Reclaiming Real Shiksha in Our Lives
Manish Jain
“Real democracy is not
about being able to choose one’s rulers. Real democracy starts with being able
to choose one’s teachers.” Dayal Chand Soni
(adapted from Mewari language)
My family and I have made a decision not to send our
daughter to school, either in
What’s wrong with schooling?
We actually made our decision before Kanku was even born.
For years, I had been working in the field of international education, and I
had come to understand some very disturbing things about schooling. Of course,
there are the oft-heard complaints: irrelevance, too much pressure on children,
heavy bags, overloaded curriculum, corporal punishment, too many tuitions, etc.
But, I had been looking deeper than these usual official suspects into the hidden curriculum of schooling. I saw
that what school fundamentally does is disconnect us — from nature, from
physical work, from our hands, from our families and communities, from our
local languages, from our wisdom, from real world issues. In sucking away
children’s time, forcing them to regurgitate decontextualized information, and
keeping them trapped in a box all day, schools kill their sensitivity, innate
propensity for cooperation, multiple intelligences, spontaneous curiosity and
imagination. They create fragmented and hypocritical minds — people who are
unable to see beyond black and white disciplinary categories and roles; people
who cannot relate their self-proclaimed beliefs and values with their actions;
people who fear experimenting with the unknown.[1] In
other words, the perfect modern babus.
Schooling – with its precise system of sorting, ranking and labelling children
has created a modern social hierarchy that is far worse than the caste system.
So much to the point, that people who do not know how to read or write or who
have not gone to school are treated with contempt and made to feel invisible.
Their children who attend school for the first time are obnoxiously labeled
‘first generation learners’; thus, negating all of the learning that they and
their ancestors have been engaged in for thousands of years. Such is the
arrogance of today’s educationists.
Why would such horrible things be done to innocent children?
Is it an accident? When I started to look at the origins of the modern
schooling system, I saw how it was deeply connected to the modern nation-state,
industrial economy, and militarisation (and here, in
Perhaps the worst thing that schooling does is to force
everyone on one path, one measure of success, one style of intelligence, one
way to learn, and one vision of Civilization. . Schools were undermining the
fundamental truth and evolutionary resource of humanity: its diversity. As with
other creatures of nature, we are most healthy and stable when we are diverse
and self-organizing. The more static, more monocultural we become, the more
endangered we become as a species.
But what about Education Reform?
Of course, having worked in the field of education in many
countries and contexts around the world, and having gone to school myself, I
knew all the counter-arguments. You need
schools because without them, children will run wild. There will be chaos. How
will we have unity? Or proper socialization? How will children learn without
schools? How can there be equality in society without schools? I was told
time and again that the solution was education reform. But I grew up in the USA,
where I saw billions of dollars being put into fixing schools, approximately an
average of US $9000 (or roughly Rs 3,60,000) being spent per child per year, with the
latest technology, teacher training, textbooks, etc., introduced every year.
And still, the vast majority children and families are suffering with a
plethora of deep and debilitative psychogical, spiritual, physical and
intellectual problems. Most educationists there acknowledge that their
education system is in a mess. It is difficult to see how
I also was familiar with commission after commission over
the past 60 years in
So-called ‘alternative schools’ have not proven themselves
to be capable of reforming factory-schooling anywhere in the world. They are
dangerous because they provide the illusion that school-jails can someday be
fixed for all. They may respond to some of the superficial criticisms like less
exams and homework or utilize pseudo-democratic decisionmaking processes or
include some more progressive content and teaching methodologies, but they
don’t address the roots of the hidden
curriculum of schooling: the consumerism of knowledge, the soul-numbing
obedience to the State-Market institutions, the deep fragmentation of holistic ways
of knowing and being in the world, the unjust socio-economic hierarchy and
culture of mistrust, the destruction of diverse local knowledge systems. A
friend like to remind me that if factory-schools are like zoos, then alternative
schools are like sanctuaries – only they follow the Cambridge Board or the IB
Board. At the end of the day, the Game remains the same. Most graduates do not
develop the confidence that they can create their own learning webs without lifelong
institutional direction. Most graduates are not able to imagine possibilities for
meaningful living beyond fitting into the Global Economy. Most graduates are
unable to re-connect to and build healthy and sustainable local communities. I
would argue that those few who are able to do these things – whether from
government, convent, private or alternative schools -- do so in spite of their school
education, rather than because of it. Furthermore, alternative schools have yet
to take a strong stance against the criminal activities committed daily by
schools, especially the labeling of millions of innocent children as
‘failures’. No child is born a ‘failure’, it is teachers and schooling which
makes them into failures. One has to wonder about the moral backbone of the
educational establishment (locally and globally) if they can continue to allow
this heinous crime to be committed without even raising a voice.
