What Education did to us ...

Should we be proud or ashamed for this picture ?

This picture which I came across in one of the forwards, which i guess was one of the entries to Best Photography contest.

This picture was then shared times and again on facebook. It did create a lot of proud and praise. All the comments about this picture on all the websites were very much in support of the mother and the need to get this young kid sent to school.

What are we talking about ? Homeless mother, who would be perhaps earning peanuts has been convinced by our system and the entire masses that the best use of that very hard earned money is to send the child to a school in school uniform. Whoa !

Our system has convinced, programmed even that poor mother that schooling is the best thing for our kids. The mother wants her child to be happy, live a life of dignity, not allow her to go through what she is going through and for all this she sees schooling as a viable option.  Infact, we have taken away all her choices. Schooling seems to be the only solution in today's scenario. Everyone wants their kid to go to a good school even if that means sacrificing all our needs and compromising with life.

Lets ask ourselves honestly, are our schools prepared to take care of such kids and such mother's dream ? Are we doing justice to meet the expectations parents have from our kids ? Are we really preparing our kids for a bright and happy future ?

 

 

 

 

Disruption is the Answer

Education does not need small incremental changes (even if they are called "innovations" ) but completely new solution, something that's disruptive of old order. We need a paradigm shift.

However no one except the ignored handfuls are talking about such transformation in education.  Most of the people including NGOs, Educationist, Diplomats and Gates are taking pride in small changes in education. Be it Teach for India/America or No Child Left Behind or a new Alternative school.

Most of the alternative schools are doing this and have been doing this for decade. They would do a small change to either improve curriculum, textbooks, teaching method or school facilities without caring about the larger picture. This hasn't help and can never help. This is like repairing a sinking shipwith 1000 holes. You fix 1,the other will create trouble and by the time you fix 42nd hole the first one is already leaking. Even if some god of repair comes and fixes all the holes, ship would still be weak, vulnerable, and would not be able to face storms that future might bring.
The titanic of education is bound to sink soon. We need a new ship or enough boats.

Among very few attempts to think anew one is spoken about in following Speech by Ricardo Semler -

Maverick - Ricardo Semler explains beautifully in the video (and its second part) some of the core issues in education and explains how they made a brave attempt to think about education from scratch.

This attempt never took off beyond certain point (what and why happened, i am still incapable of commenting as not enough material is available on it)  but it has left a ray of hope for the radical thinkers in education, the ignored handful.

Disruption is the only answer. We need groundbreaking solution to our ancient problem of education. This process would involve creating a force against existing systems, going through a void (when no better systems are available) and finally raising to the challenge of devising a new better system (or non-system) of education.

As a race, we are afraid of "voids" be it a personal void within us or a social void. Hence not many people can let go of existing system inspite of all its negative effects. We are happy blinding ourselves by the thoughts like - yes something is happening, things are improving.

Sorry ! its not , it'll not. Its just getting worse. Education, worldwide is just rotting further with each day. We need disruptive innovations in education. Not one but many. There is no other choice if we are to move away from the path of self destruction.

 

Changing Power equation in Education and Schools

A well debated, discussed and famous phrase by Lord Aston was “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” 

As pointed out in one of the countless articles available on the subject:-

(Please read this article to understand more about Paradox of power and various experiments conducted on “how power changes our behavior”)

 The dynamics of power can profoundly influence how we think. When we climb the ladder of status, our inner arguments get warped and our natural sympathy for others is vanquished. Instead of fretting about the effects of our actions, we just go ahead and act.

 Education gives absolute power in the hands of schools and teachers. This is brutal on the part of children for nobody ever asked them, they don’t have a say and the power given to the teachers corrupts them in no time and they take pleasure in use of mindless authority, they take pride is unoriginal heroism, they do all kind of hideous things to kids and think it’s their right to do it and they are doing for the sake of kid.

[caption id="attachment_217" align="alignright" width="300" caption="A teacher has veto power in school and kids have none !"][/caption]

 When I was not a teacher, I’d always wonder that how cruel and brutal these teachers are to do this to poor kids. Then I joined a new progressive school and started teaching. I was very compassionate, patient and sensitive to kids in the beginning but within a year I noticed that I am getting the traits that I hated in my teachers. (like - to be judgmental, to be unfair and unreasonable, to have preconceived notions about every student, to exercise my authority and polish my own ego)

I was taken aback with what was happening. Upon contemplation I realized that I am being sunk into the “schooling” culture where everybody wants a teacher to be authoritative and behave this way. I had power to exercise authority and escape on being unfair and unreasonable on kids. It was all consider fine, pardonable. Parents took no objections, my school authority expected it from me, even students looked surprised when I try not to be authoritative and try to be fair.  (Of course, all the blame can’t be put on to the schools and culture, I am as an individual is also responsible for behaving the way I do but the point is that schooling culture supports the negative traits of the teacher rather than helping him/her overcome them)

One of the biggest flaws in school culture is this “power equation” of kids and adults. They are not considered equals. (in practice, some new schools talk about it in theory but in practice still the equation doesn't change) Adults, teachers have power to vent out their “whatever” emotions/conditioning/biases onto kids and still never be questioned for it. Infact, the better you do it , chances of being considered a good teacher are higher.

 Change is Essential 

We must change this power equation in school. Learning can never happen when there is no care and a big authoritarian divide. Adults and Kids must be treated equally in the school environment. The power equation which is heavily tilted towards teacher's side must change. Students must have power, they must have equal say in various things. They must be consulted and integrated in the part of decision making process that concern them.

Adults must leg go of this inhuman power they posses because of flawed nature of our education system. They must be aware and try to ensure not to be victimized by it.

Only in an environment of fairness and equality, can we perhaps inculcate the values of significance and help them learn something meaningful.

The missing half of education

"What lies behind us, and what lies

before us are small matters

compared to what lies within us."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

One of the most important and essential thing missing in our education is the “education for the inner”. All the subjects, all the so called improved method of education, all the progressive and alternative modes of education – are concerned with only the outer.

