Voice of the Deans of the Socrates Academy
Introduction by Xenia Stanford, Dean of Canada & USA Region
The founding Deans of the Socrates Academy speak of their vision for
affordable and accessible education for all and why they accepted this
appointment.
John Hibbs, Founder and Director, The Benjamin Franklin Institute of
Global Education, is also the founder of Global Learn Day and of the
new Socrates Academy. He formed the vision of how the Socrates Academy
can take education from the back of the bus and move it forward by shining
attention on the leading lights - the brave pioneers of education in
the challenging modern world where normally 6 billion people are left
behind without proper access to learning.
His vision can be found in the following article:
 Connecting
the Dots: GLD Success Stories - Story 3: Accelerating Powerful Educational
Forces With A Celebration As Big As the Oscars
Just one of his many memorable quotes in that article is: "I say
the path to a better, safer, saner world runs through the classroom,
not the battlefield."
His letter to me and probably to others began:
Today I have one of the largest challenges of my life, and that is
to write to at least ten people in ten regions of the world to ask
them to accept the responsibility of becoming a "Dean" to
the Socrates Academy.
In this letter he also stated the mission of the academy and of the
Deans as follows:
The chief Mission of the Academy is to reward significant achievement
in education with a prize which (ultimately) carries with it as much
recognition as an Oscar or Pulitzer or Nobel.
The chief Mission of the Deans is to create and supervise the nomination
and election of those to be awarded. The Deans, both collectively
and individually, shall also serve as an important advisory to the
Academy's Board of Directors.
Ten answered his call for regional deans and another ten willingly
became Deans at large. Dr. Norm Coombs became Dean Emeritus. It should
not have surprised Hibbs that of those asked all would answer yes.
It was not so difficult saying yes since even those who did not know
John Hibbs, read, saw and believed in the vision and mission he set
forth. So here we are - people dedicated to education and continuous
learning whether that it is found in the back woods or ivory towers.
It matters not the physical setting except that some present more challenges
than others.
It matters more that there are dedicated educators who overcome any
obstacles and find new and innovative ways to ensure quality education
whether it is in the furthest jungle or the building across the street.
It matters most what goes on in the minds of the learners and no matter
who are chosen to be the recipients of the Socrates Awards, it is the
learners who will be the ultimate winners.
So here they are - the Deans of the Socrates Academy in alphabetical
order by Region with the Deans at Large in alphabetical order by first
name followed by Dean Emeritus.
Homeland in most cases is the country of primary residence. In some
cases the Deans are commuters and may live abroad for part of the time.
Following the index the remarks will be found in the same order listed
below. All deans may not have submitted their comments in time for this
issue - however, they will be added as soon as available. Here is the
chance to get to know the Deans and how they view their role and that
of the Socrates Academy.
As always we invite you the reader to submit your views, which we will
publish in subsequent issues of KnowMap.
In addition to their views you may learn more about each Dean from
their brief biographies included in the following article:
Connecting
the Dots: GLD Success Stories - Story 4: Introducing the Deans of
the Socrates Academy
Teboho Moja
Dean - Africa Region; homeland South Africa
 Xenia
Stanford
Dean - Canada & USA Region, resident of Canada
My views have already been expressed to a certain degree in the introduction
to this article. There though I focussed on the bigger picture. Here
is the view looking from within through the windows of this virtual
Academy to the world.
My excitement when John Hibbs showed me his vision and asked me to
share the mission as a Dean of Socrates Academy was due to seeing an
opportunity to advance education. This has always been a mission of
mine. Besides facilitating learning for adults on the job, I taught
in modern urban schools, small schools in remote regions and by distance
education. I always felt I learned as much as the students. They opened
my eyes to different cultures from those of rich and poor families to
aboriginal tribes in Canada to the native and East Indians of Fiji and
girls in a private school in Australia. What a way to travel the world
through the young eyes of its residents!
I was fortunate coming from a poor farm family in Canada to be able
to be the first in my line to attend university. I was fortunate to
be able to work hard and pay my way. As I ran through the students'
union building on campus on my way to work at a restaurant in the evenings,
I would pass by others playing cards or talking in the student lounge
- then I thought them lucky. Later I realized I was the lucky one -
lucky enough to know the fruits of my own labour - both in and out of
the classroom. Lucky enough to realize that not all or even the best
education necessarily comes from books - lucky enough to learn that
learning is a lifelong passion that keeps you ever young and contributing.
To stop learning is to die. To never have the chance to learn is the
greatest tragedy of all.
If even one child or one mind somewhere is given a gift of education
made the better for honouring their mentors, their teachers, their educators,
their role models; then my term in the Socrates Academy will have been
well-spent.
José Brenes
Dean - Central America, Mexico, Caribbean Region; resident of Costa
Rica
Eloisa (Peach) Tinio
Dean - East Asia Region; resident of Philippines
 Dr.
Boris Sedunov
Dean - European Region; resident of Russia
I consider KnowMap's initiative to publish the Socrates
Academy Dean's bios and views as a powerful tool to launch a discussion
of the main values to be put into the best educational practices and
methods selection. A perfectly designed web journal, such as KnowMap,
may provide a platform to construct a whole building of the Socrates
Academy with its principles, values, traditions and sponsors.
