Is it possible to train in times of digital dictatorship and the empire of emotions? Although the title of the book by José Darwin Lenis Mejía, current Secretary of Education of Cali, could be understood as a self-help or therapy book given that it is called ‘Positive Education – The challenge of training in the digital dictatorship and the empire of emotions ‘, the text is about the role of education in current times.
For the author, education has to be drinkable, that is, it must serve to advance, hence the term positive education, because its consumption must do good to the person who accesses it.
“It is the education of good treatment, of inclusion, that is focused on the being, that is committed to recognizing the diversity of the human condition and equity, that does not discriminate,” explains Lenis Mejía as a summary of what it is about. the book that will be presented next Thursday, October 19 within the framework of the Cali International Book Fair – Filca 2023, from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm in the Cali Educa Tent.
Intelligence and skills
The Doctor of Education emphasizes that education goes beyond sending children to school. “Education must help enhance the intelligence and skills that we already have, studying is not just an academic matter, it has social and human dimensions that should not be neglected if we do not want to mutilate the talents and abilities of children and young people. who access basic and secondary education. Positive education is sowing childhoods to cultivate responsible, open, willing, dialogic citizenships that serve peace and democracy,” he indicates.
The book, of approximately one hundred pages, was published under the Ariel imprint of Editorial Planeta. It can be obtained, after its launch at Filca 2023, in any bookstore in the country.
José Darwin Lenis Mejía is an accomplished writer on the subject of education. Other titles authored by him are ‘Didactics and knowledge of technical education in Colombia’, published by the Spanish publishing house Octaedro, and ‘What is education?’.
He is also the author of dozens of national and international academic articles in journals specialized in pedagogy.
Lenis Mejía states that although the book deals with education in its “pure and hard” conception, the text is not only for consultation by teachers.
“For a parent who is in the process of raising their children, it can be an excellent guide because it talks about the management of emotions, the use of technologies. Education is not only the responsibility of teachers, thinking about the needs that it must provide to children and young people in training is essential for parents,” she adds.
The book was prefaced by the former Minister of Education and Health and former rector of the University of the Andes, Alejandro Gaviria, who highlights that the book is an invitation not to give up, to insist (with will and method) on humanist resistance.
The book ends with the invitation to transform education. Gaviria says that José Darwin reminds us of the ethical need to act, to do something to face the multiple challenges of this time of transition in which one world is being left behind and another is just beginning to be built.
Author profile
PhD in Education from the Universidad del Valle. Invited professor at seminars at the George Washington universities (USA) and in the master’s degrees in Education at the Icesi, Santiago de Cali, Industrial de Santander (Bucaramanga), San Buenaventura (Cali) and Francisco de Paula Santander (Cúcuta) Universities. . Professor of the Doctorate in Education at the Santiago de Cali University.
He is currently Secretary of Education of Cali, he has worked as a teacher, coordinator, rector of public institutions, Undersecretary of Education and Secretary of District Culture.