Understanding The Education Space and People Involved

As one keeps learning more about various prevalent theories, opinions and initiatives in Education domain, one realizes that there is no one correct answer. Just like the blind men and the elephant, we all believe in our own tiny piece of reality. All of have some part of picture, none of us has the entire picture. Thus, perhaps it'll help to try and understand different streams of thinkers and thoughts in Education Space.

1.) The complacent belief
Schools are good as they are. Children learn best when they are in school. They learn how we learnt in our schools. Ofcourse, there are some issues and problems but that's nothing new. Our kids must also survive them and they will just like how we did. Schools are important institutions. Education is very important to be successful and become intelligent. If everything stays the same, we would still be happy with the schools and state of education. Lets not create problems out of nothing. (Approximate e.g. - Lot of Parents, Traditional Schools especially Government Schools)

2.) The Naive Realist Belief
We believe that there is nothing too bad about schools and the crisis in education is overhyped. Schools have been doing fine in past and are doing fine today. Like any other system or institution, they have their own shortcomings but things are improving. Schools must stay while we must try to improve various aspects of school like infrastructure, teacher accountability, overall grades, reduce number of drop outs etc. ( A.e.g.  Politicians, Traditional Teachers)

3.) The Reformer Belief
Schools of today are outdated. They are based on Industrial age model and with end of industrial age, the schools of past must also be tranformed. Smaller changes like improving grades is not enough. We must re-examine entire curriculum, introduce critical, lateral and creative thinking. Schools require much deeper change to cope up with the world that's coming up. (A.e.g. Activists,  Educationalists like Ken Robinson, Howard Gardner)

4.) The Alternate Schoolers Belief

We can clearly see the flaw in conventional way of schooling. Hence, we must experiment and try out new things in education. These new things need not be scientific or proven ideas, we can only know if they work when we try them out. Although we seek inspirations from various educational theories, educational leaders of past but what goes on day to day basic is something we have to decide based on our collective wisdom. Our main method of schooling has failed so we must try something alternative. ( A.e.g Alternative schools like Waldorf)

5.) The Deschooler's Belief
Schools have been primary cause of the world's state as it is today. Our education system is severely flawed. Schools must disappear as an institute because it has gone too deep into troubled waters. No amount of reforms can actually save a sinking ship. We must invent newer avenues of learning. ( A.e.g. Thinkers like Ilich, Holt)

6.) The Homo-techy's Belief
We are living in information age. Just like how industrial revolution had its schools based on industrial model, information age must redefine schools on information highway model. Technology, internet, social networking must be at the centre of any learning model. Just like how industrial age demanded literacy for sucess in life, information age demands digital literacy. (A.e.g Business fraternity, technology experts)

7.) The Humanist Belief
Our education system has produced many succesful people but very few good human beings. This is why we have made a mess of our planet and lives. Education must realign and priotize human values over skills or subject knowledge. We must include environment, relationships, love, compassion and introspection as a part of education. (A.e.g Religious, spiritual movements like Buddhist thinkers on education, J Krishnamurti)

8.) The Environmentalist Belief

We are trashing the planet. Our current lifestyles are completely unsustainable and unfriendly to our environment. The schools (and materialistic educations at large) are to be blamed for most part of it. Our planet needs an urgent attention and action. Schools and education must act accordingly. We must ensure our children pass out with the values and care for nature and awareness of environmental issues. Schools must be centred  around or at least make environment as the key agenda of learning.

9.) The Indifferent
Schools and education is a tiny part of a huge world. Why is there so much fuss about it ? There is lot more in life than banging our heads against schools or educationals dilemmas. World is moving fine, it will continue to do so, things might or might not improve but will definately change on its own. Just chill and grab your cup of beverage. ( A.e.g Common man busy in his own survival and race)

Of course, this is not a comprehensive list by any means. Further, we cannot compartmentalize people, we will find people with more than one of these beliefs. Please feel free to add / comment / critique. 

A simple schooling dilemma

If I were to explain in simple term why schooling system is a failure, it'll be this -

"Students learn what they don't want to learn and teachers teach what they don't want to teach."

It is a double failure systems. A teacher in school most often is forced to teach things which s/he herself sees no meaning in. Teachers most often teach things they detest. While on the surface when asked, what subject would you prefer teaching they would tell you my favorite is ___________ . However the problem is that they choose from already a limited list, they weigh it against pay, job security and market demands. Their choices are not really free choices. So a maths teacher might not really enjoy teaching maths but chooses to due to the system that we are in. Ofcourse, we keep hearing a lot about "passionate" teachers. I am sorry to say, I've haven't found many. What they usually turn out to be are pretending to be passionate, not really passionate. Worst, most often the teachers themselves don't realize that they are fooling themselves.

I met a teacher, when I asked her what you love teaching. She said, language and mathematics. I repeatedly ask teachers - "teach only what you enjoy and love to teach.", she kept saying mathematics and language.  When I see her classes, I don't really feel that's true.. Then few days later, the teacher bought me some food cooked at home. It was delicious. I said, it is heavenly. So, over next 3 weeks she'd bring something or else for me once in a while. I learnt, that she was perhaps the best cook I know around me! She enjoys cooking, she loves to experiment, mix and match, try new things and she gets pleasure when she offers it to others. She would share all recipes with me with such joy. I thought if there is anything she must be teaching, it should be cooking, food, health and taste ! But where is place for such things in our schools ? No wonder she disguises herself as a "passionate" mathematics teacher.

That's one side of the problem -teachers don't teach what they'd really want to teach.

The other side is, students are not allowed to learn what they'd love to learn. How often do we ask our children what would they like to learn ? We impose our decision on them. We ensure we teach whatever is the curriculum to each one of them. A child was very interested in insects, he seems to have a natural flair to interact with insects and learn about them through observation. I wonder if our schools allow space to allow that child his learning journey. Instead, he is forced to sit in a class to learn about all the things that doesn't interest him at this point of life. No wonder, we have kids who are unhappy, not excited about learning and thus are often distracted.

That's the other side of problem - kids are not allowed to learn what they'd love to learn. 

The result is a hideous place called school full of unhappy, uncreative and unloving people getting worse with every year that passes by. Imagine, a school where kids learnt what they want to learn and teachers taught only what they love to teach, oh ! what a sight that'll be.

Systems thinking in Education : Mumpsimus Exposed

In one of the previous article we discussed little bit about about Systemic thinking in Education. This article will continue the discussion based on an article available on ASCD on How Systemic thinking applies to education. (Click here to read).

Why do we need systemic change ?

We have seen that reforms are just not working out. We keep coming up with newer solutions which are only as new as the older ones ! We are unable to break free from the notorious "schooling" process. Inspite of many good teachers willing to learn and change, many alternative schools daring to walk the new road - we still see only marginal changes in world education.