As the student of the most prestigious Moscow Institute of Physics
and Technology (PhysTech), I taught in a special school for the most
talented children, preparing them to enter PhysTech and other prestigious
institutes. I enjoyed teaching these highly motivated students who showed
great initiative - students who can take a challenging question and
search for an answer in multiple books far a field from ordinary school
manuals.
Interaction with the most recognized Russian scientists and equal participation
in scientific work with them inspires young students of PhysTech for
all their life. It is not just the access to knowledge itself, but the
entrepreneurial method of thinking. Devotion to sciences and innovation,
methods of group work and a wonderful atmosphere of scientific cooperation
are the main lessons that remain valid throughout any changes in the
graduates' lives. It is not surprising that the PhysTech graduates became
the most successful and among the most honest managers and business
persons when Russia entered the economic reform period.
I have been involved in a regular educational practice for a rather
short period - around 6 years. Earlier I shared my education to prepare
future scientists and engineers with scientific and organizational works.
Economic reforms in Russia opened a way for me to change my mind from
a technocratic orientation to a humanitarian one and it also opened
access to international communications and cooperation.
Now preparation of future managers is one of my life's goals, oriented
in the following different directions:
- Helping young people prepare themselves for a successful, meaningful
and full life,
- Helping Russia reconstruct its business infrastructure by saturating
it with qualified managers,
- Resolving current Global economic and social contradictions through
the proper orientation of future managers,
- Spreading the best educational achievements through distance education
methods and systems.
Dr. Neil Hynd
Dean - Gulf & Middle Eastern Region; resident of Abu Dhabi
 Isa
Kocher
Dean - Gulf & Middle Eastern Region; resident of Oman
I do not believe so much in formal education as in the fundamental
Socratic vision of the human mind as the pinnacle of creation. There
is no a priori reason why the human mind and its consciousness are able
to comprehend and explain the universe, but in fact it does. The human
mind somehow expresses something special in creation, and what makes
us human is what makes the universe meaningful. Whether or not this
is "TRUE" really is beside the point. It is who we are, and
who we have a natural born right to be. The miracle of the universe
itself is also our miracle. Learning is how we contribute to the existence
of the universe.
All the ideologies which have captured the human consciousness, called
religions, or called political utopias or social transformations, or
called artistic manifestos, or called myth, whatever name one gives
it, these ideas are shared by all people everywhere, in their own formulation,
and these ideas have been the central ideas of history. We humans are
not born human, but learn to be human as a natural right of birth. It
takes great effort. The great stage musical, Fantastics, expressed it
perfectly when the two fathers sing about planting carrots and getting
carrots but never ever being able to know what our children will decide
to grow up as.
Socrates told us centuries ago, as have every great universal teacher,
from Gautama to Gandhi, whether Moses in the Middle East, or Handsome
Lake of the Iroquois, or Lao Tsu that we all have this inheritance equally,
and that no degree of slavery can erase one's human heritage.
We all can realize like Pierre in War and Peace that we are
as free as the universe itself. The potential of all of us is the same
but we need a Socrates to awaken what we know. Learning is the key to
becoming who we are, and the key to recognizing that we are all one
family with one future, living on one planet with one destiny. We need
to make this destiny real for our children and for their children, and
we need to do this now. We as a species have to learn, and there is
no one to teach us but ourselves and our own inner realization of truth
and beauty and love.
I continue to teach and create, but we all need now to decide do something
special, something that will change the whole direction of our species
and our planet and our universe, or leave it to nature to sort it out.
The universe asks us to act, but leaves the choice to us.
twin towers of steel
shimmering in sunlight
standing tall always
out of twisted steel
from that terrible furnace
they forge us new hope
© c.kocher 2002
Dr. Arun Mehta
Dean - South & Central Asia Region; resident of India
 Dr.
Cristiana Assumpção
Dean - South America Region; resident of Brazil
Education will change the world. I truly believe that. When all children
have an equal opportunity to access information and be able to decide
about their future for themselves, true equality and democracy will
have been reached. But this is no easy task. In many countries most
people tend to throw the responsibility of education solely on teachers.
We have to help administrators, parents, businessmen and women, police
officers, and all other professionals realize that they are educators
and should actively participate in helping provide the best education
possible to the children of their country. There are many different
ways to do this. We also have to work against preconceptions and prejudice
in many countries who look down at teachers as if they have the "easy
job with the big vacations".
This is what the Socrates Academy is about - recognizing those educators
for all their hard work and the enormity of their job. It is they who
truly have the power to make a better future for our world, because
they work with the richest resource: our children's minds.
Earl Mardle
Dean - South Pacific Region; resident of Australia
Cliff Layton
Dean-at-Large; resident of USA
Dr. Edna Ophelia Ferguson Reid
Dean-at-Large; resident of Singapore
Graciela Pascual
Dean-at-Large; resident of Argentina
Mauri Collins
Dean-at-Large; resident of USA
Dr. Michel Menou
Dean-at-Large; resident of France
Dr. Perry Morrison
Dean-at-Large; resident of Australia
Steve Downes
Dean-at-Large; resident of Canada
Dr. Tom Bradley
Dean-at-Large; resident of Japan
Norm Coombs
Dean Emeritus; resident of USA
Read more about John Hibbs.
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