I started EducateDeviate three years ago because I was inspired by my recent Up with People trip and remembered that many of my friends and peers wanted to do the same but didn’t know how. It started with a musing about how the year will be - and has grown into a fledgling resource on self-education, youth programs, interesting people, gripes about education, all sorts of things.

In the three years I’ve moved to a different country, became a conference junkie, dived fully into volunteering, explored subcultures I’d barely heard of before. I received plenty of emails from other young people around the world who found a kindred voice in me, and I sought out other youths who served as my inspiration.

Education in Malaysia hasn’t necessarily changed much - the biggest change would be the Government’s plan to not announce the name of the top scorers and limit the number of SPM papers one can take, to halt the trend of “get as many As as possible”. Even with a drastically changed government, there doesn’t seem to be too many dramatic upheavals education-wise. The Malaysian public are becoming more autonomous, though, with new ventures and projects popping up by the minute.

In a couple of months I officially graduate, and I return to Malaysia possibly indefinitely. Since I’ve been in Brisbane I’ve been immersed in Australian culture and current events; to be frank, I probably know a lot more about Brisbane than I do about Johor Bahru. I’ve hardly been able to keep up with what’s going on in Malaysia, replying on the assistance of my friends. I got to hear different viewpoints about local education, see how young people have deep respect here - but at the same time I’m not totally sure I could contribute to their causes.

EducateDeviate has served its purpose quite well, though there is room for improvement. However, there’s only so much talking I can do. For EducateDeviate to stay relevant - and for me to be more useful - we need to move into action.

What should EducateDeviate do?

I’m at a crosswords. My interests are melding and changing. There’s a faint possibility of being less hands-on with EducateDeviate to pursue other goals. (I’m reluctant to do this, as the last time I let go of a project and handed it over to someone else ended in disaster and lost friendships.) We could transform EducateDeviate from being just a blog to being a working organisation for youth and social change in education. Or we could do something else.

What should we do?

Tell me: now what?

From XKCD:

And the ten minutes striking up a conversation with that strange kid in homeroom sometimes matters more than every other part of high school combined.

It’s not too far off from the truth.

After 3 years, EducateDeviate finally has an awesome logo:

EducateDeviate logo by Marty Whitmore

You can see a somewhat modified version of it on the site header.

It’s made by illustrator Martin Whitmore as part of his efforts to support his girlfriend Megan Elizabeth Morris (who is am awesome chicka) and her efforts to join Seth Godin’s Alternative MBA. She didn’t get in, but that’s fine, because she rocks anyway!

It’s a bat because I’m somewhat obsessed with bats and they’ve become my symbol/totem of sorts. The idea for using a bat as EdDev’s logo came from the Levis 501 Day festival booth we had in 2006, where I used my IKEA Bat Scholy as our unofficial “mascot”. Sure fits “learning differently”!

Thank you Marty!

After 3 years, EducateDeviate finally has an awesome logo:

EducateDeviate logo by Marty Whitmore

You can see a somewhat modified version of it on the site header.

It’s made by illustrator Martin Whitmore as part of his efforts to support his girlfriend Megan Elizabeth Morris (who is am awesome chicka) and her efforts to join Seth Godin’s Alternative MBA. She didn’t get in, but that’s fine, because she rocks anyway!

It’s a bat because I’m somewhat obsessed with bats and they’ve become my symbol/totem of sorts. The idea for using a bat as EdDev’s logo came from the Levis 501 Day festival booth we had in 2006, where I used my IKEA Bat Scholy as our unofficial “mascot”. Sure fits “learning differently”!

Thank you Marty!

EducateDeviate logo by Marty Whitmore