Systems thinking proposes a paradigm shift not an incremental change. It provides an approach that is not only more practical and effective but also more scientific and modern.

The shift from one to many  model

One of the most urgent change we need to accept that our kids have more avenues to learn than ever before. Thus, we need to abolish the ancient method of one to many teaching. (one expert, many students). We must realize that a more real model is many to one and many to many. This will call for a change in the very structure of our schooling system.

Schools as learning communities

Systems thinking proposes looking at schools as open and organic system where there are lot of subsystems and elements with a relationships web. Thus a school must :-

• Constantly change and adapt with time


• Have a clear purpose


• Work on improving relationships to co-exist and reduce conflicts


• Consider impact of various systems and subsystems.


• Develop capacity for self regulation, self correction and self renewal


• Value both diversification and integration

A systemic approach in education will have more of following components -

• broad statements of purpose;


• assessment based on performance compared to benchmarks, not to other students (feedback);


• self-assessment;


• triangulation (use of multiple forms of assessment by multiple assessors to increase the validity and reliability of feedback);


• immediate intervention;


• generative learning ;


• reflective practice ;


• varied learning structures (self-directed, one-to-one, small groups, lecture, field study, apprenticeships, mentoring);


• assignment to learning groups based on individual performance, rather than age-grade distinctions;


• intact teams working over an extended period of time (more than one year) to achieve a common goal;


• increased access to information;


• multilingual resources;


• hierarchy of small, six-to-eight person, self-sufficient, semiautonomous teams (sub-systems).


• Constructivism


• Thematic and project based learning


• Considerations for Multiple intelligences


• Holistic development


• Eradication of outdated and dead subsystems

Another relevant article can be found here.

Systemic thinking makes for one of the strongest case in transforming our education system and this blog will try to continue the discussion to spread the awareness and generate more ideas.

UES Model : Understanding the child at school and home

Education discussed without keeping the child in mind will be of limited use. The child is at the centre of educational process and thus s/he should be the centre of discussion when talking about educational reforms too. However, quite often we will find lot of educationalists, teachers, reformists talking a great deal about education without really focusing much on the child. They will change curriculum, improve processes, reduce fee, increase schools and do all sort of things (often with very good intentions) but ignore the child. While all this is going to affect the child and it can be argued that all these things are “for the child”, but “for the child” is quite different from “of the child” and “with the child”.

In this post, I am proposing my understanding of the child as a model. Now, I am not an expert on the subject or a child psychologist. What this model contains is my observations and my experience. I’ll keep my description short and if you’ve any questions or criticism – do write to me.

UES Model

U stands for Understanding, E for emotions and S for Stimulus and it tries to understand the actions of a child at home or at school. Once we have a good understanding of “why the child is doing something”, we are in better position to intervene in order to help the child.

[caption id="attachment_438" align="aligncenter" width="502"] UES Model - Understanding the Child[/caption]

A word of caution, like majority of the work on child behaviour – this should not be used “control” the child inspite of our temptations. It should rather be seen as a tool to understand child better in order to improve our responses to her/him. Here is a brief explanation of the model as shown in the diagram above :-

• A child’s (perhaps event adult’s) actions are influenced by 3 key components – her current understanding, his present emotional state and available stimulus in the environment.


• In order to effect the actions of child, we can intervene at any of the 3 points.


• Understanding has a lot of influence of past, requires more time to change.


• Change in stimulus can show change in actions immediately but this change is usually temporary


• Emotions will fall between two. They take longer time to intervene than stimulus but less than changing understanding


• As a teacher or parent, we must understand which intervention will be best suited for any particular time, with the child’s welfare in mind


• Changing understanding is usually the most effective and helpful way for the child, but it requires time and planning

Example

Lets take an example. A child is disturbing other children by hitting them or teasing them in a classroom and a teacher wishes to alter this action in order to continue the class.  

Ancient punishment or reward method is detrimental in most cases. Thus, the teacher must try to understand all three sides of the action and find answers to following questions by talking to the child, other teachers, classmates or parents :-

1.)  U - What is his understanding of hitting others? Does he believe that it is fun, it is allowed to do so; is it a display of power, a way to get pleasure? Does he watch lot of action movies?

2.)  E -What is the emotional situation of the child? How does he live at home? Does he see his parents fighting? Does he himself gets beaten up?

3.)   S – What are the stimuli in the classroom? Do other children tease him or reject him from the group? Does he have any interest in the subject and they way it is being taught? Did he get beaten up by someone recently? Do his friends also beat and tease others?

Applying the model

Once we have looked at 3 key sides of the actions, we will have a deeper understanding of the child and his actions. For e.g. if we can have answers to all the questions above, we can decide what needs to be done to alter his actions. Thus, we will better positioned to intervene in order to help the child. This model requires probing but goes a long way and is very effective. As parents and teachers we must put energy and time in order to understand the child better. We must be very careful of our prejudices and biases. Personally, my efforts in understanding the child has not only help me improve my interactions and relationships with my students but has also made me better human being.

Education in a nutshell : Abraham Lincoln's Letter to a Teacher

I think the famous letter Abraham Lincoln wrote to his son's teacher is worth a mention here. It summarizes very articulately, simply and almost comprehensively what we expect from good or real education.

 

LETTER FROM ABRAHAM LINCOLN TO HIS SON’S TEACHER

“My son starts school today. It is all going to be strange and new to him for a while and I wish you would treat him gently. It is an adventure that might take him across continents. All adventures that probably include wars, tragedy and sorrow. To live this life will require faith, love and courage.

So dear Teacher, will you please take him by his hand and teach him things he will have to know, teaching him - but gently, if you can. Teach him that for every enemy, there is a friend. He will have to know that all men are not just, that all men are not true. But teach him also that for every scoundrel there is a hero, that for every crooked politician, there is a dedicated leader.

Teach him if you can that 10 cents earned is of far more value than a dollar found. In school, teacher, it is far more honorable to fail than to cheat. Teach him to learn how to gracefully lose, and enjoy winning when he does win.

Teach him to be gentle with people, tough with tough people. Steer him away from envy if you can and teach him the secret of quiet laughter. Teach him if you can - how to laugh when he is sad, teach him there is no shame in tears. Teach him there can be glory in failure and despair in success. Teach him to scoff at cynics.

Teach him if you can the wonders of books, but also give time to ponder the extreme mystery of birds in the sky, bees in the sun and flowers on a green hill. Teach him to have faith in his own ideas, even if every one tell him they are wrong.

Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd when everyone else is doing it. Teach him to listen to every one, but teach him also to filters all that he hears on a screen of truth and take only the good that comes through.

Teach him to sell his talents and brains to the highest bidder but never to put a price tag on his heart and soul. Let him have the courage to be impatient, let him have the patient to be brave. Teach him to have sublime faith in himself, because then he will always have sublime faith in mankind, in God.

