There are certain questions where the answers cannot be a rehash of memory and experience. Is an ‘answer’ even required? The key word here, ‘care’, touches the confines of my brain like bubbles in those ancient screen savers! They touch the edges, di…
What is it to care? Read Post »
To write on this elusive word ‘care’, where do I begin? ‘Care’ sometimes sounds like a reproach, at other times an admonition. Better show care next time, take care, don’t you see that I care, and so on. Mostly we are put on the defensive. We are als…
Can I be the Fire and not the Frying Pan? Read Post »
For as long as I can remember, I have wanted my students to care about things. Care about your classmates, about your teachers, about the spaces at school, about the spiders and the snakes, the trees. As they grew older, I would want them to care abo…
Care-raising Times! Read Post »
How did the chicken cross the road? While driving down a highway, I saw a mother hen expertly clucking her way across the road with her brood of chicken under her wings. It takes me a while to cross a road. She did it with such care and such confiden…
In asking the question, ‘what is it to care?’, I also wonder what it means ‘to be cared for?’ We readily recognize, for instance, that children need to be cared for, as do our aging parents. Children need adults who are engaged and responsive, looking out for their physical, emotional, and mental well-being, perhaps on occasion worrying about them, even at times scolding them for something or the other.
What is it to care? Read Post »
The waking day seems full of emotional reactivity. We react to others’ opinions on a multitude of issues—political, religious, ecological, aesthetic, occupational. This reactivity can keep us happily (or unhappily) occupied for much of the day. Then …
Editors’ Note: This is the second part of a longer essay; the first part of the essay was reprinted in the Journal of Krishnamurti Schools Vol 26, 2023. This essay was originally published in ‘Other Education: The Journal of Educational Alternatives’…
A Living and Learning Space: Approaches to Education in a Krishnamurti School Read Post »
This article is based on the work of Carl Rogers. I first encountered him when I trained to be a counsellor and he was truly inspirational. I found a lot of resonance between what he was saying and what Krishnamurti was pointing to regarding relation…
Empathetic Listening Read Post »
What do we mean by a healthy mind? It may help if we use the analogy of a healthy body. Presumably, it is one that has strength and stamina to the right degree; a body that can deal with physical challenges; a body that can deal with infections. Perh…
What is a Healthy Mind? Read Post »
Knowing is the key to caring, and with caring there is hope that people will be motivated to take positive actions. They might not care even if they know, but they can’t care if they are unaware.1…
Environmental Management: Tending a Deep Gash with a Too-tiny Band Aid? Read Post »
In October 2023, I was invited to speak at the KFI Teachers’ Conference being held in Chennai, at The School KFI, my alma mater. I was excited to both attend the conference and share my experience of working in the field of climate change. The School…
Climate Action: The Personal and Political Read Post »
The twenty seventh issue of the Journal of Krishnamurti Schools is in your hands. Handle it with care, read and glean what you will, and do share it with others!
Why do we say this?
If you look through the titles of the articles in the contents page— whether you are a teacher, a parent, a student, or a concerned citizen with questions about education—there is something for each one here.
As we were putting together this Journal, someone asked: Is there any theme running across these articles?
Memories of Ahalya Di remain fresh, crisp. Just a few days before she passed away, I spent a precious week with her.
A Light Unto Oneself Read Post »
This is a journal on education that is brought out annually. It is an anthology of writings by educators, teachers and thinkers exploring a new vision of education in its many dimensions—philosophy, psychology, classroom experience, curriculum, nature and environment, and contemporary issues. It lays special emphasis on J Krishnamurti’s principles of education.
An Impersonal Responsibility Read Post »
Question: What kind of education should my child have, in order to face this chaotic world?
Is authentic learning possible in the heady atmosphere of an elite university, or is the race for degrees and prestigious jobs too overwhelming?
Teaching at University: Challenges and Concerns Read Post »
Here we are with the sixteenth issue of the Journal. Run your eye over the titles on the contents page and you will get an impression that themes based on children, teaching and learning—core concerns in any journal of education—are surrounded by themes such as nature, space, spirit, touch, retreat and looking inward. How are these connected with education? That there is a vital link between all these themes and the educational enterprise is what I wish to show.
As it is the United Nations’ Year of Biodiversity, it seems an appropriate time to stand back and take stock of the way we teach environmental education in Krishnamurti Schools.
Environmental Education in Our Schools Read Post »
True to its eclectic character, this fifteenth issue of the Journal of Krishnamurti Schools has a collection of articles on diverse subjects and topics.
Krishnamurti suggested that, ‘Education can be transformed only by educating the educator, and not merely creating a new pattern, a new system of action.’ Around this challenge, a group of educators participated in a two-week intensive Teaching Academy in the summer of 2009, at Ojai, California.
Teaching Academy, Ojai 2009 Read Post »
Everyone agrees that values should be part of a good education.
A Life Well-lived: Education and Values Read Post »
This is the fourteenth issue of the Journal and what started as an in-house exchange between the various Krishnamurti schools has, over the years, slowly and quietly found a wider audience.
Holistic education is a philosophy of education based on the premise that each person finds identity, meaning, and purpose in life through connections to the community, to the natural world, and to spiritual values such as compassion and peace.(Miller, R.
The Philosophical Underpinnings of Holistic Education Read Post »
To give knowledge which does not become an end in itself and to educate the mind to have a long vision, a wide comprehension of life, is not possible if education is based on authority.
Educating the Educator: Self-Inquiry for Parents and Teachers Read Post »
‘May we please go outside?’ a student pleads, batting eyelids as I walk into a noisy room of fifteen-year-olds.
Fading Boundaries: Death of the School, the Teacher and the Taught Read Post »
The U.S. has its own history and tradition of vocational education.
The Philosophy of Vocational Education Read Post »
The world over, we lament the state of education. We might observe directly the plight of a generation of young people weighed down by the burden of seemingly meaningless academic curricula and indifferent teaching practices, alongside spiralling aspirations for securing the ‘good life’.
One of our friends who comes from a nearby village reported that the first thing a new headmaster does to make his presence felt in a village, is to paint the school building and then expel a student! He told us the story when our own school building was being painted at the time of the joining of a new principal.
The Idea of Santiniketan: A Personal Understanding Read Post »
For those calling themselves environmental educators, it is sobering to note that the only people who have lived sustainably in the Amazon rain forests, the desert Southwest, or anywhere else on earth could not read or write (which is not to say that they were uneducated).
Is Environmental Education an Oxymoron? Read Post »
We see around us three kinds of attitudes related to the body.
Physical Education: An Integrated Approach Read Post »
The meaning and purpose of work Work is as old as the history of mankind.
Facilitating Career Discovery Read Post »
A distinctive feature of holistic education is nurturing the spirit.
Dimensions of Awareness Read Post »