Moreover, I have tried to learn from past thinkers in
education. If many great leaders have
tried to reform the current system and have failed, then what? You and I are in no way as influential as
Gandhi, Tagore, Krishnamurti, Vinoba Bhave, Gijubhai, Sri Aurobindo, John
Dewey, John Holt, Paulo Freire, etc. were. We need to understand why they were
not able to make a real dent – in fact, the Education System has gotten much
worse after them with more exams, more tuitions, more pressure, more ‘failures’.
A friend of mine likes to remind me that “adding wings to caterpillars does not
create butterflies. It only creates more awkward and dysfunctional
caterpillars.” How long should we continue to tinker at the edges of a rotten and
corrupt system?
Many of these great thinkers eventually came to the same
conclusions in their lives that I have. First, to change the education system,
we have to be willing to challenge the modern, military-industrial way of life,
and its path/indicators of Success and Progress. Basically, we need to shift
our still-colonized mental models and philosophical reference points. This
includes raising fundamental questions about the dominant frameworks of Science,
Nationalism and Economic Development – something that our friends in NCERT or
alternative schools are unwilling to do. Second, we also need to focus our
attention on what it means to build nurturing community and socio-spiritual
ecologies. We need to seriously and playfully think about pursuing other ways
of living and relating (outside of the rules of the commodified rat-race),
which are more balanced, healthy, caring, socially just and spiritually meaningful.
I have seen that subtle but conscious shifts in our personal lifestyle choices
can begin to help us to imagine, uncover and co-create the spaces, processes
and community relationships we need for pursuing deep lifelong co-learning. A
good place to start is to learn from people who have not gone to school. Third,
institutions are not going to change by themselves; it is individuals and
communities that must take the lead in creating alternatives for themselves.
The more alternatives that can be co-created, the more possibilities for the emergence
of new systems of influence.
What’s the alternative?
Because of the failure of education in the
Homeschooling, however, is by no means a homogenous
movement. In the past, it has been confused with Christian fundamentalist
groups or white elites. In reality, a very wide spectrum of philosophy and
practice exists among this movement. On one end, are people who are trying to
reproduce school at home. Parents act as school-teachers; the children go
through official curriculum and textbooks, have set schedules and take various
exams to achieve school equivalency.
Several parents, however, resist the entire framework of
schooling and its rules and parameters. They do not want to reproduce school at
home and instead are trying to support their children’s varied learning
interests and natural curiosity. This spectrum of the movement is called
‘unschooling’. They see learning as a natural, joyful
process, and they don't want to interfere with that or sabotage it. They
believe that children are good judges of what they are ready to learn and when
they are ready to learn it. Learning processes should therefore be ‘child-led’ rather than simply just
child-centered. This implies that there is no set curriculum, no imposed
teachers, no schedule, no textbooks, no exams, no fixed models. Rather,
children explore their own questions, at their own pace, and engage with a
number of different spaces, people and relationships in their community.
Unschoolers believe that it is not enough to take the children out of schools,
we must remove schooling from deep within ourselves. This means questioning
conditioning such as comparing children against each other or looking at
knowledge through the lens of compartmentalized subjects.