This is a big order; but see what you can do. He is such a fine little fellow, my son.

 

Now the question to consider is what and how much of this is happening in our current education system, how of it is at least being tried out ? How many of these qualities and values we still want our children to have and what are we ready to do to get it ? I believe this document should be read time and again by parents, teachers, students -once in a while. It is very good reminder to stay on track. Ofcourse, we can add - remove -argue on certain aspects of the letter but in a nutshell, I've not found a better document that describes the meaning of education so clearly and beautifully.

Alternative Education in India - An overview

This article has been written to give a bird’s eye view of current scenario of Alternative education and alternative schooling in India. The content is coming primarily from the experiences and perspectives of the author and thus may not be considered totally objective. 

Definition of Key terms:
For sake of clarity and discussions pertaining to this article, we will try to define the terms before we go any further.

Any educational method, philosophy or pedagogy that differs significantly from the mainstream's way of education may be termed as Alternative Education, a school that claims to follow any alternative ways of education may be considered as an Alternative School.

Mainstream Education is the system of education followed by majority primarily based on Industrial revolution. While each school in mainstream might differ in their operations the central focus and overall philosophy remains uniform. Mainstream education is strictly based on pre-defined curriculum, a subjective grading and marking system and is mostly lecture based. Mainstream education considers competition and comparisons as important part of education while not collaboration. Lastly, mainstream education has a singular view of students and expects them to fit into certain expected patterns. (One size fit all solution)

History of Alternative Education in India
India has been a land of Alternative Education. It was only during and after British rule that the mainstream education was accepted in India. As clearly explained in the book “The beautiful tree” by Dharampal, India had a much richer education system prior to colonial rule.

Even after advent of British, Alternative education has been discussed fervently across the nation. Mahatma Gandhi’s Nai Taleem or Gijubhai Badeka’s adaptation of Montessori methods for India are two of many such examples. 

Agnostic's approach to Life and Education

As one journeys through life, one realizes that there are no final answers ! Even the most scientific answers are only partially true. What was considered objectively correct few decades back is no longer valid. For instance, what we knew about Matter or universe and believed to be true in times of Rutherford does not hold true today.

Life is perhaps, by its very nature unknowable in its wholeness. We can only find partial and temporary truths. Hence, the approach that might be best suited for life is that of "agnostic". Literally, "agnostic" means - one who does not know and believes that many things can't even be known,  although over time it has taken many other connotations.  But what we are referring here by agnosticism is an approach that realizes the limitation of knowledge and acknowledges the temporariness and partial nature of truths.

This is as true in case of "education" system as in case of anything else. Education, yet remains to be demystified. We still know very little about how human beings learn, how schooling affects us and society and how can one intervene in the learning process of human mind. There are millions of such unanswered questions but many of educationalist claim themselves as the "know all" and offer solutions to our problems in schooling system. While the fact is - all the wisdom combined, all the researches put together - we cannot even answer one simple question in education - "How do we learn ?"  Hence an agnostic approach in education is not only more realistic but can also be more effective.

We need to understand that we do not really understand the process of education and what actually goes on in the classrooms !

Once we have this as our foundation of our belief system, our approach to life and its problem will change. From the "all knowing experts",  we become "seekers of truth".

In agnostic approach, school must become ground of experiments, collective learning and a field of millions of questions. It must stop being a repository of ready made answers, its people pretending to know everything about children, about how and what to teach them.

The first implication of agnostic approach in education will be to question everything because we have mistaken half truths for facts. We must start from what should be the role of schools, what must be taught, how can it be taught, why it must be taught and so on.

The central question of agnostic approach is "What do we do, when we are not sure of what to do ? " 

Entire school will act more like a learning community. A place where all including students, teachers, parents are exploring. "Conversations"  form the blood of such a learning community.

Agnostic approach does not and cannot offer a pedagogy or a "to do" manual for schools. Neither it is a panacea for all our problems. It is just one step closer to reality. It takes away the burden from us and our schools of "knowing everything" when we really don't know much and provides an opportunity to have a closer look at issues and find more realistic solutions.

What makes us what we are ? - Schooling or Family ?

If you go to a new school/place and be with kids for couple of days and then meet their families or just know the personality traits of each one's parents. I am sure you can map the parents to their kids with a very high rate of accuracy.

Most of the kids are photocopies of their parents. Parents have maximum influence on the kid's thinking process, behavior and personality. This is sin on parts of parents, committed mostly unknowingly.

It seems to me that under most cases - schooling and education is almost insignificant in terms of defining who the child becomes. Schools might add certain skills or habbits but the major trends in the child's personality are dictated by family , primarily parents.

Perhaps, on the surface the child might look different but if we go deeper we will start finding strong influence of parents. This is irrespective of what school he/she went to, Summerhill free school or St. Mary's factory model school. This is also true of most of the adults especially till their mid age. When we begin to discover that schooling is more or less insignificant in shaping who we are, we need to really rethink our reality and purpose of education. What impacts today's children most are parents, media, internet.

I am reminded of a couple I met in Auroville, Pondicherry who said that the first thing we need to understand about our children is that "They are individuals themselves".

We assume kids to be like clay to be moulded to our wish instead of human beings with their own intristic nature. This fundamental shift needs to happen both in schools and at homes. Parents concerned with real education of their kid will take every possible care not to transfer their own baggage onto their kid. The baggages of beliefs, religion, opinions and habits.

Each child should be seen as an individual, as a seed who knows its destination, its true nature. Parents, home,schools and teachers can at best act like soil to provide certain favorable conditions like love, care, protection to assist the growth. They should not try to control the growth and take in their preferred directions. Only then we will have real individuals. Only then we can have a world that's not like ours where we have more or less 6 billion carbon copies. Only then we will have schools making human beings not labor for industry or researchers for army.

R.I.P Education Anthem - A song about schooling

I've been trying to compose a song and make a movie on education for long. Music and Movies are a great way of communication and change. While I continue to work on it, here is an amateur attempt of composing a song about schooling. Excuse me for my singing abilities and some mistakes in strumming but I hope you can see the message I want to convey.

 

Foundation of True Education : Total Acceptance and Right Questioning

One of the Zen master once told me – what does he mean by love and it stayed with me ever since. I’ve not received a better definition of love. He said, to love is to accept the others totally – as they are without expecting, wanting any changes in them. To love is to say Yes to who or what other is. When we wish to be loved, all we are seeking is acceptance of who we are without judgements.

Our schooling system is full of judgements and rejections of what one is. From the day 1 in schools, we teach kids to see themselves as “imperfect minds” that needs perfection. They are constantly reminded about it. They are not accepted as they are and the entire school community along with parents tries hard to change them. This in short is called “Educating them”. Do’s , Don’ts, Shoulds, Shouldn’t, rules, behaviour corrections, moral conducts are some of the weapons of rejections.