We are brutally neglecting the inner side of human life. By “inner” I mean what lies inside us, our feelings, our thought process, our conditioning, our background, our opinions and beliefs, our unknown self. There is so much inside and all we talk about and teach in schools is about the outer.

No wonder man is so deprived of inner beauty which means missing out on feelings like affection, compassion, joy, a sense of individuality and a sense of vastness and mysteriousness. We are a race of half human beings and we are creating a race of one thirds because this focus on outer is increasing with every passing decade and the “inner” has slowly become a very esoteric, unreal and non-glamorous only good for superstitious mind -kind of word.

The truth without any religious, spiritual or esoteric references is that human being is a combination of both the inner and the outer. We are a meeting point of matter and non-matter. Our body is matter but our mind, thought, feelings are not. Our senses help us experience outside but all experiences are internal and part of the inner. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that man is both inner and outer.

Any education system that doesn’t give equal importance to both inner and outer is bound to remain incomplete and hence without fail, fail. A sane education system will acknowledge both facets of human life without demeaning or belittling the other. That would perhaps create a complete man, one who is not destructive but joyful, peaceful and loving.

What do we do when we don’t know what to do?

In the modern age, one of the biggest challenge in front of human beings in all the arenas is this – what do we do when really are not sure about what is right and what is wrong ? Time has slapped this prove on the face of humanity that there cannot be absolute wrongs or rights. So, the dilemma that we all face today is what shall we do? This becomes more severe when it comes to education. For we really don’t even know the tip of the iceberg. All the knowledge of human kind about education, how we learn, how to grow children comes out be ridiculously tiny, blatantly biased. All we know are trifle bits here and there, there is no way to have a consideration for the bigger picture and that’s what we really need if we want to educate our children rightly.

One of the most profound movie on education -“Schooling the world” proves this (I highly recommend this movie to anybody and everybody interested in education or even otherwise.)  This movie talks about the damage schooling has done and is doing to our children, to our society, to our culture. It beautifully talks about various issues of schooling by taking Ladakh as a case study. This movie puts a question mark on all of us who are supporting development and schooling as a solution to better lives and a better world.



However – it’s a problem movie. It talks about problem really well without even hinting or pointing to any kind of solution or alternative. I guess this would be unfair to expect a single panacea movie on education but I do get frustrated at times because all the movies on education primarily talk about problem and they portray them really well. Other documentaries like “Waiting for Superman” or Ken Robinson’s analysis are mainly focused on the problems of education. There is very little available about the pointers to the solution for the very simple fact that we don’t know what to do?

Given the sheer vastness of possibilities, sophisticated connections of numerous variables and limit of human perceptions, we would perhaps never be able to know “everything” or even anything close to it. So, first thing is clear and needs no further explanation that we would never know enough about education.

Once we have accepted it, the challenge posed before us is – what do we do when we only know a small part of huge puzzle? What shall we do when we really don’t know what’s wrong and what’s right? What do we do with the problems of education when we really don’t know what future holds? What do we do when we have not enough idea about what schooling does to human consciousness; both individual and collective?

All the alternative schools in the world, all different types of educational reforms are doing – “what they (the founder of system / the people involved) think is RIGHT.”  I think this is equally dangerous if not more. However do we have another choice? Of course we can’t just be sitting idle after uncovering various issues in current education system. We can’t help but react to the recognized damage of schooling.

I think this is a very complex and significant question and I am too ignorant to even try to attempt to answer such question. However, I am pursuing this question and I think all those who are serious about education and future of our children and our planet must pursue this question very boldly with an open mind. We should not hurry up to jump on to a conclusion or a solution just because we have had a century of head banging to fix education.

To ensure we don’t at least disturb the process of our evolution and progress we must AT LEAST –

1.)    Be very cautious of our own (personal and social) biases and beliefs about education.

2.)    Learn from the mistakes and not repeat them.

3.)    Not hold our personal views/ideas too seriously and too tightly.

4.)    Stay critical of all the upcoming methods and analyze them with an open mind.

5.)    Take the best of our existing knowledge and experience.

6.)    Create a common platform to share ideas and knowledge we are generating across the world. (we must work together not in isolation – this has failed)

7.)    Take strong stands on things we know for sure (through multiple sources) like – negative impact of - competition, standardized tests, instilling religious values in school etc.

list can go on...

Gautam Buddha said - accepting and knowing that you are ignorant is the first step of wisdom. Perhaps this is high time we take our first step to wisdom in education.

Educate for Life NOT for Livelihood

Our education system prepares us for livelihood and leaves us completely unprepared for life. This requires immediate shift.

Albert Einstein has been reported to have said -

" Education is what remains once we have forgotten all that we learnt at the school."

Do we remember much of geography lessons we learnt or the spooky fractions we calculated ?

How much of what we were taught at school helped us in life ?

Why few subjects are chosen over others - say why not enough importance to given to dance, music, art at most schools ?

Why is extra importance laid on Mathematics,  Commerce and Sciences ?

Why subjects like "Relationships", "Confidence" , "Love" , "Sex" , and a wide range of others just not present at schools ?

Why are grades , certificates, degree, colleges so hyped up ?

Why is our society full of examples where failures at schools succeed in life and the toppers usually are found struggling ?

I think this is because we educate for livelihood, neglecting the need to be educated for life.

Everywhere we go we will find educated adults, well settled but completely clueless about how to live life. They live a mundane life, quite miserable and confused with few weekends and a yearly vacation. Their are billions of people who've received what we consider as "good education" but they seem to be completely lost in life. They don't know how to live, how to relate, what to do and what not to.

One may question but is all this responsibility of schools and education ? Yes ! if not schools then who ? The parents of children hardly ever understand their kid well enough and the relationship (except in case of few lucky ones) is quite complicated to allow any kind of true learning and sharing.   School is the place where they should learn about all that is important. Right now, school is teaching all that just not important.

