(July 8, 2013 at 8:48 pm)Rayaan Wrote: I want to add to this thread that while you teach your children to reason with their minds, you should also teach them to reason with their hearts, which is more difficult. Maybe the latter doesn't have much meaning or significance to you, but I mention it as a Muslim because it is one of those things that is consistently emphasized in the Sufi teachings and in many other traditional beliefs and philosophies as well; the head and the heart have to work in tandem in order to cultivate the intellect. Therefore, in the words of Aristotle, "Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all."
Let me try to rephrase into words that make more sense to me in order to see if I understand you correctly.
What you're saying is to develop their emotional intelligence as well as their intellect?
That is something I also plan to focus on with my son, especially since there is a history of mental health problems. I see it is an important balance to traditional education, because I believe that teaching kids early on about their emotions helps develop psychological stability and their ability to empathize.
I mean, what good is it to teach a kid that we're on a blue marble revolving around a star on the distant arm of a spiral galaxy if we don't teach them to understand the feelings that sentiment creates?
