The Piarist Juniorate Formation House in Yaoundé had a six-days UpToYou formation program with Father José Victor Semper Sch.P, as resource person. This formation ran from Wednesday 31st August to Tuesday 6th September 2022. The event saw the participation of 31 brothers and some formators. UpToYou can briefly be considered as a formative platform. It focuses amongst others on psycho-social and psycho-emotional dimensions of education leading to personal growth and ameliorated interpersonal relationships. Plagued with fundamental human and educational questions such as the question of interiority, corporal punishment in schools, motivation and trust; the UpToYou formation coordinated by Father J. Victor Sch.P, has introduced novelty into the lives of the participants through a series of inspiring conferences, brainstorming workshops, skillful use of UpToYou tools and even during some Eucharistic celebrations with him as president.
The genesis of the conference was on the origin and importance of the UpToYou program. The Piarist icon rationalised the concept by reconciling the problem between the behavioral pattern of animals and humans. He emphasized a human model of thoughts that is characterized by a heart that longs to show love and mercy, a mind that is endowed with positivity and cognitive skills, a personality that relates fraternally, a being full of awareness and ability to respond to its interiority. Using Socratic pedagogy, conference participants gained knowledge on critical thinking and the conscious awareness of their internal interiority and rationality of action. The past creates prejudice and pain that should be used as stepping stones for growth for we are more than our history.
Next on the conference was a series of capacity building workshops, and inspiring lectures on the question of trust. The nonexistence of the ability to trust and be trusted are due to historical heart breaks, socio-biological or cultural factors or fears of the unknown. Though the human dynamics of trust is global, it can be contextualized according to cultures and age groups using the principles of reality and enjoyment. Both principles depend on the level at which human needs (Physical, exploring, social and interaction) are satisfied. Unsatisfied needs lead to the principle of reality, while satisfied needs lead to the principle of satisfaction that builds trust. With the help of empirical analysis, the Piarist pedagogue exhorted conference participants to use their past as stepping stones for growth and trust. To trust is a decision which becomes possible only when we let go of the past, and consider the dignity of the human person in everyone we come across. The second day ended with a question-and-answer session on trust with the conclusion that loving in a relationship involves the capacity to trust and be trusted.
To further elucidate his expertise, the next sequence of formation was focused on the topic of « Play ». The speaker began by defining “Play” as the goal of humanity. Every human being needs to play. It is a cooperative and valued act without production. Play goes with “work” just that work is defined as the cooperative and valued act with production. Thus, to play and to work can help someone to grow; and are very essential aspects for children’s development. So, for a human being to be complete he or she needs to conjugate the two verbs. In playing or working, concepts like cooperation, value, individual intention, shared responsibility, norms and rules are taken into great consideration. Play contributes to who you are and how you think, which leads to identity.
Identity and identification are often employed wrongly. The fundamental question one often asks him or herself is “who am I?” To that question, wrong answers are often given. The answer is always making reference to our identification and not our identity. This is why the theme of our conference was “Love me so I can leave you”. Two great concepts we came across were, “crisis” and “compromise”. We learned that to have a crisis in life is just to be human. In order to be free, one has to accept the crisis of his or her life and take a compromise to remain or to get out of it. We ended the conference with the making of a conceptual map which consisted of putting into relation twenty-two concepts which were discussed since the beginning of the program.
Also, the UpToYou program also provided a conceptual framework for Education. Education is aimed at the holistic formation of children. The educator should be aimed at helping the children reach their interiority, that is, being in contact with themselves. The educator is not out to transmit his personal values to the children or wants the children to act and behave like him or her. Rather, he has as aim, to help them discover their interiority thereby promoting the personal growth of these children.
Motivation is one of the terms highly misunderstood today in the educational sphere. Statistics gathered from the field of education by Father Victor Jose shows that 80% of teachers use punishment as a motivational tool with the aim of helping the children to morally and intellectually fit for the academic task. Punishment which is the use of violence is not a means to help children arrive at their interiority; it rather brings fear and takes away the children’s possibility of attaining self-growth. Punishment should not be used as a means to bring the children to reason. More conducive techniques which do not promote violence should be used, techniques which will help the children to be in contact with their interiority. Based on the classroom milieu, the teacher is not only transmitting knowledge in geography or biology but using the knowledge to help the children get in contact with their interiority. Motivation should help one take initiative, relate well and be responsible for his or her own actions.
The UpToYou program further proposes an education that will help change society and give value to human life from treating children as animals to treating them as persons with human life. A child’s behaviour does not determine his person for he is more than his behaviour therefore a teacher should go beyond the behavioural aspect and discover the interiority and value of each child. Each teacher should be aimed at creating novelty.
Finally, the community of Bienheureux Martyrs Piaristes de Yaoundé rendered immense thanks to Father Victor for this magnificent program of UpToYou which is very good and effective for self-development and progress in the educational field. It opens you to areas of your life which affect your relationship with others and aims at improving interpersonal relationships. It is so enriching that we plead it should be a yearly formation in the Province of Central Africa. We are very grateful and thus, we appreciate the efforts of Fr. José Victor, Sch. P towards the accomplishment of this program as we hope for more in the years to come.
Paulinus Abose, Sch.P.