We at Shikshantar have tried to broaden the framework of
‘unschooling’ and have shared the concept and practice of Families Learning
Together.[4] The idea is that parents, children,
neighbors, relatives, friends — and all those we consider as part of our
‘joint/extended family — are each responsible for their own learning and are
responsible for supporting and nurturing each other in our varied learning
interests. We believe that children need to re-ignite passion and curiosity in adults
and adults need to also do the same for children. The catch is that adults can
only do so if they fully embrace and embody the spirit of continuous unlearning
and uplearning. The real problem is not with the children, it is with our adult
conditioned and corrupted minds. So we, as adults, need to be willing to change
if we want to reclaim shiksha into
our lives and into our children’s lives. Each of us can generate our own ‘intergenerational
learning webs’ — an intricate set of multi-age relationships across different spaces
where each of us (adults as well as children) can go to learn or unlearn what
we want. For example, the city farmer’s plot of land, the shoemaker’s shop, the
artist’s studio and gallery, the local temple, church or mosque, our friends’
homes, the cows and goats on the side of the road, the lake for a swim, etc.
This honoring of diversity of interactions across ages, spaces, media forms, economic
classes, castes, etc., leads to real human socialization and to deep wisdom.
This is real shiksha. And every one of us has the power to decide
what we want to learn, who we want to include when making our own learning webs
and, in the process, creating our own particular system of shiksha. For me, one billion people in
In the 1970s, Ivan Illich proposed the idea of ‘deschooling’
which in
With regards to deschooling, Illich was asking us to think
deeply about the idea of counter-productivity of modern institutions and tools
which are being propagated in society; that is, how something that may have
started out as a beneficial or useful process can grow into something harmful
or destructive. For example, the introduction of so many modern time-saving devices
have actually taken away our time for doing things that are really meaningful
to us. Illich described, “A tool can grow
out of man’s control, first to become his master and finally to become his
executioner… There are two ranges in the growth of tools: the range within
which they are used to extend human capability, and the range in which they are
used to contract, eliminate, or replace human functions." Illich was asking us to consider the
possibility that schooling has grown out of our control and has become our master.
He was warning us that it could someday grow into our executioner.
There is also a very constructive and creative aspect to
deschooling which needs to be highlighted. Illich was really interested in the
creation of convivial social formations, rather than centralized manipulative institutions
telling people how to live their lives. Conviviality
involves autonomous, caring and organic intercourse among persons, and the wise
and interdependent intercourse of persons with their natural and social environment.
Such a vision asks us to think deeply about what constitutes healthy living communities
in
The question remains as to whether we still have the
courage, wisdom and imagination left to move beyond business as usual and enter
into a process of asking disturbing questions about our own education and the Education
system.
But is it really possible for us
in
Contrary to popular misconception, unschooling and
deschooling are not from the West or only for the West. We need to understand
that Shiksha and Education are not
the same. They come from totally different historical, philosophical, spiritual
and epistemological roots. We need to reclaim the meaning of shiksha and forms like the guru-shishya parampara. Shiksha is more closely rooted in
self-organized and experiential forms of learning. Real gurus were never self-proclaimed/State-imposed instructors, nor did
they seek to impose a uniform standardized syllabus on all those who learned
with them. For us in the subcontinent, shiksha
grows from concept-practices such as in satya,
swadhyaya, samvaad, ahimsa, anekantavad, yoga, sahayog, lok vidya, shram,
vinumvrata, kshama, etc. There are many powerful stories of self-learners
throughout history. Eklavya being one of the most famous ones. However, these heroes
have been sadly maligned by the guardians of the Institutional Faith. Some of
the initial experiments with Nai Taleem and Shantiniketan also tried to embody
these principles but somewhere along the way, they also got corrupted in the
framework of institutionalized education…
In fact, I truly believe that it is much easier for us to
make this connection than for those in the West, because we still have so many living learning spaces. In villages and even
in most towns and cities, you can still find opportunities for apprenticeship
learning, you can easily get to a forest, you can experience life in a joint
family (full of rich relationships of all ages). We luckily do not have go to a
zoo to see animals; we can interact with them on the roads and in the fields.
