Human Ecology and Childhood: an adult connection
Ian Illuminato

   The desire to explore is common among children. Like many six-year-old boys I had an urge to discover the world through questions and experiments. I still remember the excitement of waking up on sunny mornings. I remember how the bright milky white light would shine from the window on to my bed, sending rays that would bounce all around me. Contact with this light would immediately birth creative ideas and send a charge of energy right through me. Like a spring I would jump to my feet out of bed and, with a palette of ideas, begin to paint the day full of exploration and activities. 

   A typical day at home in the countryside, not far from Milan, Italy, would encompass many activities, including: cutting bamboo from the yard to create an assortment of different constructions, digging around in search of pieces of old ceramic bowls and cups, or simply grinding pieces of fallen terracotta roofing into a fine sand to then be collected in glass jars as gifts for my mom or dad.

   I often played travel agent and made my family fake tickets and passports, I would also spend a lot of time drawing; my childhood was full of discovery and activity. My mind, as a child, was free of barriers or rules on what I could become; I could choose between many fields. On one day I would aspire to be an archeologist on the next day a pilot. I had a wide variety of professions and activities to investigate and my dreams had not yet been influenced or prompted by any element of society, up until my first day of school.

   I can't really remember if I cried my first day of school, my mom says I didn't, so I'll stick with that. However, thinking back on the major change that was about to occur in my life, maybe I should of ? I believe the reason most kids cry their first day of school is not solely provoked by the thought of having to leave their parents for the day, I believe it is also spurred by a deeper understanding that life will not be the same. In fact, in my case, life never was the same. All of a sudden I was introduced to organization, classification, regulation and standardization; all elements that shape what we might call, society's "dream sterilization device." From then on I was encouraged to concentrate on less attractive activities such as memorizing my phone number, activities that I believe stunted my cycle of self-motivated learning and exploration. The wonderful light which once filled me with creativity was truncated by bland activities that started to take up more and more of my time.

   Through high school and even during my year spent at a university before College of the Atlantic (COA), I was constantly pressured by society's standards of success and how they were to be achieved. It seemed that intelligence could only be measured by tests and success only measured by one's ability to complete and focus on a major. Furthermore, I noticed people would question and to some degree hold prejudice against those who had not chosen a specific career, or a major, like human ecology that is not known of or understood by many.

   I had trouble deciding what I wanted to be or do as I grew out of the general majors and professions I was bound to before I came to College of the Atlantic. The mind is trapped under pressure and one becomes disconnected to his or her core of purpose by society's motives. I didn't want to sign a piece of paper in a registrar's office that said: I will study to be a lawyer, a doctor, a business manager. I needed an institution and field that would put me back in touch with the milky white creativity I held as a child; College of the Atlantic and Human Ecology did just that for me.

   Human ecology has allowed me to unleash the joy and comfort in exploration I held as a child. I am again in touch with a strong sense of purpose thanks to my experiences through human ecology. My ability to explore a wide variety of disciplines and subjects as an adult has increased my ability to formulate well-grounded conclusions. These conclusions have been gathered by weaving many different ideas and information, which are not just related to a specific field or study.

   Human ecology has reminded me how important it is to observe and be conscious of my actions towards the earth and other individuals. By doing so I have gained interest in contrasting my actions with those of others and exploring both their social and environmental consequences. It has inspired an interest to focus on the variety of ways humans interact among themselves and with the world around them. This has allowed me to mitigate the tensions between ideas within myself and with others. Human ecology has also encouraged me to become a change agent increasingly involved in shaping the future.

   So many in my generation have been numbed by an education focused on gaining capital through some high-income job. To quote a friend attending another school: "I can make a lot of money in business management, it might be boring, but I could make 100 grand a year." Although this type of thought does not account for everyone, it should not be ignored that this way of thinking is an ever-growing reality in our society. I too admit at a time my ideas of a career focused greatly on what society in general considered to be successful. I find that many schools encourage this type of attitude and that it has produced uninterested individuals. Countless times I have spoken with friends from schools in the US and even universities in Europe who are greatly disinterested with what they are studying, only focused on satisfying the role, I believe, a large part of society has given education: teach organization, classification, regulation and standardization.

   This negative type of schooling had obstructed my need to obtain what I consider to be wealth: knowledge and instruction that is spiritually uplifting and enlightening. In my first year of college I was encouraged to direct my focus towards a single major. By structuring my education through a major I was left with a narrow view. The amount of teaching on ideas and theories that had not been popularly known was limited, and my motivation was all that could assist me in searching for a bigger picture of knowledge. By structuring my education into a major, my access to interdisciplinary ways of understanding information were almost non-existent.

   Since transferring to COA, human ecology has encouraged me to choose the kind of wealth I wish to pursue by identifying different kinds of assets, not merely grounded in the bland flow of sterile life and ideas, which we must constantly shield ourselves from in today's day to day life. Through human ecology I have learned of common and uncommon people and theories that have affected the world. However, most importantly I have come to know of people from different walks of life whose ideas, beliefs, and stories have influenced my world and the decisions I make. Accumulating diverse knowledge has encouraged me to manifest understanding, which was natural as a child. By doing so I have released sentiments and thoughts that I would never have discovered if not for the mind set of human ecology. These collections and different connections between knowledge have been the wealth I have wanted to pursue. I no longer feel discouraged in diving head first in to a certain wealth of knowledge.

   I must admit that once I decided to pursue an education through human ecology, I had my doubts. Without someone to constantly measure my accomplishments through test and structured forms, the way I viewed education and myself as a student began to change. I had to rely on myself for approval, which shaped new goals. The methods through which I was being tested were on a much more personal level than at my old school. Instead of taking a test, I was writing papers and being asked to share my views in class. My professors were no longer some sort of all-knowing entity with the only purpose of lecturing and handing out tests. They talked face to face with me, working through questions and issues alongside their students. Dedicated to human ecology, my new professors are committed to cross disciplines and ideas, not merely presenting fragmented facts, in hopes of creating a bigger picture for the subjects they teach. With time I understood I needed to work ten fold to satisfy my own expectations for my progress in learning. It was up to me how much time I would spend learning. This pushed me to new levels of commitment in my studies and forced me to funnel information from a much wider scope than from just one field or major.

  Not only has human ecology allowed me to make connections between different disciplines, cultures, and societies; it has gifted me with the ability to make connections between different time periods in my life and their relevance to my present and future. My childhood was a precious and pure part of my being; I do not see it fit to discard that child-energy and devotion in my adult life. The child-energy I speak of is a learning force, which does not comprehend society's way of altering true passion when it comes to education. This force marches on, eliminating unnecessary barriers to learning. The fact that this energy thrives in activities and thoughts that do not necessarily fit into adult life and education does not mean I cannot carry it with me as an asset today. The ways in which I absorbed the world as a child, through play, a desire to explore, and simplicity are ways I do not wish to shed as an adult. Though I am no longer a child, I will continue to live, study, and work with those very same natural instincts I practiced so easily as a kid. This discipline has allowed me to ground my studies with that same spirit and energy in my adult life; I thank those who have encouraged the development of human ecology.