I Am Different but I Am Still Part of this Society

The topic that I will talk about today is quite sensitive and it took me a long time to write about it. This was mainly due to my continuous reflections about how and what I can say in this blog. To begin with, recently I was invited to join an Algerian Facebook group about the rights of children and adolescents in the Algerian society (Child Protection Algeria) where many people share their insecurities and bad/traumatic childhood experiences. Most of the stories were related to bullying, domestic violence, sexual harassment, ephebophilia, paedophilia, raping and other inhuman acts. I cannot re-narrate any of those group posts but the common element that I could notice is that these people have become aware of what happened to them and they tried to start self-healing through sharing their anecdotes, attending psychologists and other formats of trauma recovery. But then something dawned on me and I have started to question many things: what about those children who are not aware of what happened to them, those who are different and may not have even received education about these topics, what about children with disabilities? What about disadvantaged children?!!

I spent days thinking about it especially after I saw someone asking about people with disabilities such as Down's Syndrome who may have faced abuse or sexual harassment during their childhood and could not talk about it because they may have never been introduced to or are not informed about these subjects and social issues (talking about the Algerian context in particular). Every story made me cry to a point that I started doubting humanity and human values. I felt that I could do nothing more than watching or writing this blog post. However, after days of self-discussions, I have understood and realised that there is a need to raise this issue in the Algerian society. There is a need to widely open people’s eyes towards what would happen to their children as well as the necessity of sexual abuse education and sexual abuse prevention programmes. I know that there are many limitations that may not support this initiation as I, indeed, do not know how to start but what I conspicuously know and am critically cognizant of is that I cannot keep silent. Overall, I believe that everyone should talk and voice their inner thoughts and experiences … Everyone should be made aware of this hidden danger… This is what we need in an inclusive society!

A Letter to My PhD

Dear Sweet Enemy,

We have just started our journey towards the unknown and I have been always wondering what kind of relationship do we have with each other (love, friendship, enmity or what)? You have colonised every neuro in my brain and soon you will take over my body. Is it love or hatred? I cannot answer this as although I get depressed whenever I look at you, I cannot spend a day without checking on you. I think you have become my life partner since I have prioritised you over many things that used to be primordial in my life. But are you really my life partner or my enemy? I have to say that I am not sure why I am writing this to you although you are sitting next to me! I have to confess that being in a relationship with you is probably poisonous but who has said that every relationship should be delightful and healthy?

I know I am being a bit harsh in my wordings but with whom I can be honest more than you! You love me, I know but you always trouble me, you make me confused, you never say what you want, you always put me under pressure, in a maze where I am always running to find my way out but I could not find it yet. Your attitudes have never been transparent towards me as you show love and antipathy at the same time. What solution can we find to make our relationship more stable? Indeed, we should not because I adore this mysterious lifestyle and I would probably become bored if you become nicer! Funny but this is reality, I love our daily battles and I am wondering who would be defeated at the end? Or why defeating each other, we are one soul and we will be both the winners whatever happens in the future.

My feelings towards you are constantly fluctuating, however, there is one thing that I am quite confident about which is that I will never give up on you.

To my love or I should probably say my beloved enemy

Identity and Adolescence in a Digiphrenic Era

“Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.” 

― Oscar Wilde

“I belong to the people I love, and they belong to me--they, and the love and loyalty I give them, form my identity far more than any word or group ever could.” 

― Veronica Roth, Allegiant

“I'm not really sure which parts of myself are real and which parts are things I've gotten from books.” 

― Beatrice Sparks, Go Ask Alice

What is identity? The meaning of identity has changed over the years as the more developments human beings achieve, the more likely that these changes affect and shape our identity. It conventionally refers to “people’s concepts of who they are, of what sort of people they are, and how they relate to others” (Hogg and Abrams 1988, p.2). It uncovers the peculiarities and features that distinguish every individual from another one. These traits may include religion, ethnicity, gender, age, language, culture, etc. However, globalization, interculturality and technological developments have reshaped the meaning and the construction of one's identity. Nowadays generation has got different identities and sometimes multiple ones which make you feel that we are living in a schizophrenic era.