One can learn yoga without going to a yoga center. Everywhere, you can find a
million forms of kabaad (so-called
waste) to jugaad with, to make
something useful, beautiful and durable. The best part about these
opportunities in
We urgently need to look at our learning assets outside of
the framework of schooling. This exercise has not been seriously undertaken in
the last 50 years. Gandhi had some inkling of it but the work was abandoned
post-1947. If and when we undertake this, we will soon begin to realize that
The real threats to these vibrant indigenous learning
resources are the institutional viruses that pose as roses: like the campaigns
against child labor and for compulsory/coercive education. While I agree that
hazardous labor should be outlawed for men, women and children, I do not feel
that all labor is bad or should be banned from our children’s lives. Indeed,
one of the leading reasons behind the degradation of human health today comes
from the lack of authentic physical work and labor in our lives. Such
productive labor kept us alive and thriving for generations, why do we want to
banish it from our lives? It is
important to re-look at the link between using our hands/body, meaningful work
and the growth of our mind, spirit and emotional well-being.
Where is the hope?
For the last nine years, I have been working with people
around the world to respond to the question, “If not the culture of schooling,
then what?” What’s sprung up are several networks. One is the Learning
Societies Network[5] where we
have invited a number of unusual partners (farmers, artists, artisans,
activists, filmmakers, healers, storytellers, local businessmen, children, youth,
parents, grandparents, illiterates, spiritualists, etc.) to explore what kind
of learning and living we want in our society? We ask people who are interested
to start by sharing their own experiences and experiments with learning in
different ways in their own lives. The idea behind the Learning Societies
Network is to demystify and break the monopoly of education experts and
professionals over discussions concerning human learning. We do not believe
that educators alone can envision and make the deeper changes in education that
are necessary for the 21st century. People with diverse worldviews
who are leading/supporting real-world experiments across many different domains
need to be in the discussion. Today, friends in fields as varied as global
climate change, community media, organic farming, free software movement, etc.,
are raising the kinds of profound questions about life that can eventually
shake the foundations of the education system. Are we willing to listen?
Just as natural farmers are redefining the field of
agriculture, and self-healers are redefining the field of medicine, so are many
youth determining their own paths of learning as more than 90% of youth in
At Shikshantar, we are also exploring and regenerating the
learning resources of our own city, in a process called
In all of these initiatives, we have found that it is
important to find creative ways to engage with friends in the mainstream system
to dismantle its monopoly. It is not enough to just be creating alternatives.
For example, many of us need to Heal from the Diploma Disease. We recently came
out with a publication of the same name[8]
that invites civil society organizations to stop using diplomas, degrees and
certificates in their hiring and promotion processes. In its place, we ask that
more appropriate systems of identifying and evaluating personnel be explored
and used. This request has sparked a wider conversation about what we want to
see manifest in our work and in our world, and we hope will help pave the way
for more diversity in learning opportunities.
What now?
For me a critical point in my life was when I consciously
stopped describing myself as a ‘teacher’ or a ‘planner/social engineer’ and
started seeing my primary role as a ‘lifelong seeker of truths’. I do not see
myself as Kanku’s teacher. In fact, I consider her to be one of my gurus since she has inspired me to take
many new risks in my life. This shift should not be taken as yet another piece
of superficial jargon – as is often done by the education establishment. It
needs to start with some deep introspection, for example, by re-examining one’s
own learning process up until now: What have been some powerful learning
experiences in your life? Under what conditions have you learned best? What
lies have you unlearned?[9] What
brings you real happiness? What are you curious/disturbed about now? Go
explore it and share your journey with children. Invite them to do the same.
Where are you feeling stagnant? What
depresses you about your life? Share this as well. Perhaps they can help you find a way out.
As long as one needs to be working in the education system,
one can think about how to creatively subvert/dismantle its claims of authority
and monocultural-ness. This is one of the primary challenges of our times.