We need to change the roles of schools from hubs for labor production for industry to centre for development of sensible human beings. We need to shift role of teachers from information transfer officer to experience sharing mentor. This requires a huge paradigm shift but few simple things would help us get started :-

1.) Parents should become sensitive and not push the kid to top or to excel. Let them be, let them grow at their own pace. Intelligent parents should have no expectations from their children, they should rather act as friend who shares their life experiences instead of passing their beliefs and conditioning.

2.) Schools should get away with all kinds of tests that requires grading, labeling or typecasting individuals. We can find better ways of achieving the goals that these things intend to achieve.

3.) Teachers should not try to teach but rather inspire through the way they live their lives and how they challenge the student's intellect. They should shift focus from teaching subjects to facilitating kid's growth.

4.) Subjects like dance, art, music, bird watching, insect study, spirituality etc. should be given equal weightage if a student exhibits interest and potential.

5.) Regular discussions, conversations should be carried on real life issues to understand students and address the challenges they face. For e.g. when kids are entering teenage focus of education should be on subjects like love, sex, AIDS, desires, media influence etc.. Children should be helped in a way so that they can understand themselves and their world better and they can look at life beyond livelihood.

The most important thing is to shift our focus from livelihood to life education. Once that is done, I am sure we will have much more creative ideas on how to do it. Many experts, educationalists and leaders would come forward with creative ways of educating for life. Most important thing is shift of our focus.

The most important responsibility of an educator

What if we were to ask the most important responsibility of an educator, if at all there is one. This question has been asked quite often and its answer has a huge impact on education system. There are three commonly accepted answers refuted below before I share my views on the question:-



Teaching (The Traditional View) - Traditional education had only one expectation from teacher – i.e. to teach. To make sure he does “teaching” (which mostly implied discourses on a topic by experts), we had strict teacher qualifications. Only a PHD in Physics must teach physics or only a masters in Mathematics can teach Mathematics. Teacher was least bothered about the student’s understanding; what mattered was lecture delivery. He would do his best to speak and transfer information from his knowledge bank to the student’s. Whether students have gained anything out of it was immaterial. Those who can grasp became toppers and those who couldn’t were labeled as “losers”.



Times has clearly proven this view as wrong. Over time, we have learned that lecturing makes only a small part of real learning in life. Most of the lectures are monotonous, uninteresting and outdated opinions – hence not providing learning in true sense of the word. Also as teaching was the key responsibility, some teachers (who were good communicators) excelled in it through use of interesting methods like humor, story telling, games etc…while majority of teachers just spoke out of a sense of duty and most students listened for they had no choice due to compulsory attendance. There was no real speaker and no real listener, let alone the teacher and the taught.



Ensuring Learning Happens (The Progressive View)



Our thinking evolved to realize that teaching cannot happen the traditional way and lot of progressive educators and thinkers stressed on learning and student centric approaches. So the progressive lot started talking in a new language and teacher’s responsibility became to ensure learning takes place in class. This meant deeper involvement of teacher and adapting ways to make learning more effective. This was a great shift and we are lucky that it happened (but we must be ashamed that it took us decades to realize this simple fact)

The methods used were more child friendly, the teacher now was concerned about student’s understanding the topic.

However, in spite of our best intentions we did not understood “How people learn?” and hence this also did not work the way progressive educators expected it to. (Although they seem to have not given it up yet.)

One of the things that’s become quite clear in the hazy field of educational research is – “People learn only when they want to”. We can do lot of teaching or activities in a class but who learned what, is not at all in our hands. True learning environment is beyond educator’s control.  Quite often what should have been learnt is not and what shouldn’t have been is.

For e.g. You discuss with students through videos/stories/book – two key events 9/11 and Laden’s death (Boy ! Can’t I think of a better example ;-) ) and would like students to learn “A,B,C” from the discussion. But what one may learn can never be predicted. One student might actually learn “A” but not “B” and “C’ , other may not learn any of it , a third one might just learn “D”, “E” and “F”. Further, if you are white and you smiled on one of the scenes (just like that) – you’d never know if it  might just make a student conclude (for now and for rest of his life) that whites hate muslims and make fun of them – a learning which you never even wanted to transmit.



The cultural background, social conditioning, limited and varied knowledge of students, current state of min, moods , socio-economic background and many other variables make learning environment completely uncontrollable and unpredictable.

Thus, the responsibility of a teacher to ensure learning happens – is a futile imagination.



Provide Inspiration and spark creativity (Idealist View)

Some other groups, experts especially idealists (usually great authors/speakers/politicians who have never even worked as a teacher or know little about realities of schools but they still wish to come up with solutions to all educational problems) claim that key responsibility of modern educator is to foster creativity and provide inspiration to kids.

First let me talk about creativity, Kids are creative by nature but schools suppress their creativity in early education. Later, we want schools to make kids more creative. ROFL. ;-) Further, if creativity is to be nourished in kids – an educator is least empowered to do it because the entire exam system is non-creative and our society doesn’t reward creativity. It requires a larger shift in the system.

Secondly, lets talk about inspiration – is there a group of people we can call “Inspirers”? Or Do people inspire people or it is the action of people that inspires ? Look at the dismal states of our teachers, they don’t know much about anything except their subjects. They don’t have a view on future of education (or event the present of it), they usually are non-creative workers. (Excuse me for this experiential stereotyping) It is just so unfair of us to expect our educators to inspire our kids without we having any proper inspiration in our system to become educators.

Inspiration and creativity is very subjective and we can never expect it to work the way we want. A simple new teacher might inspire a thousand students while a very interesting and experienced PHD might not be able to. The same simple new teacher might not inspire other set of students while this PHD guy can become a real inspiration in some other situation.  Inspiration and creativity are bi-product of some other unclear/unknown factors and cannot be dealt with directly, hence this expectation is just too vague and idealistic.



Being an Authentic Person is the Key responsibility

According to me the true responsibility of an educator is towards himself. Infact the only responsibility of a teacher should be continuous self improvement through self exploration. She needs to stay abreast with happenings in the world, stay aware of her own and social biases. He needs to stay full of life, creativity and excitement. Most importantly, she needs to be a happy, authentic and moral (for god sake, forgive me for use of this word but I am not talking about the hypocrite morality or a church type morality) human being.



