Sagun, an 11th grader at Taktse International School, explained to us that when she returns home to her family during holidays, people have started telling her she is rude when she speaks up or asks a question or joins an adult conversation, all things that she has learned to do and are highly valued at Taktse International School.
The students here are being taught a way of growing up that involves initiative, assertiveness and the questioning of authority. At Taktse School it is alright to correct your teacher if you think they have said something wrong, you are expected to voice your opinion and to ask to change rules if you feel they are unfair. Action is the mode of learning, trying things and reflecting on the success or failure of what you tried is the methodology used to teach. The students are chastised for being quiet in class and there is no corporal punishment to keep the students in line.
Contrast that with something one of the parents in the school shared with me. He told me that he was taught to learn through quiet observation. No questions asked, watch your teacher, listen carefully, then you know how to do it yourself. The culture here seems to be one of observation, of sitting quietly and serenely, content to have no activity of the body, but perhaps great activity in the mind. There are many people of few words here, I imagine it is hard for them to be involved in a place that is so verbal and interactive at the core.
This all leads me to wonder about the choice to teach the students at Taktse a western, American way of learning. Where will that get them? Does it mean they outgrow their own culture? Are European and American schools their only option? What right do we at Taktse have to say that this way of learning -- through questioning and action and shared reflection -- is the best way to learn? There is a teacher here very interested in post-colonialism and the longterm impact of an imperial society that is supposed to live only in the past. Does Sagun have to give up her family culture to adopt the Taktse way? Is there a way to integrate the two? How does she avoid upsetting her family and still live as the person Taktse has encouraged her to be, the person she wants to be?
Students who transferred to Taktse have terrible stories of beatings for ridiculous infractions; they convey their own fear and loathing that built over time from that type of punishment. At Taktse there are no beatings. I can easily live with that different approach to discipline, but I struggle to fully believe that teaching students outside their way, when many of them will stay nearby and live within this culture, is the best thing to do for them.
The students here are being taught a way of growing up that involves initiative, assertiveness and the questioning of authority. At Taktse School it is alright to correct your teacher if you think they have said something wrong, you are expected to voice your opinion and to ask to change rules if you feel they are unfair. Action is the mode of learning, trying things and reflecting on the success or failure of what you tried is the methodology used to teach. The students are chastised for being quiet in class and there is no corporal punishment to keep the students in line.
Contrast that with something one of the parents in the school shared with me. He told me that he was taught to learn through quiet observation. No questions asked, watch your teacher, listen carefully, then you know how to do it yourself. The culture here seems to be one of observation, of sitting quietly and serenely, content to have no activity of the body, but perhaps great activity in the mind. There are many people of few words here, I imagine it is hard for them to be involved in a place that is so verbal and interactive at the core.
This all leads me to wonder about the choice to teach the students at Taktse a western, American way of learning. Where will that get them? Does it mean they outgrow their own culture? Are European and American schools their only option? What right do we at Taktse have to say that this way of learning -- through questioning and action and shared reflection -- is the best way to learn? There is a teacher here very interested in post-colonialism and the longterm impact of an imperial society that is supposed to live only in the past. Does Sagun have to give up her family culture to adopt the Taktse way? Is there a way to integrate the two? How does she avoid upsetting her family and still live as the person Taktse has encouraged her to be, the person she wants to be?
Students who transferred to Taktse have terrible stories of beatings for ridiculous infractions; they convey their own fear and loathing that built over time from that type of punishment. At Taktse there are no beatings. I can easily live with that different approach to discipline, but I struggle to fully believe that teaching students outside their way, when many of them will stay nearby and live within this culture, is the best thing to do for them.
I love your questions Chris. I must say, the traditional way of quietly observing has its benefits too! I wonder if children raised in this style have as many attentional issues as the kids here in the states? As they are trained to focus outward on another's thinking process, they learn to wait, to let their own thoughts develop and deepen. I certainly believe the dominant American lifestyle of fast processing, many choices, multi tasking, rewards for quick, "correct" responses diminishes creativity and diversity of thought. And "attentional issues" , behavioral challenges, disrespect of adults/authority are more prevalent than ever...
ReplyDeleteI was also thinking about the difficulties with behavior you've faced in the classroom, now that I better understand that Taktse is somewhat of an island in the education there. If the children are used to harsh parenting/teaching styles where corporal punishment is still the norm, it seems predictable that they would be testing the limits in the classroom at Taktse...how far can I go? What will happen if I throw the eraser?
Still, it sounds somewhat daunting! Do young human beings really need harsh punishment to stay in line? I know they don't...well, enough early morning thinking. Mark is home from photographing Leverett Pond in the Autumnal fog!
When Pintso did a meeting at Waring some years ago to tell us about his project, when Taktse was still in the planning stages, I remember wondering the same thing - it seemed almost neo-colonialist, the assumption that a Western model was the best thing for a society where so many elements of that model would run counter to the expectations placed on children and young people by their families and by the larger society that they would have to live in. But reading what you say about Sagun, I think yes, yes, yes, India does need places like Taktse and it does need the young men and women, especially women, who will graduate and be strong and assertive in their future lives and in different contexts. The Indian girls who will become the Arundhati Roys of the future need permission and encouragement to question societal norms and structures from a young age. And as they become aware of the conflicting expectations within and without Taktse, they’ll learn to balance these, and they’ll become more able to identify and question things that should be questioned, whether through overt activism or simply by raising their own children differently.
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