Children's Love for Learning in the  Educational System 
​By Zahra Rahbari

​In her graduation ceremony, a graduating high school student claims her best time was the breaks. This originally Iranian youth came to Canada seven years ago and is currently studying  Criminology at a post-secondary institute. As an educator, I question teaching practice and the reason this student and many more hate school. According to Fuller, Bridges and Galindo (2020), children come to this world with the curiosity to question, ponder and inquire. Fuller et al. stated further that children enjoy learning and knowing the unknown. However, the question arises why after years of education and learning they lose their enthusiasm in learning or more specifically attending school and how it can be improved. 

Why and How
I found the same answer in this graduated student’s words and MacDonald’s (2018) inspiring speech, the elements that fade away over time from our teaching: passion, intentionality and engagement. I agree with MacDonald’s notion that if we, educators, show up every day as enthusiastic as the first day, with the intention of making connections with children and their worlds and getting engaged in the level of activities they desire. According to Purcell-Gates, Lenters, McTavish & Anderson (2014), in this way, we accept children, not as others rather as a united whole, and with accepting their individualities and cultural uniqueness. 

Final Thoughts
Our discussion outcome with the graduate student aligned with Talaee’s (2019) point of view that children are active participants of communities in making cultures. However, as MacDonald, Rudkowski, & Schärer’s (2013) stated, the binary relationship between children and their environment interferes with the process of children’s actions as separate entities without being in the society (e.g., school, peers, and family). Therefore, as Szente, Hoot and Tadesse (2007) put forward, children are affected by the sociocultural contexts and social layers (such as family, school, government) or as it called the ecological systems theory within the school system and teachers play a key role.

​References
Fuller, B., Bridges, M., & Galindo, C. (2020). Rethinking Quality In Early Education: Practices That Advance Children’s Cultural Strengths. In Saracho, O., N. (2019). Handbook of research on the education of young children (4th ed., pp. 348-360). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429442827-26

MacDonald, M., Rudkowski, M. & Schärer, J. (2013). Lingering discourses: Jean Jacque Rousseau’s 18th-Century images of mothers, fathers, and children. Canadian Children, 38(1), 21-28. https://doi.org/10.18357/jcs.v38i1.15435

MacDonald, S. (2018). Finding the Spark. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnTkFtak4Yg

Purcell-Gates, V., Lenters, K., McTavish, M., & Anderson, J. (2014). Purcell-Gates, V., Lenters, K., McTavish, M., & Anderson, J. (2014).Working with different cultural patterns and beliefs: Teachers and families learning together. Multicultural Education, 21(3/4), 17-22.

Szente, J., Hoot, J., & Tadesse, S. (2007). Early Childhood in Ethiopia: Initiatives in Education. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 8(3), 275–281. https://doi.org/10.2304/ciec.2007.8.3.275

Talaee, E. (2019). A Cultural-Historical Analysis of “Childhood” and “Early Childhood Education” in Contemporary Iran. Globalization, Transformation, and Cultures in Early Childhood Education and Care, 85-103. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27119-0_1

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