Why?

Just pause for a moment and go back in time to remember your favorite teacher, your best friend or a person you truly admired and learnt a lot from. Think of someone who really touched your life, someone who changed the way you look at things, someone who really helped you learn a lot.

Now describe him or her. Most often, we learn from people and their lives not from what they say.  Mahatma Gandhi could stir a revolution and teach the entire world a lesson of non-violence not because he wrote a book or did something but because he lived his entire live in that way. He was a person of morals and thus people in touch with him learnt a lot.

Zen or Buddhist monasteries where monks are trying to learn the deepest secrets of life usually have some monks who really live their life in way that just being with that person becomes a learning experience.

What can an unhappy teacher give to the class ? He is struggling with his marriage, he still is confused about his career choices, he is still quite insensitive and non-creative. Such a person, in spite of best intentions – cannot do good to the students.

Whereas a happy teacher, who is creative, loves life, takes pleasure in everything she does,  lingers to have fun, who herself is a rebel and a truly passionate person – such a person without fail will teach a lot more the kids beyond subjects. Subjects she’ll teach would come alive as she’ll strive to make her own life happy as usual.  A happy person cannot be sad in classroom. Happiness is the first condition of learning anything significant.

I strongly believe that students can’t be happy unless school management is happy, educators are happy. The only qualification for a teacher should be to be happy and creative. Happiness is the key ingredient that makes a learning environment.

Educators must fight for their own growth, for their own space in schools, to stay calm and happy. They must be aware not to have a stressed lifestyle. They must demand space for creativity and fun. They must be fearless and revolutionary. They must do whatever it takes so that teaching doesn’t remain a job but a lovely experience of life which he enjoys immensely. He must strive to get clear about his morals, ethics and values without being stereotyped and old fashioned.

Irrespective of the intention, quite often –

A violent educator will teach only violence,

A confused educator will increase the confusion,

A sexually pervert educator will only fuel up perversion in students,

A hypocrite personality can only teach hypocrisy.

A person blind for fame and money just cannot teach spirituality..

A religious person cannot teach critical thinking.

An egoist or fame loving educator cannot teach anything but would only do things to impress or gain acceptance.

Most of above teaching will unfortunately happen without even the educator doing anything consciously.

Educators must be greedy for self development and self improvement in all the spheres. That is, according to me, the only true responsibility of an educators.

I might be mistaken as stating that “Only perfect souls should be educators” , No ! I don’t mean that. What I mean is that educator must be aware of his/her own imperfections and should consistently strive to become a better person, should be open to change, to challenge, to question and to learn.

Must read books for Educators : Part II

There are three more books that I think every educator concerned with authentic education might find useful. Infact all three books mentioned below are such that anyone can read them irrespective of their profession. These books talks of deeper and important issues of life which are so closely realted to education.

Pedagogy of the Oppressed :  By Paulo Friere

[caption id="attachment_177" align="alignleft" width="195" caption="Pedagogy of the Oppressed"][/caption]

 





I was almost too sure that there could possibly be no “Manual for Rebels” or a book on “How to create true revolution?” but Paulo Friere made me rethink.

Ofcourse, still there can’t be a book on revolution or rebels but this book comes really very close. They way he explains the Banking concept of education and its relation to the oppression in our society is thrilling. His practical  wisdom on authentic education really makes one think deeply. Some of my favourite quotes are :-

“An act is oppressive when it prevents people from being more fully human… education is thus oppressive for it reduces the taught into an object.”

“Education is a tool used by the oppressors to make individuals better “fit” for the world. (a world that has been created by oppressors where other human beings are to be treated merely as objects.)”

“A teacher’s thinking is authenticated only the authenticity of the student’s thinking.”

What I really like most about the entire pedagogy proposed by Paulo Freire, something that very closely resonates with my own take on educational reforms is “mandatory and equal participation of both the parties (here, it would mean we and the students).” As he explain in following quote :-

“ Attempting to liberate the oppressed without their reflective participation is (again) to treat them as objects.”

“Education must be more as a practice of freedom opposed to (current system), practice of domination..”

“Authentic Education is not carried on by “A” for “B” or by “A” about “B”, but rather by “A” with “B”. “

Actually the entire book is worth quoting, so go get a copy and read it.

On Education by J. Krishnamurti

[caption id="attachment_179" align="alignleft" width="162" caption="J Krishnamurti on Education"][/caption]

Pick up any book by J. Krishnamurti and you’ll find deep insight into the issues in our education system with lot of hints on how to take things forward. The questions that he poses are really shattering and makes one think and act.

“Why are you being educated ? Have you asked this question ? Are you concerned at all ? Are you being educated just to find a good job, fit into society, get married and produce kids ? Or is there anything more to life ? “

“So Sir, the problem is to have an education where both the educator and the educated bring about a good society.”

“The function of education, then, is to help you from childhood not to imitate anybody, but to be yourself all the time and to cultivate true freedom.”

“ You might know a great deal outwardly but are you also aware of the yourself inwardly, in reality , just naked as you are not the superficial personalities that we carry”

J. Krishnamurti’s profound views on education are rooted in practical wisdom because he worked closely with 5 schools for almost 4-5 decades. He discussed all kinds of issues with teachers and students and thankfully we have records of most of it.

The best thing I like about his books and his work is he never gave a system to follow but challenged each one of the educator (as well the students) to find his or her own clarity on all the educational issues which are nothing but also the issues of our society, issues of our life.

How to talk to kids so kids will listen and listen so kids will talk. By  Faber and Mazlish

[caption id="attachment_178" align="alignleft" width="172" caption="How to talk to kids so kids will listen"][/caption]

 





I can’t believe I am recommending this book because I just found it full of crap first time I read it. Crap because this book tells you nothing but what is “Common Sense”.

