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Recently, civil rights issues in the states and here in Canada have caused me to think a lot about empathy. Why is it that some people seem to express and feel empathy more easily than others? Why do we tend to jump to a defensive stance during challenging conversations? Most importantly, what does this have to do with schooling?! For this last question, I turn to my favourite escape, a quote by a respected person:  Neil DeGrasse Tyson: Astrophysicist, Cosmologist Humans aren’t as good as we should be in our capacity to empathize with feelings and thoughts of others, be they humans or other animals on Earth.
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Recently entrepreneur and researcher Vivek Wadhwa posted an insightful piece on Reinventing the Classroom for the digital age. He talks about the potential for a revolution in education: I am talking about a complete transformation of the way teaching is done, with the computer taking the role of the lecturer, the teacher becoming a coach, and students taking responsibility for their own learning.  Students in Istanbul connect into an Active Learning classroom at Laurier. (www.wlu.ca)  Reading their Telegu words! On a recent visit to the reputed Rishi Valley school in rural Andhra Pradesh, India (past posts on the philosophy of Rishi Valley here, and here) two friends and I had the chance to visit a rural school operated by Rishi Valley, under the banner “RIVER” (Rishi Valley Institute for Educational Resources).
This one room schoolhouse typically housed kids aged 4 to 10, one main teacher, and one assistant. Students sat on the floor, with large square work tables a foot or so off the ground. If given the chance, would you go back and re-live high school for a day? Recently, one teacher did just that. Alexis Wiggins took on the task of spending two days in the shoes of a grade 10 high school student to aid in her new role as a Learning Coach. Here were her key takeaways with my thoughts below (see the original post here) 1. Students sit all day, and sitting is exhausting  I was drained, and not in a good, long, productive-day kind of way. No, it was that icky, lethargic tired feeling. Thanks to @SirKenRobinson for posting about this little gem of a film recently (full film here). The threats of imposing one system regardless of local tradition - what harm has already been caused by such "modern" education? On a deeper level, how will we work to prevent further cultural erosion through schooling? An impressive "cast" is featured in the film: Wade Davis (his site is worth checking out - fascinating photography), Vandana Shiva (heavy hitter in the activist world), Helena Norberg-Hodge, and Manish Jain, along with some beautiful footage from Ladakh. The film highlights how over 90% of students in Ladakh are deemed "failures" through school, and are not able to enter the global economic system as intended. Norberg-Hodge contrasts this with the struggle they face back home, and the value of ancient cultural knowledge: There is no doubt that traditional forms of knowledge fostered sustainability... once they have been educated in "modern" schools, they literally don't know how to survive in their own environment. It's high time we turned the tables - what can we learn from these ancient forms and systems? Davis provides excellent examples of how local systems of education shape important differences in people and how they relate to the earth; a warning not to keep pushing for universal, uniform education. He gives the example of a child raised in Colorado versus one raised in southern Peru under different systems of belief and knowledge. Say the child in Colorado is raised with the belief that the mountain is inert and waiting to be mined. This child will have a very different relationship to the earth than the child in Peru who believes that the mountain has an active spirit, and sees it as a protective force. In this case, one system clearly lends itself to resource misuse, and the other can help us move towards true sustainability. Finally, Vandana Shiva warns of the shift from valuing wisdom to valuing information that is impacting our development as people: We have moved from wisdom to knowledge, and now we are moving from knowledge to information, and that information is so partial that we are creating incomplete human beings. The film doesn't knock our systems of education entirely (but does come close!). It does provide a lot of food for thought and powerful critique, and re-inspires me in thinking about alternative models.
To see the whole film (64 minutes and entirely worth it!), and read some excellent posts, visit: www.schoolingtheworld.org  www.jkrishnamurti.org Now that we’ve explored what he views as the purpose of education, and the important roles of parents and teachers, we can finish our review of Krishnamurti’s “Education and the Significance of Life” by considering the type of schooling he proposed. Krishnamurti first places emphasis on the failure of large institutions: A large and flourishing institution in which hundreds of children are educated together, with all its accompanying show and success, can turn out bank clerks and super-salesmen, superficial people who are technically efficient; but there is hope only in the integrated individual, which only small schools can help bring about. He pushes us to re-think the common idea that we need to start on a large scale to effect change; that instead, we need to act, beginning with ourselves and our children:
Recently, I've been coming across posts and people who believe in a "free" approach to education, allowing kids' natural exploration guide their own learning, and having them do this outside the confines of a formal school. I like this in theory; but in practice I wonder about the competencies parents need to guide this experiential learning. Continuing on from my post on the ‘right kind of education’, Krishnamurti places a lot of emphasis on the role of both parents and teachers. With the challenge of developing integrated individuals, parents and teachers need to be integrated themselves. One of my favourite Krishnamurti quotes sums this up: What we are in ourselves is much more important than the traditional question of what to teach the child. He goes on to explain that our fears from childhood are often not dispelled by parents nor teachers, which is dangerous as we grow up with these fears dominating our judgment and preventing deeper learning: ..there cannot be intelligence as long as there is fear. Fear perverts action and is one of the causes of self-centered action.. To be without fear is the beginning of wisdom, and only the right kind of education can bring about the freedom from fear in which alone there is a deep and creative intelligence. Krishnamurti also boldly calls parents out for failing to care enough to transform society, and instead continuing the status quo:
 What a beautiful weekend here in Toronto! Under sunny skies, it felt great to “pause” for some time by the lake yesterday.
As I waited for a friend to join me, I started to re-read one of my favourite books, "Education and the Significance of Life", by Jiddu Krishnamurti. Krishnamurti is regarded as one of the greatest thinkers and teachers of our time, speaking about issues ranging from the constant struggle we have for security, moving beyond religious divides, and perhaps most pertinent, how to live a deeply fulfilling and integrated life. In this book he puts forth his views on the radical reforms needed in education, a perfect segue from my last post. Taking an important step (leap!) back, Krishnamurti pushes us to think fundamentally about the purpose of education, and focuses on the importance of self-knowledge and individual freedom. In a chapter on “The Right Kind of Education” he expands: I recently attended an really inspiring conference with the theme of transforming our learning experiences at Queen’s. After three full days, I was not disappointed - and I’m excited to share! One of the keynote speakers, Eric Mazur, was a physics prof from Harvard. Mazur has been working in the university circuit for nearly 30 years, and has earned a reputation for reforming lectures to be more interactive, and assessment to be more relevant. Mazur opened with reference to this funny sketch on the "five minute university" by "Father Guido Sarducci" (total throwback SNL character), and sadly the sketch is still relevant 24 years later: |
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