Be the change: Dream Education, by Carlos Miceli

October 14, 2009 in be the change series | Comments

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Everything begins in the education of the mind.
Improve the mind, and that person will improve other people’s minds. Good causes will arise, hope will exist and change will come.
Most minds are already powerful, but fear stops that power from unleashing. Remove fear and things will happen.
The thing about fearless people is that they are happy. And happy people care about things. Eventually, happy people make other people happy.
So, the solution, is to make more people fearless.

My dream is to build a university that does that. I don’t want to educate people, they can do that on their own (usually better than most institutions).
I want to encourage them. I want to build a place for those that have the ideals, the passion and the brains to make our society better.
A place where curiosity is sought and leadership desired.
A place where no thoughts are ridiculed and no goal is crazy enough to pursue.
A place where rebels, weirdos and remarkables would come looking for support for their impossible dreams.
My team of lunatics and I would pick them individually, without giving a crap about their CVs, their GPAs and majors. You wouldn’t leave the place with any technichal knowledge or any prestige.
You’d take home only three things:
Peace of mind, purpose and confidence. All that you need to change the world.

That’s my utopia.

I don’t care when and I don’t know how. All I know is that I want it to become real.

Working as the dean of that institute, recruiting those students and conversing with them about every topic necessary to push them to beat mediocrity, is the only thing that I’d be willing to work in until the day I die that would prevent me from retiring to a small house with a farm when I reach 80, where I would live alone with my dog, laptop and philosophy books.

Having a front row seat in the parade of misfits is definitely, my dream.

A dream that I’m convinced it can change the world.

The Changemaker

Carlos is a young Argentinian still living in Buenos Aires. Next year, he’s moving to Perth, Australia. He considers himself “a questioner of things,” and he blogs at OwlSparks.

You can also catch him on Twitter @CarlosMic!

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  1. Be the change: A plan to change the world, by Rebecca Thorman

  • Roz
    Hi Carlos,
    I think your vision is a great one - like Akhila said, "forward-thinking." Have you heard of Maharishi University of Management? Their foci seems to be something similar to what you said. Their motto is:
    "Not a conventional university. Consciousness-Based education. Active learning. Sustainability. Transcendental Meditation course. Natural health program. Organic vegetarian meals. One course at a time. Accredited by The Higher Learning Commission. We welcome transfer students... and students of all ages."

    You may want to check them out! http://www.mum.edu/
    Or follow them on Twitter - http://twitter.com/MaharishiU
  • Carlos! I just want to say I absolutely love your vision and forward-thinking. The idea is very neat and I wish there were more institutions out there like this, to encourage people to think outside the box and be truly passionate about what they're doing.

    It's a great idea and has so much potential for transformative change. I know I get frustrated when there are so many conflicting things we have to pursue - GPA, job hunting, prestige, fellowships,etc... Sometimes I just wish people would chill out and relax and just learn for the sake of enjoyment. Alas, only those going into academia seem to do that!
  • What a great point Akhila, I think I'll write about this some day, the conflict of interests. Hopefully, we'll have a clearer idea of what matters as we grow older, and those conflicts will fade away.

    Once again Akhila, thank you for letting me be a part of this, and for pushing me to finally write about this. It was a very motivating pleasure!
  • I would gladly attend. Until then, I fully support your dream and hope to see it turn into reality.
  • jetsetcitizen
    Greetings Carlos.

    I have often dreamt of a university modeled on classical Greek ideas. Where learning and personal excellence is the ultimate motivation. It is not about getting a job, impressing your peers or appeasing your parents. Knowledge for the sake of knowledge.

    Sadly, I don't think those ideas would find a receptive audience in modern consumeristic societies.
  • Just because it wouldn't appeal to the masses, doesn't mean that it wouldn't appeal to SOME people. I'm positive that the future will see the best human minds care about these things for free. People will join because they will understand what makes the difference, and others will teach because they will want to be a part of it.
  • I wonder if such ideas would be highly attractive, especially as people realize society is so consumeristic and want a positive escape and breath of fresh air!

    I wouldn't be surprised to see such an institution provide a good training for anything, whether it be career or academics. After all being focused on personal excellence can never be a bad thing, right?
  • Amen, brother. The world is slowly moving in that direction, it's just a matter of being the catalyst that pushes it all the way over the hurdles that are currently in place.

    I'll be there fighting for change with you!
  • We will do amazing things together. The smart motivated and caring minority of this generation has immense tools and power. This can happen.
  • I agree, I think sometimes we forget how much positive energy and change there is going on around us right now. When I see this post and this series itself, it makes me feel like everything is moving in the right direction!

    Carlos' post also reminds me a lot of social enterprise. There is so much positive world-changing innovation going on right now, it's mind-boggling! You can see this all around us...TED Fellows, Ashoka Fellows, Echoing Green fellows, POP Tech fellows, and so on and so forth. So much energy!
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