The sands of time wait for no one. You either ride the moving train or you are left behind. If you find yourself in a tunnel or at a standstill, don’t be afraid nor be sad: the patience will serve you well when you emerge into the light.

Such is education, in a deep dark tunnel for dare I say centuries now. Many have tried to create new paradigms but have not succeeded in creating but cracks. We, at Hadya Education, believe that a real and undeniable change in how we interpret education is coming, and it’s name, is LearnLife. Take time to read and explore their philosophy. Take time to understand their journey. We are working tirelessly to make a dent and so see the light. So… hop on and join us on our journey.

The labour of patience is bitter, yet the fruits are sweet. Months and months of waiting and working in the silence has finally paid off for the Hadya team when it came to agreeing with LearnLife on a plan, looking forward 6, 9, and 12 months. The next year will, inshalla, be filled with colourful activities and honest work towards changing the world for children for the better; indeed, they are our leaders of tomorrow.

From writing articles and online media to studying the intricate details of what makes the LearnLife paradigm great, we will keep you posted for what we are sure will raise your eyebrows and make you not only interested, but even ready to shed a tear. So… stay tuned and help us make education better for every child, teacher, and parent; heck, whoever cares about a better future!

Best,

Abdulrahman

So we’ve delved into the what and why of revolutionising education. Our beliefs are planted firmly and masts set straight towards Spain, the country of sun, sand and siestas. LearnLife Barcelona is a next generation educational platform and organisation that works tirelessly and around the clock to provide students with the resources and tools to pave for themselves their own learning journeys.

Our first encounter with them was beyond positive, they seemed to the most well grounded educational idea of the 21st Century – at least from those that we’ve encountered. Come 18th March, we will deep dive into an immersion program lasting for a few days run by LearnLife themselves. Excited and with our eyes set firmly on our goal, we will update you on what happens.

We all accept that the world is round and that the sun rises in the East and sets in the West. With same level of clarity and embedded truth as the above, we hold that every parent desires that their children to achieve their true potential. Our journey with LearnLife began along the lines of a similar universal truth, a desire to seek a better educational experience for students that really allows them to express who they are throughout their schooling.

Look back at the history of the 20th century, a time of massive scientific achievements and discovery – the discovery of the neutron in 1932, relativity in 1905 and 1915, and nuclear power; all leading to the Cold War. Can you spot a disconnect? We see at least one: and that is between the speed of development of science and the on the ground reality of how we achieve learning based on the foundational blocks set in the 19th Century. It is no secret among students, nor teachers, nor parents that our current education system is failing… and miserably at that. Let us delve into the reasons why we believe that is the case, and what we imagine the path to be for educational reform and revolution to come out of hibernation.

We live in rapidly changing world – the proof, if we care to look is in front of our eyes, change has become a necessary reality in the gadgets we hold in our hands as it was in the biology it took to survive millions of years ago. Advances in science and technology are increasing at an exponential rate, a rate that is accelerating in proportion to its growth, for those number geeks out there. Physics, mathematics, music, languages, history, geography… sound familiar enough? Really, it should be for any high school graduate of the 21st Century. School as we know it is the base ingredient that we have chosen, and I use my words very carefully, indeed chosen to engender the opportunities of our denizens of tomorrow. Not to state the obvious, though in fact, it is our only window to our future only one generation from now. Our massive strides and yet expected breakthroughs and successes as a human race await and our children are counting on it. From a man on the moon to a man on mars, all is only possible through education, and quote me on it!

Wonder with us, dear reader, if a time traveler from 1923 zinged and poofed himself (or herself) forward a hundred years. What could he recognise today while his friends who are getting good at manually toggling a radiotelophone are waiting patiently for Einstein to discover his theory of special relativity? Could we explain to him our jargon and esoteric scientific terms? Would he appreciate the comfort of fully air conditioned cars, the sitting back on the sofa and using an iPhone to switch through limitless entertainment options from many meters away. Would he believe his ears when he is told that science has conquered many of the diseases that brought fear to populations across the globe? He would certainly ask for a glass of water and a seat when he hears that man has gone to and back from the moon!

As the list of achievements expands as infinitely as the universe, and Nobel prize winners increase in number while the gasps of the audience decrease as they become numb to the technological progress they were exposed to from birth, there remains one place in which our traveler might find a wierd sense of comfort – one place that remains strangely recognisable. That place has, ironically, barely changed one bit in relation to other fields of technological advancements and discovery. That place is where it all started: the classroom.

For all of the incredible achievements that mankind has made in the 20th Century and the near first quarter of the 21st Century, there is one place that has remained effectively static. Of course, besides the smart boards and online work spaces that we use in our classrooms, the essential format has become for many stale and unchanging, clearly past its expiration date. We have tens of young students staring seated and muted towards the top of the room where the teacher takes stage. Whilst curriculums do develop and take a more positive outlook over time in line with our societal goals, the way we deliver education holds stubbornly to the same mundane ways (hold tight… more on this later). In fact, for our reminescing time traveler the modern classroom may induce surprisingly striking memories of his own childhood.