However as I observed closely, I found common sense missing in schools, in society and especially in teachers and parents at all levels (especially when it comes to handling kids). I found it to be lacking in me too. I went back to the cartoons in the book to regain the common sense and then realized the importance of this book.

This book just tells us how to listen compassionately and talk sensitively (to kids but it works for adults as well), explaining them clearly through number of practical and real life examples.

What I really liked about this book is one constant question posed by the authors throughout the book under various situations – “How would you feel if you were this kid ? Would you feel useless or confident and loved ?” . This single techniques has really changed the way I treat kids.

I think this book is a good read for all teachers, parents and even lovers.

George Carlin's profound comment on Education and Why it won't change !

One might laugh on what comedian Gorge Carlin says in the following video but I think it is one of the most profound statement I've come across on education. What he puts so simply and in such light manner is a very grave problem that we are facing today.

" Education is never going get any better, because the owners of this country - DONT WANT THAT ! "

It  is quite a hard to accept fact to accept what George Carlin says  - "You've no Choice. They (corporate world and politicians) own you ! "

Do we really don't have a choice ? Are we just being deceived that we have freedom while in reality we have none ?

If one would look close enough, the answer unfortunately comes out to be - "Yes, It's true - We don't really have freedom, we don't really have choices ! "

What freedom does education has if the sole aim of it is to provide labor (sometimes referred by proffesionals, scientists and other attractive terms) to the capitalist giants ?

What choice does a student and his family have if they know it well that if they don't do "engineering" and learn computers - they might just not be able to find a good job ? (Pretty much the scenario in India ! )

I absolutely agree with him that we really don't have choices and freedom ! But...But - if one has got passion inside - it is possible to fight for our freedom and claim our choices or even invent newer ones. The world is full of such individuals and communities who fought for what they deserved and claimed their right in spite of a stronger majority.

Che Guevera and Education Revolution

I am a pessimist when it comes to educational revolution that'll introduce radical change, simply because noone seems to be wanting it badly enough.

[caption id="attachment_164" align="alignleft" width="270" caption="Che Guevara"][/caption]

I am reminded of one of most famous rebel Icon of our times, Che Guevera and his time in Bolivia.
Although neither I am a historian or an expert on this subject but according to my limited perspective - one of the most important factor of failure of revolution in Bolivia was "People of Bolivia, actually did not want any revolution ! " They were too blinded by whatever the system was, doesn't matter how unfair or rotten ! They were fooled by a partial pseudo revolution (agrarian reforms of 1950s). Che Guevera and his fellow rebels hardly got any support from locals. Ofcourse, there were many other issues but certainly one major factor for failure of the revolution was - "People did not value the revolution at all or just didn't trust it ! "

I feel the same is the case with Educational revolution in our modern World. It is bound to fail because the people don't seem to be wanting it ! Only handful of people go on shouting the need for revolution but unless the locals support it - it is just gonna fail. Majority seems to be satisfied with the pseudo revolutions (the so called educational reforms).

Just go around the city and ask a few kids in schools - what changes do you want in your education ? They don't have an answer, and if they have one -it's just a reaction. They might just demand little more time, space and freedom.

Go and ask the parents - What changes do you want in your child's education ? They'll certainly give some second hand answers like "Make it more child friendly." , "Make it more fun..and practical.." Most don't have a mind of their own for they care least.

Go and ask Teachers - What changes you want in your system ? He/She'll respond from his own little frustrated stand in his/her school. " Give me more freedom to experiment." , "Give us more tools and resources."

Go and ask Politicians and Corporate Leaders, What change you'd like to see ? , They are most likely to respond - more employable youth, more workforce - so that they can keep the game of economy going.

No one wants a true radical change in education system, Infact we are all avoiding it.
The moment we propose a radically different way of living, way of educating - very few actually wanna try and trust.

Conservatives might argue that without a solid alternate system, noone will shift grounds and a revolution with no clear alternative is useless. Perhaps ! But to have that better alternate education system there has to be a unrest with current system. There has to be a deep sense of rebellion against current system. It is just so funny to observe the world around and find no trace of it, in spite of the fact that current system has produced nothing but a divided humanity and a selfish man.

Nevertheless, I like the approach of Che Guevera. Keep fighting if you know why are you fighting ! Winning and Loosing, left to themselves. I wish the Che Gueveras and rebels of educational world can prove history wrong and bring about a true revolution inspite of the blinded majority.

Educational Research : A dangerous weapon

As a new educator - the most important thing I wanted to avoid was distorting the reality by my own beliefs and conditioning. I think an educator who is not aware of his own biases and conditioning is the most dangerous creature walking inside the schools walls. He'll try to (and not even realize it) poison the young minds.

So, how shall a new educator like me go about forming my own judgement about various issues related to education ? My scientific background suggested me to follow - "Educational Researches" and stay upto date with latest findings in education sector.

To my disappointment, there isn't enough quality and true researches available in the field of education. We know a lot more about "How to sell a stupid product to an intelligent person ? " than we know about "How to educate our kids ?" .

Most of the education researches are just biased opinions. Politicized propagandas or Individual experiences.

To Lecture or Not to Lecture :

A website called "Education Next" (www.educationnext.org) has few articles/researches that have been discussing this point.

Look at the comment below :-

"No matter how much scaffolding, coaching, guidelines and requirements I set for the child centered activities, the students do better after direct instruction. Is this disappointing? You bet." - James Wohlgemuth in: comments on Eighth-Grade Students Learn More Through Direct Instruction

Is it not trying to say that better be a strict commander rather than trying to be a friendly child centered educator ? (which is the commonly held belief).

Above article is a good read if one just takes the research with little pinch of salt.

Here is another research on the same website - http://educationnext.org/more-lecturing-more-learning/ which says - More Lecturing means more learning. It puts lectureship over activity based learning. Here is a snippet from the conclusion :-

"Given the limitations of the data, our finding that spending increased time on lecture-style teaching improves student test scores results should not be translated into a call for more lecture-style teaching in general. But the results do suggest that traditional lecture-style teaching in U.S. middle schools is less of a problem than is often believed.