[caption id="attachment_378" align="alignright" width="300"] Total Acceptance is what we all seek[/caption]

No real education can take place unless, in first place we accept the kids as they are and help them accept themselves as they are. Only then there is a possibility of understanding and transforming  (one that’s natural not enforced) . Total acceptance of both children and teachers in the school will create an environment of love and respect for each other and hence create a conducive land for learning and growth. Total acceptance does not means to be complacent, it means to look at things as they are without any judgement or guilt.

Second important thing that should be coupled with acceptance is what we can call “Right Questioning”. By “Right” here I do not mean moral or ethical right but more in terms of what Gautam Buddha spoke of. “Right Questioning” , implies asking questions intelligently and pursuing them diligently to reach to clarity. It is not cynicism but a constructive force. It is something related to what some people these days call “Appreciative Enquiry”.  However, we do not allow students to ask questions in classroom especially the difficult one whose answer is not in the books.

The children should be encouraged to ask questions about everything and anything and should be supported in the process of pursuing its exploration. (and not offer ready made answers)

When a child is accepted he gains positive self image and self esteem which empower his mental and emotional faculty. When a child is allowed and encouraged to question, she sharpens her intelligence and gets closer to reality. Both of these together will lay foundation for a life of meaning to grow in our students.

Alternative Education : A futile Hullabaloo ?

What good is any alternative education if the student eventually has no choice but to fit into the traditional system ? Today alternative schools from Montessori, Krisnamurti, Gandhian, Steiner to De Bono are appearing in decent number across India. A lot of traditional schools are claiming to offer alternative methods of education. However, what happens to these so called "alternatively schools" kids after they are out of school ? What is the whole point of taking the pain and creating the Hullabaloo of alternative education if eventually these alternatively schooled kid just succumb to the pressure of conventional way of living and learning ?

Precisely, that's what it seems to be happening these days. Infact in some cases, the alternatively schooled children are worse off.

If we need to really change education, we need to alter the entire ecosystem- social, economical, political. Educational Revolution is actually a revolution that encompasses all facets of life. Education alone CANNOT change !

If we are teaching kids to live and learn alternatively - we must also strive to provide avenues that allow them to take their search and ambitions forward. There is no point if they had to come back to the thorny path after a short stint on the rosy roads. We must unable them to believe that alternative schooling is not limited to schools but extended to life and its possible to live happily and comfortably without becoming part of the "conventional system".

Initiatives like "Gap Year College", "Swaraj University", "Jaaga" are some rays of hope in this direction. However, we must persist to broaden our range of offering.  Only then there will be true culmination of the alternative schooling. Only schools which provide alternatives to schooling will not be able to change much. We need alternative colleges, universities, learning centres, parks, communities, travels, groups, companies. Most importantly - an alternative world view and life style.

The subtlest form of violence - Teaching

Is not "teaching" unless their is clear will and freedom, an act of violence ? What is the meaning of teaching or the process of it ? (I am referring specifically to "teaching" as understood in limited sense of our schools)

It is to adapt or mold the young - innocent, vulnerable minds to the rotten and failed philosophies and beliefs of the civilization. We can call it culturing them or nurturing them but if a mind is not allowed the freedom to think freely, to be what one is - it is a violent act.

[caption id="attachment_349" align="alignright" width="300"] Teaching is a form of Violence[/caption]

What happens in a school or home? A young innocent child is born with immense possibilities and the parents and more strongly the teachers start converting him, indoctrinating him into the vision, philosophy, way of life of others. He is not even allowed a chance to be himself/herself, to differ, to be what s/he really is.

Imagine a child with no interest in Mathematics whatsoever. We force him to sit through mathematics classes, almost everyday for twelve years. If he is not learning it well, we label him as "dumb" or "student with learning disability." Henceforth, even more focus with all new and modern strategies is given to make him learn Mathematics.  The argument that we all need some maths in life, doesn't fit here because what mathematics we need in life can be taught in less than a year. How many of us use anything beyond basic arithmetic operations and few other mathematical operations in our daily life ? How can we justify 12 years of learning mathematics forcefully ? Is it not a violent act ?

Another argument that is use to disguise violence as necessary and beneficial is that - it develops brain.  By teaching mathematics, we are actually increasing his intellectual and logical capacity. But at cost of what ? Destroying his freedom. Perhaps, the student was an artist and forcing him to do maths will also make him feel bad about himself and might even not do well in arts.  I am not against mathematics but anything taught inspite of the wish and will of the children.

This perhaps still doesn't look that serious but teaching is far more violent than it may appear. When we teach someone something we also transfer all our baggage, problems, biases and issues. For e.g. in schools we are converting kids to accept consumerism, unsustainable life style.

Teaching is violence because it does severe damage to the will, intellect, talent and individuality of the child. Just observe what goes on in a classroom, kids are held hostages for a long time in a small room constantly bombarded with all sort of unessential information.

A truly alternative school will not focus on teaching at all but on learning. It'll not harm the spirit of children but nourish them. It'll not impose any dogmas and processes on students - so that their mind and thinking is free.  For this, teachers must disappear from schools otherwise it's just a war field where we are killing millions of kids everyday and the murderer are the teachers - which they themselves might not realize. A school can just be a place with opportunity for learning -with resources and people which the kids can approach if they need to learn anything.

Non-Spiritual Education is bound be Incomplete

Keeping the superstitions aside, still,  it is common knowledge today that Human beings are a lot more than body. We are body, mind, feelings, perhaps soul too. Brain scientists and psychologists are trying hard to limit Human beings to only body and brain, by finding all sorts of explanations. Love has been defined, explained and analysed, enlightenment has been  labelled as a state of brain activity. No wonder our education is also majorly based on the belief that - we are body and at most - mind.

[caption id="attachment_340" align="alignright" width="300"] Education must be Spiritual, otherwise its incomplete[/caption]

Hence the amount of focus in our schools for body and livelihood is maximum, with little focus (in few cases) on mind, personality and moral character. There is no space for a variety of subjects which are so integral to our lives, because they seem to be falling out of the "rational" tag - into the spiritual space. For e.g. Love, Peace, Compassion, Relationships, Meditation, Imagination, Creativity have almost no place in current schooling system. Often dismissed on arguments such as - these are subjective, can't be taught, not our responsibility - blah blah.The subjects that come closest are perhaps - dance, music and art. Even these are given only little weightage in most schools.

Our current education system is almost non-spiritual, it denies a part of our reality and hence it is bound to be destructive and incomplete.

Spirituality (please note, I don't mean rituals, religion, mysticism or occultism by this or the hypocrisy that goes on in the name of "Spiritual Education") in its true sense is to accept our total being and work towards holistic development of self. It is a way of life where we accept ourselves as more than just body, our world as more than just a place to live, our role as more than just to earn money, eat and die. It is the challenge to expand horizons, to look beyond what seems obvious. It is the courage to be individual not just a face in the crowd.