The 21^st century has revolutionised the basic traits of human’s daily life due to its versatile and digitalized characteristics including the Internet, technological devices, connected lives, glocality, etc. This has basically caused many critical changes within one’s identity especially teenagers’ who are mostly affected by the facets of the virtual worlds on social media. Teens are faced by myriads of influences on the virtual world which impacts and manipulates how they view, develop and present themselves. The utilisation of the Internet and Social Networking Sites (SNSs) created a new wave of identities called digital or electronic ones. This identity type is comprised of certain attributes such as username, password, and other personal information that should be all uploaded on the Internet in order to create a personal profile that represents one’s individual identity. Accordingly, this step is the first stage towards forming and establishing a new identity.  

Although it may seem moronic to believe that social media may affect adolescents’ group and individual identities, the fetishization of being attached to the Internet has changed the function of one’s identity. Facebook, Twitter, Viber, and other SNSs are playing a pivotal role in the development of teenagers’ personality and identity.  Being offline in an adolescent life is totally different from being online which can lead to serious problems regarding identity construction and development resulting in the creation of multiple and deceiving identities. In this perspective, Greenfield says “this group doesn't differentiate. They see their real-time identity and their online identity as identical when in fact they're not". Another important factor is that technology and the Internet do not allow its users to form one unique identity as there are several selves that are interacting online and offline. Hence, the user cannot know which one of these selves is its real identity causing a serious enigma. 

The problem does not stop here as the multiplicity of selves has brought into being a new phenomenon called “Digiphrenia” or “Digital Schizophrenia”. The latter refers to the state of being in a dual personality, lost between the virtual and the real world. Douglas Rushkoff defines it as “the experience of trying to exist in more than one incarnation of yourself at the same time. There’s your twitter profile, your email inbox and all these sort of multiple instances of you simultaneously and in parallel.”  This mental abnormal activity causes psychological health problems, decreased social and emotional intelligence, low relationship management skills, poor personal and academic self-regulation, etc. The majority of adolescents are vulnerable to digiphrenia as they are the first to be affected due to their excessive use of mobile phones and social media. Hence, it is important to sensitize them vis-à-vis the hazards of being connected all the time and how can social media affect their process of constructing their identity and personality.

As final words, the virtual world is a dangerous cosmos where an individual may lose his/her real self. Conjointly, teenagers have the most susceptible subjectivities as their age does not provide them with the needed experience to face the riskiness of the 21^st century age. As a corollary, parents should be seriously aware of the lineaments of this novel world and its drawbacks that may impact their children in various ways.  Accordingly, Steiener-Adair declares that "a lot of parents think that because they (don't) understand tech, they throw up their hands. You don’t have to know (exactly how technology works) to set the right kinds of limits". Parents should always check after their children and guide them because this newly-digital based world can destroy many adolescents and cause several psychological issues for them.

Autism Spectrum Disorders in Algeria: A Critical Level of Awareness Is Needed

Is it a gift, a talent, a disorder, a disability, a shortage, or a curse? This question used to travel through my head whenever I heard the concept of Autism Spectrum Disorders. ASD is usually “linked to intelligence, level of adaptive functioning, and number of autistic symptoms rather than to the presence of distinct symptoms” (Hollander & Nowinski, 2003, p.17). Some authors tend to describe autism as a developmental disability (Mohammed Salman, 2014) whereas others tend to depict it as a social and communicational inability followed by severe language disorders (Kanner, 1943). Hence, it can be said that people with autism experience and suffer from social interaction dilemmas and communication hindrances. Their physical interactions are not the best, as they may turn around themselves, clap their hands, hit their heads, etc. continuously and it can last for hours. There are different disorders that fall under the umbrella term Autism Spectrum Disorders including Autistic Disorder, Asperger Syndrome, Rett’s Syndrome, Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS), and Childhood Disintegrative Disorder (CDD).