Take home this simple thought experiment, and we hope our time traveler has imbued in you, as he has done in us, a desire to unearth better ways to educate ourselves and our children. Our desire, with HALJ, is to revisit how education is thought about and talked about. We try to keep an open mind and to add value to the system that in many ways made us who we are. We sincerely strive to impact the ways in which our children are taught to become our leaders to the future.

We encourage all readers to hold our hands on this long and exciting  journey to our future as humanity. It is a journey that involves the input and passion of all stakeholders: students, parents, and teachers alike and beyond. Together, we will adapt ourselves to fit, expand, and develop, with time, all of our communities, big and small. It is a journey that I would like to share with all of you henceforth in this blog. Please stay tuned.

Abdulrahman & Vincent

Alarm clock rings, and I press the big button that says “Stop” on my phone. A deep breath. Those few extra few sweet minutes of sleep will be useful, actually absolutely essential for getting through my day.

I wish school didn’t exist. What if all schools suddenly weren’t there, blown up by some freak sand storm or drone attack from the Martians. I can see the ufo’s coming and closing in with their laser precise aiming. Next, they hit Mr.

“Aleeex!” 

“Uhhhh” that’s trouble, I need to sound like I’m ready.

“Just a minute mom!! I’m changing.”

Get out of bed quick, I don’t have much time.

The school day starts as every other. Teachers going on and on about things I have no interest in learning, insisting that it’s for my benefit. The clock seconds seem to get slower in Mrs. Farleys chemistry class. If I could sleep and not get caught, I would. It’s the staying up that is the trouble. I wish school would actually be interesting… the only thing I look forward to is catching up with the lads.

What is your dream? This is a question I ask the many people I meet. In reality, I’m only asking myself.

My dream is to grow, to expand, to learn, and understand. I want to teach, to feed, to enrich, and to plant. I believe everyone is on a journey, but what is mine?

I ask myself questions, I pursue answers only to find that the connections are actually new questions. When do they stop? When should I stop, if at all?

A difficult situation, one I don’t quite get. Sometimes I don’t care, but sometimes I do. Why? It’s because my mind likes to follow my heart – with every beat a new thought.

I wish I could be patient, but sometimes I can’t alone. That is why there are friends, so I can be patient with them. So be patient with them…

You start with one. A burning curiosity. A troubling occurrence. A line in a book that you didn’t quite understand. And so, starts your journey…

You start where you know. Memories usually hold unearthed wisdoms, and so you chart your mind. What about that one thing that happened a few days ago? Or the other that you faintly remember from years in the past? They won’t work, the context was different, the characters were blurry.

You venture to the edge of your mind, to the line between light and darkness, where the dullness begins. Maybe a google search, a conversation with a friend, or a book you have at home will help kick off your mind to new terrain. Futile remain these humble attempts. The question: still alive, still alight.

Friends oversimplify, giving great advice at times, and frustrate you by misinterpreting the gravity in your words. ‘What will you gain by knowing that?’ ‘Just forget about so and so…’ ‘That’s why I always mind my own business…’ This frustrates you at first, but you learn to let it add fuel to your inner fire; your determination grows, you WILL find your answer.

You search frantically. Mind. Memories. Books. People. All read your question so superficially that asking for their help now seems pointless. You don’t want their silly solution, you want yours. And hours at a time pass, while you are perpetuating in your thoughts, unable to stop thinking, yet your brain is aching; unable to give up, yet your heart is sore. You can do nothing, but have patience.

During a time that you dare not count, you continue waiting for your heart and mind to give you their all, for they have not failed you, but they certainly need their recovery. And so you are on your walk. The stone that you cast in the pond causes a wake, and the water settles shortly after. The waterfall screams in your ears; it seems to understand you more than people can. The sky, so elegant, effortlessly shifts and flows as if there’s not a worry in the world. The trees, remain steady, so tightly held in position by their own strength.

The sun shines through the sky, and through the leaves, as two children come by to play. Laughing, they decide to jump in the lake. How innocent, you think, the mishaps of life haven’t touched them yet. And in their good humour, you decide to be inspired and turn back to your question, wherein emerges ever so faint a light…

In an attempt to be fruitful in our endeavours, seekers try and understand the world around them. In we come to the realm of the mind, comparing ideas and connecting disparate concepts to reach what satisfies a deeper and fuller representation of all that we see and do.

Behind every thought that brings mental toil, that uncomfortable feeling that is so addictive to us thinkers, lies an unsatisfactory answer to an unclear question. Our questions guide our thoughts.

An intention is worth more than we think, for therein we come to know the most befitting action. Yet intention is cheap if we do not exert ourselves physically towards those ends. Action and reflection only together can bring knowledge, for when they are left alone they congeal into perpetual ignorance or self loathing. We cannot learn through one without the other.

“Oh Yahya, take the book with strength.” Read it much, and take it with action! Follow its teachings before the opportunity fades. How else can you be sure of the hours you have spent reading?

Be patient with your wisdom and knowledge. These are things that are only given, and never achieved. Journey towards that which you do not know, but never lose sight of how far you have come. Act with what you know before the opportunity dies. Never be among those who are shy or arrogant, for it is not but the shy and arrogant who never learn.