( conclusion from : http://educationnext.org/sage-on-the-stage/) "

My Take on Educational Researches

They are Dangerous. Education is such a vast topic and a very important issue of our world. It requires a very delicate treatment. It is equally if not more important to Health. We can't risk our health with some A,B,C researches unless they are proved by multiple sources or multiple researches. We cannot decide our action based on few limited researches. Education researches must also be taken equally seriously. WE NEED TO BE VERY CAUTIOUS !

Remember the infamous - Jewish/black people scientific research to prove them less intelligent ? We must keep it in mind everytime we come across any educational research or findings from related fields like developmental psychology, child psychology, educational philosophy etc.

Is it not possible that above two researches (from education next) trying to prove that the old style is better are just politically funded researches to calm down the parents and teacher communities demanding educational revolution ? Quite Possible !

Why I disagree with National Knowledge Commission ?

In 2009, I had an opportunity to interact with Head of Knowledge Commission and Personal Advisor to The Prime Minister - Mr. Sam Pitroda.

[caption id="attachment_129" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="With Mr. Sam Pitroda "][/caption]

The discussion was on the topic- "Educational reforms in India". I was taken aback by the low quality of discussion in the room. Here we had the best of the brains from across nation and the man who has the power to allow policy change and most of the questions discussed were just too superficial. How to improve evaluation, curriculum, how to make school kids more employable and so on. To me it was not a discussion on how to improve education and life of our kids but on how to improve education to improve life of corporates and capitalism.

Finally, I gathered the courage to interrupt Mr. Pitroda and ask - " Sir, What do you think is the place of Values ,Morals, Character  and things like Civic Sense, Education of Environment damage and other such softer skills in Education ? " . He looked at me a little upset for taking the discussion tangentially away and said - " I am not here for all that. I do not have solution for all the things. " And He was right in his place. Most of the educational policies, educationalists, schools are not concerned with the question I raised. I was in wrong place and they were right !

I followed NKC because I really had great hopes from them and I expected some real change in Education post NKC publishes its reports and findings. Which is why I also participated in the National debate on "Making Vocational Training compulsory in our Schools."  I thought that was a crazy idea just to get more manforce for the factories. I went against the motion and was the only one ! I couldn't find one more contestant fighting against the motion. The top 3 winners were all who supported the motion. Below is the link of my Video response to the debate :-

 

An Essay on Education in India

Knowledge Commission of India organized a National Level Essay Contest on themes related to Education few years back and below is the link to my entry :-

Click here to read my essay :

Collaborative efforts for education, Collective benefits for our nation.

Click here to read other award winning essays :

http://www.knowledgecommission.gov.in/contests/essay.asp

 

Must Read Books for Educators : Part I

What really amazed me when I came across some of the works of educationalists of past was that some of them were really ahead of their times and their works actually contain useful insights to find solutions to current education crisis. The sad part is there have been lot of talks, most of these books have become best sellers but not enough has happened on the grounds. Anyway, I hope these books will be useful for all educational leaders and revolutionaries. Here are first three recommendations : -

1.) Instead of Education : John Holt

[caption id="attachment_113" align="alignleft" width="196" caption="Instead of Education"][/caption]

 

My favorite part of this book is the difference which author makes between "Schools" and "schools" , "Teachers" and "teachers" and how beautifully uses these terms to convince us of uselessness of "schools" and the need of "Schools".

Here is a quote from the book :-

"Next to the right to life itself, the most fundamental of all human rights is the right to control our own minds and thoughts. That means, the right to decide for ourselves how we will explore the world around us, think about our own and other persons' experiences, and find and make the meaning of our own lives. Whoever takes that right away from us, as the educators do, attacks the very center of our being and does us a most profound and lasting injury. "

"In this book, I find myself speaking to minority of people who believe that children (like other people) will live better, learn more , and grow more able to cope with the world if they are not constantly bribed, wheedled, bullied, threatened, humiliated and hurt..."

"Today what "education" has become, I am wholly against it. People all around talk about how to reform or humanize it (education).....but to make it more effective and efficient will be to make it worse, and to help it do even more harm. It cannot be performed, carried out more wisely or humanely because the purpose itself is neither wise nor humane."

 

 





[caption id="attachment_114" align="alignright" width="184" caption="Deschooling Society"][/caption]

2.) Deschooling Society : Ivan Illich



Ivan Illich's hair raising comparison of schools to churches and schooling to being baptized is what I loved about this book. He presented a convincing case which some of us might find exaggerated but undeniable. He was an insider of Church in his early life and hence the insights he brings in comparing education and religion are truly shocking. A small but a powerful book, must read !

His argument on "Why we must de-establish schools ?" provides a really critical view of our education system. Here are few quotes :-

"Many student know what schools does to them. They confuse them to process and substance...The pupil is therefore schooled to confuse teaching with learning, graded environment with education, a diploma with competency and fluency with ability to say something new. His imagination is "schooled" to accept service in place of value"

" Schools have failed.....the exhaustion and pollution of earth's resources is above all, the result of corruption of man's self image.."

"Everywhere the hidden curriculum of schooling initiates the citizen to the myth that bureaucracies guided by scientific knowledge are efficient and benevolent. Everywhere this same curriculum instills in the pupil the myth that increased production will provide a better life. And everywhere it develops the habit of self-defeating consumption of services and alienating production, the tolerance for institutional dependence, and the recognition of institutional rankings. The hidden curriculum of school does all this in spite of contrary efforts undertaken by teachers and no matter what ideology prevails."




3.) Summerhill School : A new view of Childhood by A.S. Neill

[caption id="attachment_115" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Summerhill School : A new view of Childhood"][/caption]

 

A.S. Neill established Summerhill School and this book summarizes his journey. Summerhill school is usually refered as "Free School" and it lead to establishment of many other so called "free schools". This is our misfortune !