Ofcourse being a subjective, unknown, mysterious topic and over exploited by religion and Intelligentsia , it has its own challenges -if we are to include it in our education system. We cannot teach spirituality like we do with other subjects. But that doesn't mean we should exclude it. I am sure once we all start seeing the importance of spirituality in our lives and education, we will come up with ways of sharing it, learning it, experiencing it. Once we can see for ourselves the destructive nature of "non-spiritual" education, we will be able to find creative ways of imparting spiritual qualities to our kids -not by blind faith or beliefs but by experience, not by force but by choice, not by fear but by joy.

Perhaps, the our ancient system of Gurukuls in India, Monasteries in Japan, China , Mystic schools in the west were influential, effective and constructive because they had "authentic" spirituality at the root of education.

The Conspiracy against Individual

There is a huge conspiracy against individuals and we are not even aware of it. What are the pillars of individuality and personal freedom ?

- Freedom of action (what we do),

-Freedom of thoughts (what/how we think) and

-Freedom of choosing Identity( Who we are).

What we do, What we think and hence What we are - are all in hands of others ! It is all controlled through a huge conspiracy of which we all are accomplice !

1.) Media - Dictates what we like, what we dislike, what we value , respect, hate or enjoy.

2.) Religion - Decides what we fear, what we love, how we love, how we live  and how we think.

3.) Education - (Schools and Universities) -  Control what we learn, what kind of questions we ask and what answers we get !

4.) Industry -  limits what we do, how we do it and what we get for it !

5.) Society - (Parents, Mass, Politicians etc.) - Decide what is acceptable and what is not. What is right and what is wrong ! Who will be supported and who will be crucified.

Your thoughts are not your thoughts !  Your life is not your life ! It's just a matter of time or reason that you accept this or realize it. Sooner or later we all do. 

Think for a moment. Are our thoughts really ours ? Why do we allow this huge conspiracy ? Perhaps because we don't even realize it. We live in a illusion where we consider "media influenced choices" as our personal choice, "corporate controlled life styles" as our own lifestyle.

All the above institutions work in tandem with each other to ensure proper control. No wonder, education interests all - religion, politician, industry.  No wonder transforming schools and rotten education system has still only been an unreal project, a distant dream.

We need to raise awareness against this conspiracy, only then we can empower individuals and only when individuals feel empowered can we expect a social revolution.

What kind of school will I open "TODAY" ?

As I am growing in my learning about education and schooling, quite often I am left overwhelmed by the sheer complexity and enormity of the subject.
The more I am learing more dots I am able to connect, I am able to see the invisible connections and unobvious associations.
While I still strive to get clear and learn more about alternative education and schooling or deschooling if you prefer that term, I posed myself this question - What kind of school will I open today ?

One cannot keep pondering on things for thoughts alone are of little use. One cannot , not act based on the understanding. So, I am slowly growing into the zone of acting soon. While on one hand I do not wish to initiate something that I am not sure of, on the other hand I am wary of turning into a "thought leader" who can speak well, explain the problem, analyze it but is paralyzed when talking about the solution.

So based on my limited understanding as of today (hence the "TODAY" in block), I'd open a school with following qualities :-

1.) Small group of students : Number of students will not grow more than 20-25 for the teachers and students must know each other personally, must know each other as evolving human not a "role" fulfiller.

2.) The study will be done of 2 things -
A) The Essentials : The parents, teachers and the student will sit together to decide for the year/six months - what is the essential knowledge or skills the kid must have. It could be maths, science, computers, english, mountaineering, agriculture, environmental science, bird watching so on, depending on the background of child and wisdom of parents and teachers. Each have equal say, while the child will hold veto power to eliminate or include something based on common dialogue and understanding.
B) The Element : Second part of education will be dedicated to the passion, talent, interest of the child - which Ken Robinson refers as "The Element". This will be mainly student's choice. He can come up with one or more areas s/he want to explore. This could be dance, music, engineering, religion ...whatever under the sky is possible. The passion will be pursued by the student for a period of time with hardwork and perseverance. The school might not have masters for all the skills, so here the school will act as a bridge and help find a good mentor to support the student's learning journey.

3.) Finance - The fee will not be decided by the school but the economic status and willingness of the parents. Ethics and service will ride over profits. If in crunch, the school will do its own fundraising to support the expenses and find creative ways of dealing with money, but in no case link learning opportunity with money.

4.) Admission and Certificates : There will be no certificate or association with any board, however each child and parents are free to pursue it personally using options available (like NIOS, IGCSE etc..) if they find it useful. Admission will simply be based on common dialogue and understanding.

5.) Focus on Exposure : Exposure will be the only policy of the school. To gets kids exposed to various experiences, to give them a oppurtunity to explore and extend their horizons. This would mean a lot of travel, meeting people from all walks of life, learning all skills from the meanest to the most technical , so on.

6.) Day Structure : There shall be sessions on essential but none will be compulsory to attend. The underlying belief will be holding the individual student responsible for their learning, the school or the centre can only assist. Only the student will decide what to do, how to do and when to do. The teachers, computer, books and other resources will be at disposal if he wishes to refer to them.

7.) MOST IMPORTANT : To stay updated and keep renewing the processes, the school will revisit all of its work every single year and will have right to think all over again every year and introduce newer processes and take away existing ones. The school for its entire life will remain an experiment but unlike so-called alternative schools where few teachers / thinkers experiment on kids, here the students will be the key participant to decide what experiments to do with their lives. The world will be their laboratory.

These are some raw , unpolished thoughts I shared on the kind of school that I imagine might redefine education. I do understand this is not comprehensive and might need a lot of tweaking. But this is the beginning of thinking on those lines. Your feedbacks and comments are welcome, I look forward to them.

On the lighter side : Mr. Beans on Education :-)

Sometimes when we are looking at problems, we tend to become very serious. Being serious, usually is not helpful rather an obstacle in looking at problem objectively and thinking creatively about solving it. Humor sometimes does wonders in conveying complex information and achieving clarity. So, after the amazing Gorge Carlin’s take on education, here is a wonderful representation of our schooling system by Mr. Beans (Rowan Atkinson)

What is shown in this video might at first appear an outright exaggeration; however to me it appears quite real in terms of its spirit. Ours schools and education are not very different from what is being shown in the video.

1.)    In schools, we focus too much on “things that really don’t or won’t matter.” ( Researches have shown, hardly 4% is retrieved by students within few years of school.)

2.)    We dehumanize learning and the process of it, prioritizing institutions above individuals, processes above life.

3.)    We live in our own ignorance, oblivious to the fact that we are doing harm by schooling kids. (How Mr. Beans says – “I find your morbid fascination with your child’s death quite disturbing.”)

4.)    Schools, teachers and authorities assume they have all rights and that – they are always right.