Since the discovery of Autism in 1943, various researchers started digging deeper into the many lineaments that can characterise people with autism. The more they learn, detect and reveal about this mysterious developmental enigma, the wider this disorder’s varying characteristics and subcategories become. In this perspective, many disorders have been discovered in relation to the general concept of Autism Disorder Spectrum. As already mentioned, there are several types that belong to the ASD family which are as follows: 

1- Autistic Disorder: “A severe developmental disorder known popularly as autism that affects a person’s ability to communicate, form relationships with others, and respond appropriately to the environment” (Turkington &  Anan, 2007, p.29).

2- Rett's Disorder: “This rare neurological disorder occurs in girls, who show normal development before regressing. The initial symptoms include some that are associated with autism” (Turkington & Anan, 2007, p.145).

3- Asperger's Disorder: “A condition characterized by sustained problems with social interactions and social relatedness, and the development of restricted, repetitive patterns of interests, activities, and behaviors” (Turkington &  Anan, 2007, p.9).

4- Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS): “A type of Autism Spectrum Disorder characterized by significantly impaired social interactions or stereotyped behaviors without all of the features of autism or Asperger's Syndrome” (Turkington &  Anan, 2007, P.123).

5- Childhood Disintegrative Disorder (CDD): “A rare yet serious condition in which a child older than age three stops developing normally and regresses to a much lower level of functioning, typically after a serious illness, such as an infection of the brain and nervous system” (Turkington &  Anan, 2007, p.51).

Being separated from schizophrenia in the 1940’s, autism started to take a new departure in the word of developmental disorders. However, this was not the case in the Arab world in general and Algeria in particular as this kind of disorders has usually been related to either evil eyes or curses. This religiously based view has conquered the Arabs’ mindset for a long time which has led them to think that the ASD can be cured and remedied by utilising some traditional spiritual dependent practices. Accordingly, any child with ASD in our society suffers from refusal and complaints because of being differently gifted. Generally, schools in Algeria and nurseries reject autistic learners claiming that their special case can cause many problems and affect other children negatively (Autism in Algeria, 2016). Almost one hundred thousand Algerian autistic children are not being taken into consideration neither by the society nor by the educational system as there are only few associations and private schools that can be counted using one’s fingers. This negligence is so infuriating and provocative as this strange and inferior look towards autistic people cannot be accepted since they are human beings who need care and schooling as well in order to develop themselves and have a living in this politically and economically unfair cosmos. 

Schools in Algeria are public except for few ones which are private and that exist only in the big cities such as Algiers, Oran, etc. We have got only few associations for autism in Algeria which depicts the serious and sorrowful situation making their destiny obscure and unknown. The story does not stop here as people are not really aware of the existence of ASD and its several types in which they refer to kids with autism as mental disable people. Living in such an ungrateful community can lead to some psychological problems for both the child and his/her family since the bizarre and questionable look of the surrounding will not comfort the talented different sight of autistic people. In addition to their fear of socialization and gatherings, others’ comments and unacceptable questions increase their level of apprehension and trepidation, probably leading to uncontrolled behaviour problems and temper tantrums.

ASD in our context is viewed as mental retardation, madness, or dementia instead of a developmental disorder that hinders their communication, social and interactional abilities. Lack of awareness towards ASD and its types is a real issue that should be addressed by the government because this inadvertence and inattentiveness are not to be tolerated anymore. It is true that teaching children with ASD is a challenging task that requires a lot of efforts but the final results are quite satisfactory and rewarding.  Seeing these autistic learners flourishing and shining should the purpose of every individual. As final words, there is not a specific cure that can transform these autistic children from individual with different communication and social issues into normal people. Nonetheless, studies have not stopped as many people believe that one day we will find the final medication that can solve all the problems of people with ASD. While waiting for the cure, we should all collaborate to help them have a normal rewarding life where they can dream, play, and pursue their aims. 