Shouldn't every single school be "free school" , a place where student get first taste of freedom, where learning takes place in a free rather than a controlled environment. As it turns out , we are all afraid of giving freedom to our kids. In this fantastic book, the author proves how freedom can transform the entire process of learning and education.

" A free child is a happy child...Function of a child is to live his own life - not the life his anxious parents think he should live.."

" This has been my experience at Summerhill.....There are no problem child - only problem teachers and problem parents. "

" When we trust children, we give them freedom which is their right and they deserve - they feel responsible for their actions, for their learning and for their life. ...There can be no respect when their is no freedom."

" We have to make a school fit the child not child fit the school."

"Obviously, a school that makes active children sit at desks studying mostly useless subjects is a bad school. It is a good school only for those who believe in such a school, for those uncreative citizens who want docile, uncreative children who will fit into a civilization whose standard of success is money."

 

Enjoy Reading and feel free to share your thoughts with me ,I'd be happy to discuss !

How you teach Matters, Who teaches - doesn't !

(Following is the summary of an article published on an interesting research) -

Publication: The Times Of India Mumbai;  Date: May 15, 2011;

Section : International;  Page: 18

Teacher stop the preaching, get innovative tools

Washington: "Who’s better at teaching difficult physics to a class of
more than 250 college students: the highly rated veteran professor
using time-tested lecturing, or the inexperienced graduate student
interacting with kids via devices that look like TV remotes? The
answer could rattle ivy on college walls. 

A study by a Nobel Prize-winning physicist suggests that how you
teach is more important than who does the teaching. He found that in
nearly identical classes, Canadian college students learned a lot more
from teaching assistants using interactive tools than they did from a
veteran professor giving a traditional lecture. The students who had
to engage interactively using the TV remote-like devices scored about
twice as high on a test compared to those who heard the normal
lecture, according to a study published in the journal Science.

The interactive method had almost no lecturing. It involved short,
small-group discussions, in-class “clicker” quizzes, demonstrations
and question-answer sessions. The teachers got real-time graphic
feedback on what the students were learning and what they weren’t
getting."

Related link - Click here to read another full article.

 

Now, does it really requires a scientific research by a nobel laureate to tell us this simple fact ? Is not this an obvious fact that we all know experientially ?

This is our misfortune in the field of education that we don't trust the obvious and don't execute the common sense.  Thank God (just an expression) ! that there are people spending their lives in proving the obvious to the masses.

Don't we know that we learn better by doing ? From Holt to the researchers till date having been shouting this and we know it for ourselves as well - STILL we don't object when our schools still go on emphasizing rote learning, lecture methods and theory.

Don't we know that we learn better when learning is fun ? But our schools are still disguised churches and our teachers - damn serious creatures.

Don't we know that competitions lead to undue pressure and don't always aid learning ? ( If you don't agree with this one, you just need to find few more researches proving the obvious ! ) - But still our kids are told to compete at all the places in all the times !

Sometimes ,I wonder do we really need a revolution in education or just restoration of our common senses and simple observations !

Top 3 Foes of a Child

1. Parents
2. Teachers
3. Media
(This post will deal with top one only, more on it later)
Parents top the list of Biggest Foes of a Child. Hands Down ! No Debate ! No ifs and buts !

Paulo Coelho, one of the finest author of our time was send to mental asylum by his parents just because he wanted to pursue his unusual dream of being a writer. (Read full story at : http://paulocoelhoblog.com/2011/01/21/on-a-mental-institution)  & Shakespeare's teacher thought he was simply useless.


Pick up story of any leader or any person you admire or anyone who really inspires you - look at his life. Almost, Always - Parents are the first one to label a kid's dream as "useless" , "stupid" or "impractical" - later these labels will be reinforced by the Teachers. Not only her dreams but also her own self, her individuality, her very nature is demeaned and belittled almost every single day by Parents at home and Teachers at schools.

Worst news ? Both of them are not aware of it and they think they are doing it for the benefit of the kid and because they "CARE and LOVE" the kid.

I've tried a simple experiment at my school and neighborhood which really is unbelievable. I'd observe any kid and try to make out the personalities of his/her parents. Alternatively, I'd observer the parents and try to make an outline of personality of the child.
To my amazement, except one or two odd cases (which can also be explained) - the judgement is quite accurate.

Mother of a child who was very possessive of his/her things - was herself very possessive of her car and lipsticks.

Father of a very short tempered, violent boy used to beat the child and her mother quite often.

An 8 year old girl who'd never listen to anyone and always try to speak had just exactly similar mom.

Life is full of such example, take a pause and look at your own life. Chances are you are living a life that is 80% your parents, 20% rest of it. Hard to accept, but that's how everyone lives. The rest 20% is quite often influence of peer, media, friends etc.

People quite often argue that even the positive traits are transferred from parents and teachers to the child. True , but all that is borrowed & not a self experience will soon breed hypocrisy and conflict. By mid life or even earlier these positive traits fall off or if they remain - they remains as an automatic response not a conscious choice.

We need to create individuals. A child deserves to live his/her own life without any - ANY INFLUENCE. Any responsible and intelligent parent and teacher will try to influence the child - LEAST. (assuming that no influence at all, is quite impractical)

Let the child flower as she wishes to. Parents who really love their child would understand this and try to help kid become individual and independent. True educators will try to undo the damage of parent's conditioning and spark the fire of true individuality again in the kid

[caption id="attachment_79" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Three biggest enemies of a child"][/caption]

while avoiding any kind of influence on the child's mind.

 

Only such a child is capable of becoming a true human being capable of loving, capable of saving our planet earth, shunning mediocrity and violence and live a fulfilled life. Otherwise, he'll be just like us.

Problems of Education

The problem of education can be broadly classified into two – Qualitative and Quantitative.

Quantitative Problem of Education:
This is the problem mainly because of poor, unintelligent economic and political policies. Due to unequal distribution of wealth and resources across the world, children of poor population cannot afford education. Millions of children grow up sacrificing their childhood to livelihood because of such unfair economic struggle. Thankfully, a lot of work is being done on this part by many responsible governments, non-profit organizations and motivated individuals.