5.) We've got our priorities wrong at the schools, focus is much more on things like discipline, meetings etc. rather than true development of the child.

6.) Last and the most important one perhaps, is that we blame the kids for failure. "He couldn't.." , "He was not ...." , "He didn't ..." etc.. No responsibility is taken by the school whatsoever, however all accolades are grabbed by them.

Nevertheless, this video is worth laughing at. But do not forget to have similar laugh, when you visit a school next time. ;-)

Second one , related video - Enjoy :-)

David Orr on Education - Six myths and Six principles

As I continue learning varied perspectives in education and getting myself exposed to various leaders, educationalists talking about new ways of learning, I came across - renowned environmentalist David Orr and his book- "Earth in Mind". I am certainly not the person who gets easily carried away or impressed by anyone but David Orr's views and clarity of expressions took me by delight.

[caption id="attachment_316" align="alignright" width="128"] Earth in Mind - A must read book. (By David Orr)[/caption]

I think his book is one of the must read for all people concerned about education and well being of our planet. Davir Orr presents a very balanced, unbiased case of education. He takes a very organized approach and elucidates each of his views very clearly while substantiating them with credible examples and data.

Here is one of the essay that he wrote long back which is also featured in the book. ( Click here to Download)

Six myths of Education :

1. Ignorance is a solvable problem

2. Knowledge and technology alone can manage the planet well.

3. Increase in Knowledge implies increase in Human goodness.

4. We can easily restore all that we have dismantled.

5. Purpose of education is to give you means of upward mobility and success.

6. Our culture is pinnacle of Human achievements.

While this is not the comprehensive list of myths, it does offer window into some underlined assumptions of our education system.  There are certainly many other myths which can be included into the list like -

1.) Intellect is more useful, important than feelings.

2.) What can be seen, touched, experienced and explained are the only things worth learning.

3.) Everything can be taught to everyone in a similar manner, if they don't learn - there is a problem to be solved.

so on...the list can go on. However, what i really like about David Orr is that unlike most of the educationalists in the world who are experts in critiquing the education system but do not have anything to say when it comes to taking a way ahead or solving the problem, David Orr goes ahead to propose six principles to replace the myths.

Six Principles of new Education: What is purpose of Education?

1. All Education is Environment education.

2. The goal of education is not mastery of subject but of oneself.

3. Knowledge must come with responsibility.

4. Considering the effect of knowledge on real people and communities.

5. Reducing the gap between ideals and reality, between whats being taught and what's being exhibited or endorsed.

6. Improving the process of learning itself, going beyond classrooms, lectures.

I think this is by far the best proposal for a better education system that I've come across. It's quite elaborate and addresses lot of key issues with current education system. It suggests better alternatives, simple yet effective.  Ofcourse, this again is no elixir or the final testament but certainly a very good starting point.

Overall, I think David Orr offers lot of insights about current education. Perhaps, I'd like to make addition of more facets of real life like - feelings, spirituality, quest, expressions, art, compassion, love, friendship, relationships, humor and death.

We need to really answer the key question "What is education for? " David Orr, gives a perspective but - how complete is it ? We need to really go deeper into the question and the insights we get will lay ahead the road for us. It's not something that'll happen overnight but we all need to come together to decide , discuss - what we want the world to be ? how do we all envisage our future ? what we want our kids to value, do and know ?

"Different" instead of "Better" : Will Richardson on Education

The following TED talk by Will Richardson on education throws light on various issues with grades/marks. It shows how grades are not part of learning at all while most of us are only improving grades in name of educational reforms.

There is nothing very new that he speaks about, but he reiterates most of the things we know about our current education system with a greater stress.  What I really liked about this talk is his appeal to strive for "Different" way of education instead of striving to get "better" results from current education. And how he arouses us to "take back the debate of education in our hands."



 

What is different ? How different, he doesn't leave much clue that's why this video becomes yet another good critique of education. This "Different" has to be collectively formed and deciphered by teachers, educationalists, parents and students.

Conspiracy of Creativity : Why Sir Ken Robinson could be Wrong ?

Education has been a hot topic for Mankind.  More so

[caption id="attachment_299" align="alignright" width="229" caption="Creativity in Education : why ?"][/caption]

since last few decades. Experts, Government, NGOs, Celebrities, Corporates, Films and even the common man has been talking about Education and the need to transform it.

Clearly, we all see a point - "Education as it is, is not good enough. It must
change." How ? That's still a question of debate and differences.

Many alternative pictures have been suggested by different people.
In this blog, I'd like to focus on one of the strongest movement in educational
reforms today - the inclusion of creativity.

Sir Ken Robinson, creativity expert, talked about it in details in his famous TED
video and book -"Element". Many others have also advocated the idea and  we see a huge focus on inclusion of creativity in schools. A lot of organizations/individuals in Europe, USA are trying hard to make education
more creative. Certainly a happy change. But I'd like to warn against something I
sense.
Sir Ken Robinson, spoke on "How our current education system was primarily designed to feed labor to the Industries, during Industrial revolution ?" He elucidates that our current education system is very much in sync with assembly line and the industrial requirements. Then he proposed more room for creativity in schools.
My question is : Why not more value based or environmental conscious education ? Why not focus on
culture or community based education ?

Why does "Creativity" as a change been readily accepted widely ?

Same Vicious Circle :
I think we are headed towards the same vicious circle. We are propogating and accepting creativity in our education system because that's what our industries need now ! 
Government, corporates have clearly understood the new game of business in 21st century is - creativity ! You've an idea - you can be a billionaire and run a business.

Google was an idea, Facebook was an idea, entire Silicon valley sprung up on creative ideas.

Today our industry survives on "creative ideas". Be it advertising, film making, car manufacturing, software or hardware. Industry is lookin for "creative labor" and we are preparing our education system to provide it.

This is the same vicious circle.

I am not against creativity :

I am not trying to say that inclusion of creativity into our current education system is wrong or not needed. All I am trying to point out to is that perhaps we are heading towards the same mistaken road.

Creativity is essential part of education and it must be fostered. But education must not serve Industry, instead Industries should be based upon education. 

We need a more fundamental shift in education. A radical change in the very objective of education. In my view, Education must aim to empower kids to become a responsible and happy citizens of this planet. Schools must inspire and fuel dreams. Schools should challenge current industry practices and corporate forces if they don't seem right. (Earth is bruised all over, we are still silent) Students should be "Rebels in Making".

Systems Thinking and Biomimicry : Rays of Hope for Education

It's been more than a year that RIPeducation blog has been launched and as mentioned in the objective of this blog - it is about finding loopholes and problems in our current education system while also looking for fundamental,  feasible and effective answers to the problems

For more than a year now, I've been exploring solutions to Education. I've visited several alternative schools and I must admit that I've found rays of hope in many of them.

