Where Does a Pedagogy of Happiness Go Next?
My dad would say, "a pedagogy of happiness would require a radical reform that is centered around students' motivations to learn and teachers working as facilitators for that discovery to take place." His experience of excelling academically but feeling unhappy in school—as well as his over 30 years of working with teenage boys and their educational pursuits—has led him to believe that the current school structure works to "perpetuate a set of stories" that maintain societal norms instead of developing individual souls, which he believes grows happiness.
Review of My Parents' Pedagogy
Meanwhile, my parents' pedagogy of happiness, which emphasized learning through one's passions, making choices that bring happiness, and bettering individuals’ and communities' well-being with one's talents, was stitched into my education. It was not taught as a course or subject while I was homeschooled or in high school, community college, a four-year university, or graduate classes, but this is changing. The academy is shifting.
Happiness Joining the Academy
Happiness has joined the academy; it was institutionalized as a scientific study through positive psychology in the early 1980s (Ben-Shahar). In addition, it is taught in multiple disciplines such as economics, psychology, communication, philosophy, and business, with over 100 courses offered just in the United States. Tal Ben-Shahar's Harvard course How to Get Happy became more popular than the reigning champion, How to Get Rich, with roughly 900 students attending in 2011 (Smith).
My Personal Step Forward
Therefore, happiness—this phenomenon that is just as complex, timeless, and deeply embedded into the human experience as the term "love"—is becoming globally recognized as a fluid and necessary part of education for human survival. My own personal step toward further developing a pedagogy of happiness to offer my community with my written and musical passions is still in the unknown. That is my next journey, perhaps.
Mom's Last Words on Pedagogy of Happiness
In closing, my mom's pedagogy of happiness is summed up in her words: "in the end, it is all about having the courage to love."
"The art of happiness has many components." –Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler
Hidalgo | Chambers | Hutchinson | Shade-Johnson | Brentnell | Leger | Braude | Sweo | Nur Cooley
Published by Intermezzo, 2018