Inside a school for suicide bombers

A Most Bizarre Encounter

I was having an interesting discussion with a friend on the different ways people learn. I shared that I learn best through conversations, and believe in the the contagious nature of knowledge

“You must then meet a lot of smart people?”
“Talking to futurists and the intellectuals are definitely fun, but there’s really something to learn from everyone.”
“I just knew you’d say that..”

And as if to test my point, I had one of the most bizarre conversations minutes later with a most unlikely person. It was an elderly security guard who walked up to me. He was standing just slightly taller than me, and had a very distracting set of teeth -

“You seem to be very busy”
“Oh no, I’m just killing time, while waiting for somebody”
“Don’t spend too much time on these things, the radiation will kill you”
“Thanks”
“Do you do programming? How do you do programming? How long does it take to learn programming?”
“Oh no, I do design, not programming. To do programming you have to understand the language of the computer, and learn to speak it to tell the machine what to do… it really differs for different people, and it’s a never-ending process of learning…” as I tried to tailor my explanation into something I thought he would understand judging by his age.
“I know you see me as a security guard, but I’m an inventor. Sorry for interrupting, but can I talk to you?”
“Sure” and we exchanged introductions.
“I’ll skip the boring physics stuff and… ”
“No, I want to hear what you’re passionate about. Tell me the physics.”
“Do you know classical physics?”
“Well, I know physics, but what’s classical physics?” I was pretty dumb-founded.
“There’s classical mechanics, you know the nuts and bolts? Newton’s theories of relativity…. Anyway, I invented a new form of basic mechanics using the concept of a spring, it’s patented, and has made the creation of things so much more elegant. And more recently I’ve discovered some new theories that will disprove Newton’s laws. He says the mass of an object increases when it approaches the speed of light. It’s flawed! I’m not like those scientists who do research the whole day. I just think of them in my mind, and pay people to build prototypes and evidence. I’m going to announce these soon.. these theories have infinite potential and will change the way we live…. “

He went on, and on, and it was a fascinating conversation. I didn’t know what to make out of the content of what he was saying (it could be revolutionary or utter hogwash), but his resolute and belief was astounding, and the whole manner in which the situation crafted itself was simply extraordinary. I eventually found out he’s from eastern Europe, married a local, and chose to be a security guard because it gives him time to think. The conversation ended when he said he had to get back to work, but I’ve this twitch to go back and find him.

I then had a field day Googling classical physics and Einstein’s special theory of relativity just to contextualize all the jargon that he was throwing at me.

Sometimes I love life simply for these little chance surprises and variety. And truly, there is something to learn from everybody.

Getting into… Kindergarten

Caught this by accident on Discovery Channel and got hooked.

I previously read about the mad competition and hot-house preparation that kids (and parents) undergo in India to gun for top Kindergartens, but I never expected the same cut-throat reality in New York.. but it IS New York afterall, what was I thinking! If you feel like watching 4-year-olds being subjected to three IQ tests (to gain entry into the privates), interviews being masked as play dates, and parents stressing out over self-inflicted pressure, the whole documentary is available on youtube :)

Bring on the learning revolution!

“Every education system in the world is being reformed at the moment. But it’s not enough. Reform is no use anymore, because that’s simply improving a broken model. What we need is not evolution but a revolution in education. This has to be transformed into something else.”

Amen.

1:1 Individualized Teaching

Imagine if we could channel a relentless focus and attention on the learner, and tailor a personalized curriculum around each student? An individualized form of instruction taking into account multiple intelligences of each child, and the sensitivity of how each child learns best? Two progressive schools are pioneering in this direction.

The Krishnamurti Schools

“The ignorant man is not the unlearned, but he who does not know himself, and the learned man is stupid when all he relies on are books, on knowledge and on authority to give him understanding. Understanding comes only through self-knowledge, which is awareness of one’s total psychological process. Thus education, in the true sense, is the understanding of oneself, for it is within each one of us that the whole of existence is gathered.”

“When there is that intelligence that is born out of compassion and love, problems will be solved simply, quietly.”

I’ve been fascinated by the depth of Krishnamurti’s philosophy and his pursuit of educating the integrated human being. Integrated – it is a concept I still don’t fully understand. To be integrated in mind, body and soul; to be integrated in thought and action; to be integrated with the environment; or to be integrated in understanding the wholeness of life without being a specialist or idealist in just one domain?

Krishnamurti was an advocate of breaking away from psychological zones of safety – from the institutions, religions, and techniques that that put an end to independent thought and spontaneity. These forms of authority breed fear, and block an intelligent and unbiased understanding of life.

With such a level of disregard for authority, and a heightened sense of self-awareness, he then built his own philosophy of education from ground up. One with mentors that designed a curriculum around each student, one that brought back the art of inquiry. I have more questions than I have answers, about how these philosophies have been translated into execution, but I’m very intrigued and hope to pay a visit this Summer. One of his schools, Oak Grove, hosts a teacher’s academy for educators to visit and learn his methods.

The School of One

Fast forward, and we’re now living in a data-driven world. What if we leveraged technology and applied mass customization to education? This is exactly what The School of One has done, collecting data to profile each student, and then applying smart algorithms personalize a customized syllabus. I’m glad that small group and large group instruction have not been lost in the School of One, because I don’t believe technology should ever replace human interaction and discourse.

A great video has been put together of their Summer pilot, and I’m really excited by the potential of where we can take this. No longer does a tailored curriculum denote cottage-size schools as technology has enabled scalable, yet personalized instruction.

Taken Together

it’s interesting to contrasts these two methods, a century apart in conceptualization, but both based on the same ideals of putting the focus once again, on the learner. Fundamentally, the awareness of self has to complement academic rigour, and one should not exist without the other. What a joy it would be to marry these two methods!

Do you know any other schools which have an individualized curriculum?