Many alternative schools are doing great job, but they are working on a very small group and focussing on small sets of problems. For e.g. A school I visited in South India is really doing great job by having environment friendly lifestyle and education. Another institution in Rajasthan is working closely with local community to get the local wisdom and restore the cultural values.

Such attempts at smaller levels to transform education have been made since many decades all across the world. Many people in their own capacity have experimented and offered better ways of learning. Many of them are inspiring and worth studying. However, when it comes to solutions that are scalable and widely applicable, we run out of ideas.

[caption id="attachment_291" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="New hope for education : Systems Thinking and Biomimicry"][/caption]

While its true that there cannot be ONE solution to all our problems in education, I see "Systems thinking" and "Biomimicry" as two very strong rays of hope which can guide us and help us formulate several solutions to our problems in education and problem of education.

Why do I say so ?

Systems thinking and Biomimicry are not methods or direct solution. These are a way of thinking, learning and living.

Systems thinking if simplified simply means :-
1.) Looking at the bigger picture
2.) Striving for fundamental solution instead of symptomatic fixes (short term, quick fixes)
3.) Creating individuals and organizations that continously learn and evolve.

Biomimicry (or as I prefer to call it "Naturics" )  on the other had simply means :-
1.) Having a natural, nature friendly life syle.
2.) Learning and getting inspired from nature.
3.) Co-existing as "one" of several species on this planet.
4.) Aligning our processes and organizations to nature and natural ways.

Although above is a simplification of both, but I think these two discipline can provide the foundation of creating the paradigm shift in education.

If our schools are considered as living organisms with each student and teacher as an important member of the system and all the processes that we follow in schools are re-thought to be more natural (hence human friendly). Don't you think we'll have the batter if not the recipe of a better education ?

How dare you question ? Wern't you schooled ?

[caption id="attachment_271" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Questions must be integral part of schools and learning"][/caption]

I believe that world could be a better place and a lot of our problems could simply be avoided if :-

1.) We had the ability to ask important and fundamental questions.

and,

2.) We saw a possibility of being able to discover the answers to these questions that we find important.

Sounds too simplistic to be a world changing plan ? Perhaps !  But quite often the answers to most complex questions lie in simplicity.

Imagine if each one of us was asking following questions at some point in our life –

1.) Why are we here ? What is our role in the universe ?

2.) What is the significance of life ?

3.) What are various other ways to live life, apart from one that we are told to ?

4.) Do we have any responsibility and if yes then what is our responsibility as Human beings towards other human being, towards other living beings ?

5.) How much wealth or success is really enough ?

6.) What we doing with our lives ?

7.) Why are we the way we are ?

This list can go on. The questions by themselves are unimportant. It is the questioning the fundamentals that matters.

Many of us might dismiss most of above questions as “spiritual, religious” or “Metaphysical” while others might consider them “existential and essential”. This is immaterial. What really matters is that we all “ask” some fundamental questions, some important questions. Not with undertone of “philosophy” or “profoundness” but with sincere longing of discovery for one’s own self, with conviction to understand our world and life better.

Unfortunately, we have stopped questioning systems, beliefs, procedures. We have stopped “questioning” itself. We are too full of answers, pseudo answers while we are empty of real questions.

To question requires thinking, examining. Questioning requires keeping aside our beliefs and looking at things fresh. Questioning activates intelligence. Intelligence supports questioning.

Why have we stopped questioning , asking fundamental questions ? Of many reasons, our current education system stands strongest. Our schools discourage questioning right from childhood. A child by her very nature quite inquisitive but we do all we can to suppress all her questions, especially the important ones. Our text books holds the questions to be asked and the answers to be memorized. A slight deviation and you can be in trouble.

We need to bury the old system that suppresses thinking and questioning and hence makes us unintelligent and create a newer movement where questions are encouraged. Schools should be grounds of asking burning, uncomfortable questions. Teachers should question together, support discoveries. A true schools should be a meeting place of rebels, who dare to ask, question, investigate and commit to find the answers.

Naturic Education : Biomimicry for Education

Problem of Education

The puzzle of education remains unsolved in spite of efforts of many bright philosophers, mystics, scientists, educationists, teachers, psychologists. (Perhaps even occulists)

It's been more than a century since the discussions on transforming education began and the loopholes in our schooling system were exposed. Even most relevant texts in today's times, of Holt, Ilich, Bertrand Russel, Montessori, Gandhi are now decades old and we still seem to be almost in the same darkness.

Why has technology developed so much in last few decades while education remains almost the same at its core with just a few superficial changes ? Why Moore's law of growth (in electronics) has been surpassed while the dreams and efforts of many educationalists turned futile ? Why no fundamental transformation in education has taken place at large scale ?

When I began to think about these questions, one of the most important reason I realized was - "We simply don't know what to do !". The problems in education are so complex because it involves multiple dimensions. We do not have answers for most of the questions in education. What we have are few hints, few perspectives of few practitioners or philosophers. However most of these remain invalidated on large scale. This is why the radical ideas of J. Krishnamurti are limited to few schools, this is why most of us seem to forget the results of Free schooling by A.S. Neil at Summerhill, this is why John Holt's idea of homeschooling still remains with very small group of parents, this is why Ilich's idea of deschooling remains wishful thinking.

If we look around, there is not even one alternative approach to education that has proved better than our current education system on a large scale. In absence of evidence, we loose our confidence and are collectively fearful and cynical of other approaches in education. Hence, succumbing to whatever exists, even though we might not be really happy with it.

Naturic Education : Nature as our teacher, consultant

Nature is perhaps the biggest and best alternative school that exists right in front of our eyes. Nature has experience of Millions of years. All its solutions and approaches are well tested over time. But we have turned blind to all this. We have not learned enough from nature.

Scientists in various other fields like technology, design and biology realized it not too long ago and started to look at nature for the solutions. The result has been fantastic. It has given rise to a field called "Biomimicry" which means mimicing life. Biomimicry is a field that consults nature for our challenges and problems and strives to imitate solutions that nature already holds. Radar, Sonar, Nanotechnology, Swarm technology are few solutions imitated from nature. Following TED Video on Biomimicry explains the idea and some innovations very clearly -


While Biomimicry continues to inspire and assist scientists, engineers and designers, not many of us are looking at what could be our best teacher or consultant - nature, in the field of education. Upon googling I was able to find only couple of articles on Biomimicry in Education, the links are provided below.

http://www.lifelearningmagazine.com/1102/education_inspired_by_nature.htm ( Education Inspired by Nature)

http://www.ed4wb.org/?p=742 ( The Crying Engineer)

http://www.ed4wb.org/?p=19 (Nature as Teacher )

I, like the author in the posts above feel that nature can be our best teacher. I believe answers to many of our unsolved questions in education (in other fields as well) wait to be discovered in nature itself. I'd consider that its well worth an effort to turn to nature to look for answers to our problems in education.  Perhaps we cannot and there is no need to mimic nature when it comes to education but we can certainly learn from it and be inspired from it. Hence a simpler, more precise and differentiated term (because "Biomimicry" seems to have gained various connotations in field of biology and technology) for having an education inspired from nature could be - Naturic Education. "Naturic", means "having nature of nature" or "similar to nature".

