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Themes in Education Articles

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EDUCATION ARTICLES

Education Articles by Volunteer Authors

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#20. TIPS FOR SITTING WITH LAPTOP ALL DAY LONG

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#19. The Concept of Autonomy in Oppressed People – Part II

#18. It’s Alright to Be an Imperfectionist

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#17. Soft Skills Essential For Success in Life

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#16. The Concept of Autonomy in Oppressed People – Part I

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#15. The Brighter Side of the Pandemic

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#14. Global Citizenship from an Interdisciplinary Perspective

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#13. The Value of Privacy for Social Relationships

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#12. TO UPDATE

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#11. DESIGN YOUR LIFE

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#10. Operation ‘Success’ – The Components & Gears of Success

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#9. DEFINE YOUR OWN SUCCESS

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#8. PSYCHOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT

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#7. A NEW LEARNING FOR A TEACHER

Foreword by Venkat
There are two kinds of values that matter to be able to create and receive the value to/from others. The first kind includes the core universal values of love, care, forgiveness, truthfulness and gratitude. The second kind includes the personal ones, made by individual preference and temperament viz. Choice of dress, style of presentation, brand of pizza etc. While the first kind brings stability and sustainability, the second kind brings energy, and better engagement in the same relationship when both of these kinds are recognized, respected, appreciated and expressed.

Dreaming BIG, having great ambition are good and may certainly bring success but without embracing the universal values has no chance to survive long and without acknowledging the personal values of others, contorts progress into a hard challenge. In this candid sharing of her personal experience with students of a state government school, Swati brings out perspectives on dreams and values. What we are supposed to do matters as much as what we want to do. When both are considered in one’s purpose, it is sheer bliss and that is exactly what captivated Swati in her class with the students.

Find inspiration from the sweet and big hearts of the young children in this simple yet beautiful narrative by Swati Kakodkar.

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#6. An Introduction to NakshatraS (1/3)

Foreword by Venkat
During the course of teaching astrology, exploring astronomy became my passion and I do include a section on astronomy in my classes. Some fascinating surprises I discovered (to give a few examples): Saturn is less dense than water, Jupiter’s moon formation mimics our Solar system formation, Mercury’s spin takes longer than its orbit around the Sun, and Venus with its gigantic shield volcanoes. Knowing about the various peculiarities and abnormalities in the outer space brings a lasting shift in our perspectives than just assimilating information.

The ability / inability to discover the reasons behind the nature of the celestial unknowns, brings us on the intersection of belief, science, fascination and curiosity. Dr. Shankar takes us through a wonderful route to discover the lunar mansions (referred as nakshatras). To prepare us well, he sets the foundational concepts and terms in astronomy. His research with references to Sanskrit words, understanding in ancient Indian texts and suitable pictures makes it a source of insightful information to absorb.

In this article (the first in a series), Dr. Shankar introduces the basic terms in astronomy in a logical sequence to help us appreciate the celestial movements, forces and positions in relation to the natural phenomena. This forms the foundation to understand nakshatras (lunar mansions) in the vocabulary relevant to it.

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#5. JOY OF LEARNING

Foreword by Venkat
While at a personal level it becomes clear to us early in life on the basic principles of rights vs. wrong, we often face a deep chasm when it comes to our behavior and communication in a social context. Despite the best intentions and alignment to the right principles we are not understood or do not understand others. Behavior and communication present such a challenge because it may engage some and dis-engage the others within the same context. We are no longer dealing with only the self but on the fabric of interaction where often progress is critical to achieve the intended outcomes. This paradigm becomes complex when the ones we interact with are of a totally different age, culture or perception.

Richa Wahi brings such a conundrum faced in the schooling context where strictness may have a greater chance of instilling fear than discipline. She recounts her personal experience with her daughter and the incident in her school to substantiate her observations. I am sure many parents would find this resonate with their experience as well. It is clear that without a sense of security and belonging to a place, a student would never feel like opening up. Hence strictness, depending on how it is expressed, may endanger this feeling of security perhaps unknowingly by the teacher. This debate on what behaviors and speech instill fear, discipline or joy in the young minds to shape attitude is the highlight here and so wonderfully written by Richa.