No Child Left Behind, Compulsory Education, Universal Education, Education for all, Right to Education, United Nations' MDGs and Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (India) are some examples of various efforts to solve the “quantitative problems” of education.
However, given the sheer population (almost 80% of world is poor) of disadvantaged children – these initiatives hardly meet the purpose and much more work needs to be done.

[caption id="attachment_69" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Education faces two key problems, both needs to be addressed ASAP"][/caption]

Qualitative Problem of Education :
If we really keep working towards solving the first problem of education with initiatives like Millennium Development Goals, we are quite hopeful to solve the problem largely in a decade or two. However, looking at what the educated lot is doing with the world and how are they living, it seems the overall problem will just get bigger.

This is why, the second – quite often neglected problem of education is “Qualitative problem of Education.” The figure summarizes the concept of two types of problem in education.

Qualitative problem deals with improving quality of education by first carefully defining “quality” itself. A wrong definition of “quality” would just make things worse. For e.g. if we mean “marks or grades” by quality, we might just do no good but more harm.

Qualitative problems in education should follow rational, scientific and unbiased newer approaches. The first step would be to identify and acknowledge the problem of quality in education and then finding innovative solutions.

Why are the so called educated lot so greedy, so unhappy and addicted to sensations ? Why are they creating products and services that harm our environment ? Why are the so called leaders creating more and more imbalance in our economy and society ? Why are we so violent, so sexual and so frustrated race of human being ? Given the current situation, can we be sure that this generation was rightly educated ?

Qualitative solutions should deal with all these questions.

World needs solution to both Qualitative and Quantitative problems of education, if we wish to create a better future.

Changing Education Paradigm - Ken Robinson

This presentation by RSA on the views of Sir Ken Robinson highlights some of the key issues with our education system. Some of the highlights of the presentation are :-

1.)  How the current system has led to CHAOS" ?

2.) Analysis of Education and it's relationship with Industrialization and age of enlightenment.

3.) The depiction of pitiable state of modern students.

4.) Thoughts on Divergent thinking and Creativity.



The presentation talks beautifully about the problems of current system but barely touches on the solutions.  How can we make the paradigm shift ?

The presentation also doesn't consider the recent developments in education where a lot of these issues have been addressed already. It also neglects a lot of other challenges.

Nevertheless, this really make a very impactful and useful presentation.  Let us keep this discussion on and take things beyond ideas and concepts.

(More on Sir Ken Robinson  soon)

Stop Experimenting on Children

Scientists experiment on rats to prove or test their own ideas. Teachers, Politicians, Corporate leaders, so called educationalists and school management do exactly the same if not worse kind of experiment on our children in school.

The hard unaccepted reality is that we don't know much about children, how they learn, how can they truly grow as a complete and good human being ? (Actually, the biggest thing we don't know is how to define a good human being in first place. )

Just do Google or whatever research you want to do on following two topics -

1.) How to grow our children ?

2.) How to sell a product ?

The number of researches, number of people involved and our knowledge for question number 2 would be far far more than that for question number 1.

All the so called "Alternative schools" or "Alternate Education" are also nothing but experiments of different kind.

[caption id="attachment_48" align="aligncenter" width="435" caption="Educational systems experiment on kids just like scientists do on rats"][/caption]

A.S. Neil said -let their be freedom and kids were tested on it.

Rudolph Steiner said - let there be more role of other subjects like art, apart from 3 Rs of education and kids were tested.

Maria Montessori - proposed certain other elements and a different type of environment for learning - these Montessori labs are all around the world.

Like this we've have many other educators or so called experts who've recommended a new method of education based on their own experience and perspective and the world followed it WITHOUT ANY CONSENT FROM KIDS.

The only reason these methods became so famous is : our existing system of education is so stupid that anything would just be better than it. I do not doubt the sincerity of these educational thinkers but we need to realize the limitation of individual perspectives and experiences and weigh it against lives of our children.

Of course there are researches available, there are branches of other sciences like psychology and philosophy that deal with children and education but just look at the importance given to it and number of really intelligent people involved in it and it'll appear like one of those most neglected topics.

If we accept that education is one of the most important factor that shapes our reality and creates our future and present - any sane society would invest much more time and energy to really find a way of right education for our children.

We need to stop experimenting on our children and approach the problem of education more scientifically and holistically.

Why this Blog ?

Millions of webpages, thousands on education. Why the hell yet another blog ? What am I trying to achieve ?  Is there something more than words to this blog or is it just part of internet pollution ?

This blog is my journey in education. I am not here to be a teacher or a school staff for life. I am here for true revolution in Education system.  It might look an overstatement but my intentions are clear - make a dent or just exit ! Hence the following -

Self Limiting Goal : "If within 24 months of existence of this blog, it is not able to translate beyond words and discussions into something concrete, It must be closed down without any arguments or excuses."

I deeply believe through my experience that a "deep understanding" of the problem is the most important step to solve it. Through this blog I wish to develop this understanding while sharing it with like minded friends and hence spark a creative discussion.

Few things already on my Mind :

• In Google age, schools as we know them will be soon redundant and teachers - almost useless.  A wholly new objective for education & schools is to be found out.


• Reforming education system has not helped at all. At best it has been an experiment on poor kids and at worst a life spoiler.


• Old value system, morals and ethics needs to be ruthlessly questioned.


• Education for poor, Universal education, Education for all - is more of a political and social issue - rather than educational issue and hence NOT our primary concern.


• Alternative education and Alternative Schools can provide wealth of insight and wisdom - they must be studied and discussed.


• There is no need to address generally accepted notions for e.g. - Yes, we all agree that education should be more fun. Activity based learning is already an accepted norm in many schools. Focus on practical learning is also slowly being accepted across the sector.  Let's not discuss what is already being discussed unless it really adds value.


• Education is not independent of our social, economic, personal and political problems. We need to present an integrated view.


• There have been great educationalists and thinkers - How can we learn from them ?

This is just the beginning. Thanks.