As Janine Benyus says - " We can learn  - how to live from nature. " We can learn - how to learn, from nature. Following quote from the blog post provides a gist -

"How would Nature solve our so-called educational crisis? Biomimicry would suggest that education should be decentralized, self-regulating, co-operative, resourceful, always adapting and shifting in response to new information and changing conditions, active and always in motion, with built-in feedback mechanisms." (By Wendy Priesnitz, LifeLearning Magazine)

(PS : To give due importance to Naturic Education, Biomimicry in education, RIPeducation will have a seperate sub-blog dedicated to authors/ideas/inspirations/developments related to biomimicry in education. - http://naturic.ripeducation.com/ )

(Author would like to thank Megha for help in putting up this article and in forming a new word - Naturic)

World is doing fine, you are doing fine ! – How can education system be a failure ?

Quite often supporters of deschooling, opponents of schooling or anyone who critiques current education system is asked one very logical sounding question – “ You are yourself a product of schooling and you are able to critique and do whatever you are doing because you were educated in the same old system, how can you say that it is a failure ? Are you not a walking evidence of success of our education system ?”



Another much broader, related question is – “The world is doing fine, GDPs are improving, poverty is reducing, many countries are doing much better, quality of life is improving, great R&D and scientific development is taking place, technology is empowering mankind like never before, lot of people are even talking about saving earth and protecting environment. Does that not mean our current education system is doing a fantastic job?”

Yet another argument in support of this view is –“Many great leaders have been produced by great institutes and good schools which belong to the old system. How can you say schools are still a failure or needs an alternative solution?”

 

I’ve personally heard it many times as well and I think these are really very apt and valid questions which must be addressed. Hence, I thought that thinking on these questions and sharing my perspective would make a useful post for this blog.

Let me share my view through a simple analogy. Suppose you are to travel from African jungles to Himalayas and you do manage to complete the journey from a particular path which posed lot of threats to life, you loose one of your leg and a part of your brain but still somehow manage to reach. Hence, upon reaching Himalayas you share your view with other folks who have come from the same way that – “This way seems to be way too life threatening, I am sure there can be a better alternative way.”

Then you go on to share your views and ideas on how you can avoid the major pitfalls and find a better new way. At this point someone comes and tells you –“Stop criticizing the path you’ve come here. We have all come through the same path, you are here only because of the path you followed. How ridiculous to criticize the same path? How dare you even talk about some silly alternatives?”

You try to explain them, “But can’t you see we all have lost half of our brain and a leg ?” To which you are told, “ Ah ! how does it even matter. We are all same. We can still do with whatever we are. Can’t you see we are all still happy and still doing just fine ?”

Education as we know it and schooling has taken away a lot more than a leg or half brain. It has taken away entire ability to create, to question and reduced most of us to mediocre citizens. No doubt, we are all product of same system that we are rebuking but it can’t be denied that if only our education supported our holistic development, focused on our individual requirements, nurtured our creativity and originality – our lives, our worlds would have been quite something else. Most likely, better.

Secondly, the credit of whatever few thing going right or whatever few leaders being produced cannot be given to education system. It is not the education system that made these leaders, it is these leaders who managed to survive the odds in our education system, they took the best out of it and emerged as winners. Unfortunately, except very few most of the products of our education system are substandard.

 Our education system has produced a superficial man instead of deep thinkers, cribbers instead of rebels, dumb minds instead of creative minds, mechanical labors instead of compassionate human beings, materialist society instead of joyful communities, followers instead of leaders.

We need an alternative model if we are to bring some fundamental changes in the world and in the way we live. If GDPs, few celebrations of pseudo developments and satisfying skewed reports are all we value than of course let us stick with the education system we have.

Human spirit is unformidable. Human mind has shown their brilliance in extremely tough situations – it’ll survive and even flourish in whatever crappy system we provide it. However the question is – why are we sending our child to schools or why are we getting educated ? Is it to struggle through it to come out alive or is it because we want our lives to be better than what it could be otherwise?

Alternative Education : A solution for selected few ?

I visited some slums and the schools near them. They are in small dilapidated buildings, with few ill equipped unskilled teachers. Some of them do not even have proper toilets or drinking water facility. Most of them have no laboratories. Students usually sit on floor without mats, use one notebook for all subjects for the entire year. These students belong to poor families. Father of some work as daily wage labor, mother of other works as a maid in someone's house earning hardly enough for their survival. Their living standards are quite low, most of them are malnutritioned and their seems no evidence of light at the end of the tunnel. They don't have access to basic education, forget about quality education and don't even think of any "alternative" education. (at least how we know it)

Lets look at most of the alternative schools around the world. They are expensive and mostly for the elite. With my exposure to both the worlds, I was faced with some very disturbing questions/thoughts like -

1.) Is alternative education only a dream for the elite ?

2.) For the disadvantaged, perhaps the traditional education system which prepares them only for industrial jobs is a better way out.

3.) Is it fair to focus/spend on "alternate education" for some while others struggle for their basic education and survival ?

4.) Can alternative education be made affordable or is it impossible by its very nature  ?

As usual, I've questions but no answers.

From world bank to governments, from NGOs to corporates everyone is busy educating the world. They are massively supporting education for all. Millennium development goals, Free education, Right to Education Act, Teach for India, No Child Left behind etc are just few of many such initiatives.

In India a lot of NGOs are working on education for the poor. Many surveys have shown that "Education and Children" are most supported causes by the donors. Almost every humanitarian billionaire in the world has a foundation working on education. Huge number of volunteers come from developed nations to developing/underdeveloped nation to teach the poor kids. We are all busy trying hard to make sure every single child goes to school, gets educated.

On the other hand, what we have to offer is a failed education system. "Failed" is subjective. You rob a poor child of her creativity, intelligence and love but equip her for a job so that she can earn basic amenities in life, is it still a failure ? Perhaps without this the child would not have even survived.

What is the place of creativity, fun, intelligence, compassion, love and individuality ? Especially when they are pitched against basic survival. Perhaps towards the lower end.

I am disheartened at this sad state of our humanity. I don't see any other practical solution in near future at least except to put these kids into the failure system of education. Yes, their creativity will die, they will end up a photocopy, they'll exploited by the capitalistic giants - but at least they'll be alive and self sustained. Not begging, not depending on government for their lives.

My hope from alternative education is to create leaders, compassionate human beings who might change this sad state of ours. Alternative education could be an agent of radical changes in our world but at the moment it is a solution for the selected few.