Connect with the most relevant topic of teaching in our times with Richa Wahi in her thought provoking words.

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#4. Financial and Budgeting Skills I Learnt From My MoM

Foreword by Venkat
This sweet and beautiful article by Oliver reminds me of pollination and seed dispersal in Botany. From a fruit comes a seed and from the seed grows a tree with many fruits. Likewise, from experience comes new learning and from the learning comes new experience. While some lessons grow us into new areas, others grow us deeper in the same domain. Skills in finance and teaching fall in the second category growing us deeper with every experience. For mothers (especially of the generation where Oliver and myself belong) who used to deal with local grocery vendors, hawkers and shopkeepers literally everyday, the knowledge and experience in home finance was undoubtedly rich and deep. It is so wonderful to see the core principles of savings, budgeting, negotiation, upselling, cross-selling, goodwill and trust from Oliver’s “MoM” learnt early in his life have made him a fine financial advisor and successful in his financial career.

Enjoy the lovely recollection of lessons from Oliver’s memories of his mother on her birthday which he began to write on the International Mothers’ day. A touching tribute to all mothers indeed!

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#3. WEEKDAY SEQUENCE

Foreword by Venkat
A smile around brings a smile within and peace within has the potency to bring peace around. Intense emotions and intricate logic as well seem to carry the power to recreate themselves in their vibrations. Such a deeply thought design for the weekdays in our ancient texts on astronomy is not only intricately logical but beautiful as well. It touches and stirs our mind into the realms of the capacities we are endowed with and not yet realized. Dr. Ravi Shankar brings out the structure and method behind the sequence of the naming of the weekdays based on his study from various quoted sources. The tables make it easy to absorb the logic and the method.

Explore and be inspired by the beautiful ‘algorithm’ behind the naming of our weekdays in Dr. Shankar’s easy-to-read writing.

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#2. DON’T LET YOUR GOALS DRIVE YOU CRAZY

Foreword by Venkat
Every learning goal in its intention must bring changes in our long term memory, and transform us in the way we think. Both cannot be achieved by being “air-dropped” to the goal. This transformational process can only happen step by step through a rigorous journey towards the goal. Once transformed, the goal which was earlier set as an endpoint becomes the starting point for the next one. Hence truly speaking continuous learning is never about ‘reaching’ anywhere. Nevertheless, goal-setting is an important practice in learning but one may get lost without understanding the true intention of the learning goal. Jiayin shares her experience as she found her way out of the confusion with too much focus on achieving goals with multiple things to work on. Many people especially the young, face the same stress and confusion. This gets fueled with the peer level competition and social media spotlight on goals misconceived as endpoints to be ravished upon.

Explore the pitfalls of wrong focus on goals through Jiayin’s engaging narrative and succinct message.

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#1. Three Sons

Foreword by Venkat
Inequality is at times seen in unfavorable terms because it seemingly divides people into groups of twos – of rich and poor, labor and management, educated and uneducated, cultured and uncultured and so on. Unfortunately, many times, inequalities bring inequity (injustice) which cuts the inequalities deeper and vice versa. On the flip side, it is the inequalities that drive business, innovation, education, skill development, material growth, material distribution, better fitness, better protection, and so on. The imbalances between resources and needs, work and skill, people and material, need and ability, opportunity and idea or any other combination among these give meaning, value, purpose and growth in life and society.

Meera, presents a beautiful story that brings out the nature of skill development and its transformative power over one’s measure of others. The more I think on this story, the more ideas I seem to find. This is a treasury of ideas indeed to put in a few words! When we do not realize the value of the human values and employable skills in others, material things seem of greater value but with the realization, losing people is a greater threat to cope with. A truly wonderful contribution from Meera as the first post in the education section!

Enjoy this lovely story of the three sons, a folk tale, embellished and shaped in Meera’s simple words for some great ideas to transpire. There is something in this for everyone of any age or occupation!

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