Do We Really Need Schools?

Educators have always set goals for students leaving no space for them to think critically regarding what aims they want to achieve. Personal ideas, imagination, self-developed thoughts are not instilled or ingrained in children. It may be speculated that schools are used in order to shape the human’s mind into a gullible, uncritical, and robotic one. In one angle, David H. Albert believes that “critical thinking is a threat” (1991) and some schools are trying to cancel it from their curriculum. Contrastingly, we see many aware educators and teachers endeavour to bring about change in their classrooms by incorporating critical thinking and other primordial skills. There is a hidden friction between our expectations and the aims of schooling; it seems like children become stupid as soon as they get into schools. From another angle, Gatto (1992) suggests that the purpose of schooling has become to inculcate a secular world-vision as this process replaces the church in many ways. He argues that “in our secular society, school has become the replacement for church, and like church it requires that its teachings must be taken on faith” (p. 17). In this perspective, many educators believe in unschooling as they assert that learning is not about imparting knowledge or the result of teaching but rather it is a free process that is biological and inherent in human beings.

The proponents of unschooling notarize that since children can learn easily from their environment, (they learn how to speak, walk, sing, etc. through watching, asking, repeating,etc.) why do we need to take them to schools where everything is controlled and closed not allowing them to breathe out their imagination and dreams. They can overcome all the deficiencies they encounter in their road towards achieving their goals without getting bored since their motivation is intrinsic; however, once they are under the schooling system teachers combat to revive motivation in them again. Children are naturally hard-wired to learn, passionate to discover, and curious to experience new things. Unschoolers also believe that learning or studying is not a goal but it rather takes place when the individual has got a high interest in something. Another important point is that learning is the result of teaching, children learn things they were not taught; hence, learning is driven by one's wants, needs, instinct, and interests. 

In one of his speeches, Peter Gray (2015), an evolutionary psychologist, reveals that children are inherently playful and curious in addition to the fact that they are genetically born responsible with the ability to educate themselves alone. He provides the example of the hunter-gatherer cultures where he tries to convince us that if we give a chance for children to self-educate themselves, we will no longer need schools. He states that hunter-gatherer children are allowed to play all day long in mixed-age groups with no adult supervision. Their curious minds lead them to play at how to hunt, build things, gather, etc. They observe those who are older than them, play and interact with them. Similar to hunter-gatherers culture, the Sudbury Valley School in Framingham Massachusetts is a school where no tests, exams, syllabus or curriculum exist, it is all about intrinsically motivated self-learning. The building principles of this school are based on participatory democracy, personal responsibility and freedom (Gray, 2015), similar to anarchist ideas but not the same. All the learners that are part of this school could pursue their goals and many of them have achieved their childhood dreams and become successful individuals.

“School is a twelve-year jail sentence where bad habits are the only curriculum truly learned” (Gatto, 1992, p.19). Being compared to jail means that children’s minds are being tortured and their intelligence is being suffocated. Series of lessons that are presented by different teachers in a similar or slightly distinct way make learners feel bored as the passivity of this long-established process is like agony for them. Humans by nature are active, they adore action and staying under strict control can lead to serious problems such as the decline of one's abilities including critical thinking, intelligence, motivation, curiosity, etc. In our society, schools do not respect learners’ dreams and curious beliefs but they impart in them new ones, the ones that they want to ingrain in every individual not allowing for the freedom of choice to take place. Almost, the kid is being agonised in this schooling process as opposed to hunter-gatherers who feel free to play and discover at all ages.