Shake up our own schooled mindsets. Reclaim our faith in the innate power of
children and villagers to direct their own learning. Encourage your children to
explore other opportunities and relationships outside of the four walls of
schooling. Ridicule the examination system and its claim as a fair/useful form
of evaluation. Refuse to be called a ‘product’ or a ‘human resource’. Make a
strong commitment to regenerating peoples’ knowledge over expert/textual/institutional
knowledge. Be creative. And perhaps, most importantly, open up real spaces to
experiment and make mistakes.[10]
I realize, of course, this only works to a point (which is
why I personally stopped trying to reform the education system). A friend once
said, “It’s very hard to criticize something when your salary depends on not
criticizing it.” At one point or other, most teachers and schools have to come
back to curriculum, textbooks, exams, etc., and more seriously, to the underlying
politics and economy. In that authoritarian, unjust and artificial context, it
is virtually impossible to sustain any real trust and authentic co-learning
between yourself and the children.
So, for those who are genuinely interested in pursuing real shiksha and supporting others to do the
same, I would frankly encourage you to walk out of the school system and
walk-on to creating something new – learning spaces and learning webs that
embody a deeper vision of human learning: ones that do not rest on
commodification, competition, compartmentalization or compulsion; ones that
deepen human wisdom, imagination and friendship. Just remember that there are
no ready-made, mass-produced solutions (after all these years of being fooled
over and over again, we should be really skeptical of anyone who offers/imposes
these). We each need to invest ourselves in creating our own localized
alternatives and connecting these to each other in dynamic ways. There can and
should be a world with many streams, not just one mainstream. It is time for us
in India to evolve a more mature vision of social equality – one that is not
built on monoculture or copying the hypocritical West.
Since she was a baby, I have seen Kanku finding and choosing
her own gurus (sources of
inspiration) – of all shapes, sizes and species.[11]
Some of these are for a few fleeting minutes, others remain for many days. She
negotiates and co-creates her own self-discipline and intensity. She is both
moved and motivated by real world activities and problems. My experiences,
co-learning with Kanku, have certainly made me believe that it is absolutely
necessary to re-look at some of our core assumptions about how human beings learn
and why we learn. What does learning
look like? This debate has to be opened up across the country with our
friends, colleagues, children, grandparents, neighbors, leaders, etc. It should
not be abstract or overly theoretical but rather start with our own honest personal
and intimate experiences: How did schooling
help deepen my learning capacities? How did schooling hinder/harm my learning
capacities? What did I really gain and what did I really lose? What did my community really gain and lose?
How has my local natural and cultural environment benefited and lost? The real debate is not about school vs. no
school. It is about co-creating the best possible learning ecologies for
ourselves and our chidren. This is what
we are trying to do with Kanku and this is the invitation that I would like to
extend to you as a reader. I look forward to being in a dialogue with you.
[1] Read more on the Aspects of the Culture of Schooling at www.swaraj.org/shikshantar/resisting.html
[2]
Reference John Taylor Gatto, The Underground History of Education. Also
see www.johntaylorgatto.com/.
[3] Some
interesting sites include: http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/index.htm,
http://learninfreedom.org/, http://sandradodd.com/, http://www.homeschoolzone.com/.
[4] <www.swaraj.org/shikshantar/familieslearningtogether.htm>
[6] One can learn more about their gatherings, and read issues of their magazine (in Hindi and in English) online: www.swaraj.org/shikshantar/walkoutsnetwork.htm
[7] www.swaraj.org/shikshantar/udaipur.html
[8] www.swaraj.org/shikshantar/healingdiplomadisease.pdf
[9] See my note “Ten Lies My School Taught Me” in Swapathgami: http://www.swaraj.org/shikshantar/swapathgami_english1.pdf
[10] Most so-called experiments in school are not really experiments as the result is known beforehand and there is no room to make mistakes.
[11] See Co-Learning with Kanku: Some Experiences from 2006 at http://www.swaraj.org/shikshantar/kanku2006bookfinal.pdf