🥋 Could I Be Dreaming? Are We Starting to Get Education Right?Untitled

Could I be dreaming?

Are we finally starting to get education right?

Don’t get me wrong — I hate our current education system.

It’s outdated, behind on technology, treats learning like a chore, and is constantly underfunded.

I could go on forever.

But something feels like it’s shifting.

Kids today learn differently. They expect to understand the “why” behind everything — not just to memorize answers.

They’re growing up in a world where knowledge is accessible, shareable, and alive.

And that’s changing how they learn — and how they think.

The best teachers I know — inside and outside the classroom — aren’t the ones lecturing from the front.

They’re the ones who guide, challenge, and connect.

They know learning isn’t about control — it’s about curiosity.

Even in the dojo, I see it.

Students today don’t just want to copy movements — they want to understand them.

And when they do, the training goes deeper.

They move better because they think better.

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But that’s not all.

I see dojos picking up the slack where our education system drops the ball.

We’re the ones teaching lessons about effort, empathy, and doing the right thing — lessons that don’t fit neatly into a report card.

We give kids the space to learn through action.

To fail safely.

To find joy in repetition.

To feel what discipline really means.

We engage children in the modes of learning their school day left behind — movement, connection, reflection, respect.

And the communities that form inside the dojo are proof that real education doesn’t just happen behind a desk.

It happens when kids belong.

When they’re seen.

When they know their effort matters.

Maybe we’re not dreaming after all.

Maybe education isn’t broken — maybe it’s evolving.

And maybe the dojo is what education was always meant to be:

A place where people grow strong, curious, and kind — from the inside out.

Kyoshi Eric Vinagreiro, BA BEd

Northern Karate Markham