those who can afford a private school, and those who cannot.  All the while, each of those offers distinct challenges as well.  A private school often appears more “progressive” or  “advanced” in the curriculum while focusing intensely on the school “community” to ensure the students do not want to leave; the focus on the Alma Mater as a family.  Public schools work hard on serving a wide range of youth and often face challenges in how to manage that while following the curriculum standard.   Homeschooling ensures a focus on the needs of one or a small group of children, and does not have to follow as stringent a curriculum as the other education institutions, and yet faces challenges of loneliness as well.

Due to experiences in the educational system the idea and path to Homeschooling as increased enormously; not just because of the pandemic but also because parents felt a lack of educational deep dives and diversity in the local schools – whether public or private.  Homeschooling, of course, is not easy and also utilizes the virtual connectivity and the virtual network.  There are umbrella organizations ensuring the “social aspect” of school for the students.  Yet, is that sufficient?

Overall, there has been a clear attempt to find the middle path and it appears it has not yet come to light for this nation that the Golden Way may be very different from this.  The way I see it, as a teacher and a mother from another country, is pretty clear:  too much emphasis on community over individual (BE YOU), focusing too early on school vs BEing a child, and too little family connection because of that.  Not to mention the devastating impact of the core curriculum that is evaluated through standardized exams that completely leave out the individual child’s talents and abilities for the sake of creating an illusion of equality.  Maybe it’s time to revolutionize the approach?

You see, the Age of Aquarius is focused on equality in the sense of valuing every member of the community as a distinct individual, not in the sense of making everyone alike.  The Age of Aquarius focuses on connection and network not just online but simultaneously in the heart and the family – the origin of all.  This means that in this Age we are being challenged to rethink what we are doing, review the drive towards shiny objects that keep us away from our families, and focus on everyone’s needs; everyone’s individual needs with an understanding that we are all part of humanity and no one is better than the other based on their talents.  

Life and Education needs to change more rapidly now to address the needs of our youth, of the next generation.  Why?  Simply because they are ready for it and they have shown us for the past years that what has been provided is not meeting their requirements.  Let’s create an environment where we honor the talents of our youth and each other.  Let’s create a school where children can BE who they are.  Let’s the Age of Aquarius and those visionary Aquarians guide us forward.  Yes, I have seen this school and it serves humanity as I can see what it needs to be – it is an Aquarian Age school.  Let’s do it: together because… we in this together.