75% : 25%

Post 135 The four pillars in education

I was in the process of writing a chapter on character building when I suddenly thought of an old friend who is very knowledgeable on this topic. We met at a Kopitiam (a restaurant serving local coffee and food) in town and talked on this topic for two hours while enjoying our meals.

My old friend said that it was a one-way traffic in the West where grown up children are not expected as a matter of fact to look after their aged parents. He lamented that this has become the way of life in increasing measure in the oriental society. The hope of having many children to safeguard the welfares of old parents is now an expectation best not to be desired. In a materialistic world men have become egoistic and less caring. Aging parents who are well taken care of by their children are really blessed.

My old friend then asked me whether I knew of the ‘75%: 25%’ rule in education. He said he came up with this ratio. I told him I did not but that I know of the Pareto principle’s 80–20 rule. It states that, for many events, about 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. He then told me that the UNESCO Task Force on Education for the Twenty-first Century recommended that education throughout life be based upon four pillars: learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together and learning to be.

He finds that out of the four pillars, only one pillar (25%), learning to know, refers to the acquisition of knowledge. The other three pillars (75%) are on character building. The recommendations by the Task Force therefore stress that character building supersedes the accumulation of knowledge.

I chose the 75% and paid the bill.