Ridiculous question right? Of course students and teachers should be happy. Everyone deserves happiness. But do we design our lessons, classrooms and schools around the premise of happiness? Schools were created for learning. To gain knowledge that will help individuals become productive citizens and well-rounded adults. They were structured to provide opportunities for social and peer interaction. But schools were not organized to create a platform for happiness. Why?
When we as humans are happy we feel fulfilled and our purpose becomes more clear. We find our way to the shelves of information about our interests. We study things that enlighten us and challenge us. We take a path towards a field that will provide us joy and stability- in most cases. At least we believe they will. But, when we are given opportunities to test the waters and seek different avenues of information, we tend to find what works best for us. Lucrative or not.
When we as students are presented with questions and situations where we ourselves can find the answers- we tend to be more intrigued. The answers tend to be more honest and meaningful to us. When we are asked to think for ourselves, push ourselves, fail and rethink, analyze and reflect- we get a sense of ourselves deeper than any book could instill. We find happiness in the struggle.
When we are learning just past our capacity, we feel a sense of urgency. This desperation, the fuel for our endeavor of achievement. Our goals are both personal, and deeply ingrained in our psyche. Our work ethic is often gathered from experience and parental influence. But the assemblage of our drive, our motivation and flow happens, because of how we are allowed to learn. Allowed to learn, yes. When we are given choice and opportunity to contextualize and organize a system of learning we know works best for us- it matters more than anything.
This makes us happy. It helps us feel in control and confident. It creates a platform on which we stand. Which we can rise to a challenge upon, or sit tight and watch things unfold upon. This platform is as large or small as we require. It gives us a safe haven. A secure vantage point to be able to see the bombardment of new information, before it is launched. We expect the barrage, we just feel better when we get a warning before it happens.
Often in school, students don’t get the opportunity to sign the warranty. They just have to prepare to catch the hazard vaulted at them. The hazard of learning in a time where there is so much uncertainty and doubt. But when we stop and allow our students to find the right pen and sign the dotted line, we give them control of the paperwork. We are asking them, “How do you need to be presented this information?” We are telling them “The warranty gives you room for rethinking.”
It is their paperwork after all. Getting them to read the fine print, that takes skill. That takes subtle persuasion that happens, when we as teachers, step back, and let them read. Let them choose to be in charge. It is empowering to feel in charge. To feel the heft of leadership of oneself. When students feel grounded, purposeful and happy- they are open for new information. They feel they can handle it. They accept it willingly and this gives them the power.
In other words, power helps us feel pride and confidence and this in turn, helps us feel positive and happy. Eager to seek out more opportunities to feel the same. Shouldn’t this be the goal of education? To simply provide opportunities for self-expression and self-advocacy, so happiness arises and sticks. A happy person , tends to be positive and hopeful. This leads to curiosity and discovery and then learning. Not fleeting knowledge, but substantial, enduring growth.
Students are overwhelmed and bogged down in a quagmire of virtual isolation, or in class distancing- either way they feel unbalanced. When we feel unbalanced, we are spending all our time adjusting to the tilt- and not paying attention to the scenery. We want students to connect with the scenery- that is the lesson. That is the activity. That is the interaction and collaboration. That is ultimately happiness.
Should students and teachers focus more on happiness than mere learning? I think so because without a certain level of positivity and optimism- learning is always stunted. It is always just out of reach. How can we bring more happiness into our classrooms as teachers? That is up to individual teachers. I find certain things work for me and my students, while you might have an entirely different repertoire- or we might just have a lot in common.
But what matters most, especially these days, is to find the moments. The positivity bubbles, the sparkles and fanfare that lightens spirits and brings smiles to faces. The times where students can just have a little fun. Be kids. Socialize. And coat it all with a layer of learning that does not hinder happiness but that heightens it. This will make you happy, students happy and school a happy place indeed.
Isn’t that what we need now, today, every day- positivity, kindness and compassion. Because when we have it, sticking to us like lint, we carry it around with us in our pockets, on our sleeves, and our collars. This lint eventually becomes threaded and intertwined with more lint and then lying before us, we have a massive web of positivity and happiness. We can’t be happy every moment, but we can look for ways to be happy more often. Happiness takes awareness. Be aware of the lint.
So before you toss the lint, wriggle it in your fingers a bit. Put it in your pocket with your change- and it will come in useful when you need it. Just reach for it. Happiness is not a permanence, but it is sustainable. In schools it is achievable. It is the embodiment of self-fulfilment and challenge, acceptance and achievement and above all else- listening and rethinking. Learning truly happens when it is entangled with laughter and relevance. When happiness is built into the curriculum- the curriculum is more impressive, more meaningful and well....indelible.
What does happiness have to do with learning? Everything. What is happiness? The joy of figuring things out. The pride in accomplishment. Knowing you are loved and appreciated. Feeling connected. Enjoying the tasks you are presented with. Given the opportunity to choose and feel empowered. To be heard. To be valued. Education is all of these things. We just need to remember to focus on them during this time of upheaval- because happiness leads to learning and that is why we are here right?
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