 Templates, Rule Books, Textbooks, Complete planned curriculum with all the activities laid out to be executed by a teacher etc...
Classrooms enclosed by the idea of freedoms and the reality of empty promises; perfect students, perfect jobs, perfect tables and the idea of who owns the key to knowledge... While designing products or curricula or workshops for teachers and students, I am stunned at the creativity and leadership that flows once the doors are opened and equally startled by the powers that control and dam this creativity and ask for templates and rule books instead of intelligence and thoughtful expression, creation and application of ideas. 'We' become so used to teaching people to follow, that to believe they can be original, they can create and they can own their minds has become a 'wonderful possibility' starkly out of reach always. 'We' are constantly told students can't be 'all that' original, teachers can't really be so "creative" and we take away ownership and responsibility. Then we lament the lack of ownership and responsibility. It is indeed much slower, it is indeed more demanding and it is indeed more risky to let go, but why do we not trust the very people we claim to empower....the very people we believe are going to change the world! Do share your thoughts if this issue means something to you.
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 Ah! the wisdom of the young! I have been blessed to have some wonderful students across the years. And even as I spend my time telling them how much more they need to do and how lazy they are , I have also had the privilege of sharing their wisdom. Often in our hurry to live life, and emphasis on growing older and relating age to maturity, we miss out on the incredible wisdom that the young bring with them. And this year as many of my students worked with me, many others called me back after several years, I realized what great insights they share and how much they have in their own gentle, mischievous and fun ways shaped my life. So this post is to all of you out there, from my little first graders who are now in their teens, 2,3,4,5, 6 and of course the 7th graders from AVRS to my college undergrad girls who are into wonderful masters programs across the world. A very special hug to all of you. AND NO! you cannot quote this post back to me when I am teaching you.
 I picked up Henry David Thoreau's "Walden" sometime last year. At that time, Thoreau's name was a distant memory from a quote that I had read as a teenager. I don't know yet, what drew me to that book in a shop covered with books. Life's miracles?
It is not a book to be read at one go, or cover to cover. But a book with words to cherish, laugh with and find company in. The insights, profound sarcasm, and ideas of simplicity draw me more and more. The deeper I reflect on our society and ways of living, the lesser I want to have, hold on to. And in Thoreau, I find a voice closest to my heart. I am yet to figure out where these paths of reflection will lead, at the moment, I am enjoying the lines, " I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor. It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look, which morally we can do. To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts" |
Srivi KalyanSrivi Kalyan works at the fluid and exciting intersection of arts, media and education. She is the Founder-Director of Fooniferse, a company that enables a 360 degree approach to working in the arts through a confluence of arts, education, media, design and self-reflection. Archives
March 2017
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