Meiji Masters Podcast: Episode 2 - Professor Dr Ger Graus OBE
Friday 20 January 2023
What do Meiji and Ger have in common?
Professor Ger Graus OBE and Meiji Martial Arts share a common theme: it’s called traditional thinking. Some might say old-fashioned, but that would be inaccurate – there’s a difference between preserving and nurturing established values tested by time, and a nostalgic return to the past.
The Professor is an iconic figure in the field of education. He was the first Global Director of Education at the world-famous children’s entertainment-education company, KidZania, as well as founding CEO of the Children’s University. The reason we made our podcast with him is that, in all modesty, his philosophies dovetail with ours at Meiji.
Socrates said that ‘education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel’. In other words, the duty of parents and teachers is to open up the innate curiosity and creativity in children’s minds, and give each the chance to flourish as unique individuals, not as an army of clones in our own image. This is sometimes misinterpreted as giving them free rein to do whatever they please, but that’s wrong and unfair. They need a framework and a set of rules to find their way in the world, but not diktats on what to think. At Meiji, we call them rules of the game. There’s an old-fashioned word around that concept - it’s called discipline, but not the oppressive kind. Our experience is that children love the relationship with their Sensei, their role model, who shows them the way, with codes they understand, based on respect and self-respect, underpinned by having fun, earthing their energy, building their confidence, and rewarding them frequently under the coloured belt & stripes system, which recognises achievement in graduated steps. ‘When you have confidence, you can have a lot of fun. And when you have fun, you can achieve amazing things’ - Joe Namath, former American football quarterback.
Parents play a vital role in this developmental process, taking a proactive role in their children’s lives, spending quality time with them, answering all their questions (the incessant badgering for answers is the brain’s thirst for knowledge – the more you reply, the faster their intelligence will develop).
In our podcast, Professor Graus points out that failure to take this responsibility will result downstream in the most negative repercussions for society.