ANOTHER SCHOOL IS POSSIBLE?

The long interval since my last post on this blog has not been entirely idle and unproductive in thinking about learning and schools.

For one thing, I have been thinking about starting my own school. Coincidentally, I have been contacted by a number of my former students from my earliest years in teaching, asking whether I would be interested in starting their version of school. I have also resumed contact with a former teacher of my younger son, who had a similar venture in mind. Again coincidentally, a very old friend who is bringing up his own children on an ashram that he and his wife built up from scratch the hard way in a rather isolated part of Tamil Nadu, suddenly resumed contact with me after years. Now he is a firm believer in keeping children away from schools.

So here - in bare outline, to be fleshed out with further details in a longer conversation with friendly critics and critical friends - are my initial proposals.

As I have already noted in my first posting on this blog, we human beings are naturally disposed to learn, but the institutions we have designed to promote learning fail their primary purpose of growing human beings capable of responding to and shaping their world in wise and happy ways. (A more cynical view is that they fulfill the purpose of their design admirably, by churning out generations of compliant conformists with impressive academic qualifications based on tests and exams that have little to do with the capacity to function productively and humanely in the real world. The fact that many of us seem to survive our experiences of school, and turn moreover into active, productive, compassionate and ethical individuals is probably evidence of the plasticity of our minds, somewhat akin to the plasticity of the brain that sometimes enables it to make up for the loss of functionality in certain areas. Of course, it is a conceit of teachers that education and schooling alone shape what we do with our lives. Thank goodness there are other wholesome influences - often within schools themselves - that seem to compensate for the humiliation, bullying, violence, authoritarianism and fear pervasive in too many schools.)

Following from this, one possible response is to abandon the idea of schools and seek a de-schooling of society. Another is to re-fashion schools so that they become capable of nurturing people who will be disposed to use their minds and bodies for wise ends, who will be capable of contributing to survival, growth and conviviality of the community. Not that schools will by themselves solve all social, political and economic problems. But they could act as seedbeds of a culture that is more peaceful rather than violent and conflict-ridden, nurturing rather than destructive, and more inclined to treat other humans with dignity and respect. They could also lay more emphasis on understanding and on the creation of knowledge rather than on simply storing and repeating knowledge.

The school of my conception will be a learning space where students as well as teachers will be encouraged to develop the innate human proclivity to learn, within themselves as well as in others. Every aspect of the school - from the teachers and other associates, through the architectural and organizational design, to the material resources and the technologies - will need to reflect an enthusiastic culture and ethos of learning.

The curriculum will be centred around developing skills for learning throughout life, but especially learning to survive in a world whose survival itself is threatened. The kinds of knowledge that will be valued will be aimed at sustaining and enjoying life. Specifically, this would mean that the curriculum would include:

a) The sciences – both human and natural – as well as mathematics, through deploying them in permaculture projects and building communities of concern and action.

b) Learning the sciences and arts of restoring land and water, growing, making and selling food, building homes and living spaces that are ecologically sensible and aesthetically pleasing.

c) Both social and scientific technologies, but with opportunities for questioning and evaluating technologies, not just against technical criteria but also against moral and social ones.

d) An emphasis on the arts, dance, drama and literature so that students find opportunities to develop an understanding of what it means to be human and creative, and to lead a rich, meaningful and moral life.

However, because of the increasing speed at which knowledge becomes obsolete, the emphasis of the curriculum will also be on developing skills of understanding and inquiry through dealing as far as possible with the real world, rather than the mere acquisition and reproduction of disjointed pieces of knowledge. Students will be expected to identify and solve problems (and recognizing the limitations or the impossibility of solutions).

I also want it to be a space where youngsters learn to live with difference, and will make special efforts to include children from all social classes and castes, and specifically from all countries of South Asia.

It will eventually have the IB Diploma program or the IB vocational certificate program as a graduating qualification for those seeking it, but the basic curriculum design throughout the entire school will be based on the six interdisciplinary themes of the IB Primary Years Program:

1. Who we are: An inquiry into the nature of the self; beliefs and values; personal, physical, mental, social and spiritual health; human relationships including families, friends, communities, and cultures; rights and responsibilities; what it means to be human.
2. Where we are in place and time: An inquiry into orientation in place and time; personal histories; homes and journeys; the discoveries, explorations and migrations of humankind; the relationships between and the interconnectedness of individuals and civilizations, from local and global perspectives.
3. How we express ourselves: An inquiry into the ways in which we discover and express ideas, feelings, nature, culture, beliefs and values; the ways in which we reflect on, extend and enjoy our creativity; our appreciation of the aesthetic.
4. How the world works: An inquiry into the natural world and its laws; the interaction between the natural world (physical and biological) and human societies; how humans use their understanding of scientific principles; the impact of scientific and technological advances on society and on the environment.
5. How we organize ourselves: An inquiry into the interconnectedness of human-made systems and communities; the structure and function of organizations; societal decision-making; economic activities and their impact on humankind and the environment.
6. Sharing the planet: An inquiry into rights and responsibilities in the struggle to share finite resources with other people and with other living things; communities and the relationships within and between them; access to equal opportunities; peace and conflict resolution.

The curriculum will be designed to provide opportunities for students to explore the relationships between these themes as they discover the world around them. The range of experiences provided for such explorations will be as wide as the resources will allow without compromising the physical and psychological security of the child.

Wherever possible, teachers would be drawn from practising professionals and practitioners, including of course professional teachers. But the teachers themselves would need to undergo considerable re-education before they start interacting regularly with students. This initial re-orientation will need to be refreshed from time to time with collaborative activities and workshops where the teachers will be invited to reflect on their practices in a theoretically informed manner, and seek improvements in their practices.

In subsequent posts, I would like to present and develop some ideas about the structural and organizational features of the school.