Do we really need schools? or Do we need to change the structure of our schools and eliminate those ingrained thoughts that have been stable in our society for centuries? Places like Sudbury Valley School should be seen as a model that has to be followed and utilised in our world. Children in this school feel sad if they miss a class; nonetheless, it is totally the opposite when it comes to usual schools where learners feel more than happy for not attending and missing classes. The reason behind this massive difference is that Sudbury Valley School supports learners’ freedom and do not force them to do things they do not desire. There are no exams, no tests, no structure timetable, it is all about being free and responsible. When it comes to our totalitarian secular schools, children are seen as machines that should produce homework, sit for exams, take tests, etc. It is a torturing prison rather than a place for seeking knowledge and creativity. As final words, Gatto (1992) declares that “it is time that we squarely face the fact that institutional schooling is destructive to children” (p. 17).   

The Joy of Learning in the 21st Century

The beauty of learning lies in discovering, enjoying its process, experiencing, experimenting, and most importantly smelling the sweet odour of success. Unfortunately, the majority of learners are not scenting this gladness and gaiety in learning. Learners have always been regarded as a machine that should acquire the required knowledge and skills in order to obtain good marks and paper qualifications rather than learning for the sake of learning itself and self-development. Their wants, necessities and lacks are rarely taken into consideration especially in marks-based educational systems.  From another angle, this artificial intelligence dependent aeon comes with its new illusionary demands and deficiencies. In this perspective, nowadays learners need not only learning that provides them with knowledge, skills and digital-based requirements but also gives them an opportunity to enjoy the whole process. 

The 21^st century skills are a large spectrum of competencies that nowadays students need to develop and hone in order to become glocal citizens. Along the same vein, Zhoa (2009) defines this term in relation to globalization, he states, “since citizens must be able to competently negotiate cultural differences, manage multiple identities, comfortably interact with people from different cultures, and confidently move across cultures as well as the virtual and physical worlds” (p. 192).  In essence,

It should be noted that the “21^st century skills” concept encompasses a wide-ranging and amorphous body of knowledge and skills that is not easy to define and that has not been officially codified or categorized. While the term is widely used in education, it is not always defined consistently, which can lead to confusion and divergent interpretations. In addition, a number of related terms—including applied skills, cross-curricular skills, cross-disciplinary skills, interdisciplinary skills, transferable skills, transversal skills, noncognitive skills, and soft skills, among others—are also widely used in reference to the general forms of knowledge and skill commonly associated with 21^st century skills. While these different terms may not be strictly synonymous, and they may have divergent or specialized meanings in certain technical contexts, these diverse sets of skills are being addressed in this one entry for the purposes of practicality and usefulness. (Julie Gyftoula, 2016, p.2)

It is worldly agreed that today's students need a wide chain of skills as advances in digital technology, the spread of globalization and interculturality have led to the rise of other requirements. These demands are to be possessed and owned by students in order to operate successfully in the real work-based world. Skills as technological literacy, collaboration, emotional intelligence, social skills, intercultural communication, teamwork, leadership; critical thinking, problem-solving, flexibility are deemed to be important and are to be addressed for successful personal, relational, academic and professional careers. 

However, these skills are not taken into consideration because the majority of teachers and students are either not well-acquainted with this notion or the context does not provide them with well-equipped classrooms that would assist them in crafting such skills. Furthermore, developing countries do not afford the materials and equipment that would boost learners' amelioration of these competencies. In our context, we would usually struggle to get a projector or a laptop when we want to display a video or give a PowerPoint presentation. Some students do not own a computer and do not know how to use it which depict a huge lack of digital literacies. This is only an exemplary of what some learners in developing states are facing as opposed to others who have got a chance to develop various 21^st century competencies.

Another issue that should be tackled is the fact that focusing on just acquiring and learning these abilities may cause an overwhelmed state of mind and produce learners who are often under pressure and stress leading to an elimination of joyful learning experience. The joy of learning is a crucial thing that should be addressed in every classroom as the concentration on acquiring such difficult and demanding skills would transform both teachers and learners into a robotic state of mind thinking only of how to achieve and learn more. They should always understand that the process of experimenting, discovering new things and rising queries is in itself a delightful activity that should never be ignored. Additionally, teachers should be conscious that although this digital age asks for a lot of competencies, this does not mean that learners whether they are young or adults are to be seen as machines that should be able of knowing everything. After all, learners should feel free to study whatever they want or desire; hence, achieving the joy of learning.

