Prakash Iyer
Civics is a very important subject in school because it is supposed to teach us our rights and responsibilities in a democratic society. But does it really do its job? While we learn the concepts of democracy, liberty, rights and duties, we do not learn how to apply these in our everyday lives, we do not really learn how to become good citizens. It is high time therefore to change the social studies curriculum.
Prakash Iyer
How can we learn to care for others and value our freedom at the same time? When we care for others, it means that we need to treat them as equals and give them things that we may have more. It also means that when we have more than we need, it is our duty to realize that whatever we own has other people’s contribution to it too. A conversation on freedom and equality.
Prakash Iyer
Is treating everyone equally in all kinds of situations always right? When it comes to learning, teachers need to spend more time with children who need their help to learn and absorb and less time with children who can learn by themselves. This kind of good partiality also sends out messages of solidarity.
Prakash Iyer
As teachers we have not done our job if our students simply take our word and believe something to be true. We need to train our students to imagine, hypothesize, predict and then arrive at a conclusion about any piece of knowledge before assimilating it to be true or not. Then we have done our job as teachers.
Prakash Iyer
When we live in a democracy we must listen to both those who speak and those who don’t. Someone’s unwillingness to speak should not be interpreted as indifference and ignored politely. Even those who are unable to voice their opinion, make a statement or claim what is due to them, exist in the same space. It is the responsibility of those who can speak to understand what their silent peers are trying to say and find ways to help them speak as well.
Prakash Iyer
Is there a sense or feeling of power between a teacher and a student? In passing on knowledge to students, is a teacher exercising his/her power and should he/she be responsible for it? Where then can the teacher draw the line? Teachers are there to give direction to the students and not exercise power over them.
Prakash Iyer
After a series of articles on the philosophy of education, Prakash Iyer turns his lens on a new set of philosophical ideas; these are ideas that are relevant to all of us both as teachers and as citizens. In this month’s article he focuses on the abstract and complex nature of ‘freedom’ in a democracy.
Prakash Iyer
How can a teacher stay autonomous? Is she free to teach in the manner she wants and even change the curriculum? She can use the textbook and other teaching learning material, but she is also free to change the material as long as she sticks to the criteria.
Prakash Iyer
How can teachers develop reasoning skills in students? Reasoning is necessary in order to learn, but learning is more than being able to reason. Learning is the transformation of our being. Real learning happens at the level of consciousness, not thought or reasoning alone.
Prakash Iyer
One of the aims of education is to nurture independent, critically thinking beings. But unless we teachers recognize the fact that the different means we employ to achieve this are all necessary but in the end also manipulative and therefore put in that much more effort to be true to our jobs, we won’t be able to do what we have set out to.
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