As final words, enjoying learning in the 21^st century can become a critical issue if the participants are not able of making a link between the importance of this age's skills and the joyfulness in acquiring them. Conjointly, it is important to realise that teachers need to reconnect with their students as the mind of these digital learners is cognitively and emotionally different. Being possessed by colourful screens, teachers need always to keep abreast of this technology based era and updated of any changes.

Emotional Intelligence: A Novel Art of Success

What is emotional intelligence?

What is emotional intelligence (henceforward EI)? A question that used to spring into my head whenever I read about the 21^st learner but I have never been able to understand it from books and articles. The majority of written-down definitions and clarifications show that emotional quotient (henceforward EQ) is a panacea that can solve all these digital age issues. I thought that it was out of foolishness to think of it in such conceiving ways but time revealed new stories.

Emotional intelligence “refers to the capacity for recognising our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves, and for managing emotions well in ourselves and in our relationship” (Goleman 1999, p 317). It assists the individual in becoming a self-aware person who is able of regulating his/her own feelings and emotional outbursts, in addition to motivating oneself and others, putting different empathy glasses and managing one’s personal and professional relationships. As a basic skill for success in life and leadership, this competence was known. Being emotionally intelligent suggests that this person can excel academically and professionally in which s/he possesses the abilities to make erudite decisions; work with people from different cultures; demystify obscurity that may occur while working with others; easily examine the nature of problems and consummately dissolve them, etc.

Narrowing down the scope to our educational context, EI is not a viral concept that students and teachers are well aware of. I have been one of those learners who were not wonted with this revolutionary and pivotal notion. It was like a serendipity, everything happened during a presentation where I discovered my lack of knowledge in this area of interest. Books tried in a teacherly manner to elucidate for me how to be emotionally intelligent ad nauseam but in vain. It is said that one cannot learn a thing without experiencing it. I truly believe in that as after realising the importance of EQ in this aeon, my way of presenting, living, working individually and collaboratively changed.

So, how can we develop and ameliorate our emotional intelligence?

Group work, collaboration, team tasks and anything that involves sharing, cooperating and communicating. Reading a bunch of books and articles would not transform you into an emotionally intelligent individual. It is just like language books: “Learn French in 7 days”, have you learned it, I am sure it is a NO. Parallelly, “EI in 8 Steps” “How to Become emotionally Intelligent with 7 Ingredients”. All these are just illusionary commercial titles. One can only develop his/her EI through experience and practice. Being a learner gave me the chance to work in groups several times and through all these years I could observe my self-progress after taking into consideration the importance of this emotionally based-competency. I can say that before I was just a nazi, ticky, arrogant, and workaholic student who wanted to flourish and blossom like a flower, careless of what would happen to the other members of the group. Anger and undemocratic decisions were also the lineaments of my attitudes towards others. I considered group work as the worst thing that can happen to an individual during his/her academic career. However, joining the emotional intelligence essentiality believers made me a new person who views collaborative tasks as a chance to practice and develop not only EI but other competencies. It is important to realise that EI can help group members develop shared collaborative aims and achievements. Being in this type of tasks, it is just like being on the battlefield where the fighter should show all his skills in order to win and become known among people and other fighters. The more battles he wins, the more skilled and renowned he becomes. The same goes for EI, the more one works in groups and collaborate with others, the more emotionally intelligent and competent he becomes. 

As final words, in addition to collaborative activities, presentations, workshops, talks, watching videos and even reading books can help sometimes but I am sure that being in a live-situation is the best way for enhancing and developing one’s EI. EI is prerequisite competency as the 21^st century is a new world of challenges that demands from everyone to become a deft and jack of all trades.