Knowing in Community

I just admire the way Parker Palmer has connected the so called great things such as development in physics, biology, and sociology etcetera to the mode of knowing in community. Today’s modern sciences and developments have confirmed what many mystics and sages such as Francis of Assisi, Buddha experienced world as deeply connected to one another. Francis called sun as brother and moon as sister. Buddha experience world as a mass of energy. I admire St. Ignatius for giving us a positive spirituality which helps us to find God in everything. As Palmer rightly points out that our education system needs to move from fragmented, objective mode of knowing to a community mode of learning. Even we need to grow from the temporary solutions given by therapeutic, civic and marketing mode of community learning to reality based community of relationship mode of learning.

Spiritual Educators

The Hidden Wholeness: Paradox in Teaching and Learning

Parker Palmer through his chapter on The Hidden Wholeness: Paradox in Teaching and Learning explains profoundly what we go through as persons. I felt strongly that the chapter spoke so many things about my life. I felt some of the times, I went through a world of education which is filled with broken paradoxes and with the lifeless results where we separate teaching from learning. When I was in my second year of Master in Science, I felt that I really did not love my subject physics, though I did well in my studies. I went through a lot of personal reflection. I asked myself the question in what way this subject is helping me to be better person. I realized that the learning I am having is just result oriented. I felt that I was disengaged with my studies though I liked physics. I felt something was missing in our education system which was so much based on the objective mode of learning which failed to make this subject connect to my life.
I fully agree with Palmer on his idea to have a rich dialectic of solitude and community. I always felt the tension to keep a delicate balance between these two profound polarities of human life. I believe that in many ways my formation in the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) has helped me to grow in this aspect of balance though the tension remains and it will remain. But I have a choice either to make it creative or destructive. Many people ask me here whether I feel home sick. I always tell them that wherever I go and live, I try to make it as my home.
I believe that there is a greater need for today’s world to understand the concept of paradox as presented by Palmer. Everyone needs to realize that we are related to one another, and the cosmos through many different ways which need to be explored. I really like the message presented in James Cameroon’s movie, Avatar. We need to experience what Nabi people in Pandora experienced, though the movie is mythical.

The Culture of Fear

I had my early education in a system which promoted a culture of fear deep beneath the whole system. I did my initial studies in the local medium schools where a teacher’s word is final. There is no question of dialogue. As I was going through the Parker Palmer’s Chapter on The Culture of Fear I became aware of my educational learning and fear I went through. Positive fear helped me do well in the studies but the negative fear that was within me lessoned my confidence in myself. I used have great fear to stand in front of people or students and say something.
I did not want this happen to my students whom I taught in Jamshedpur for two years. I really like the quotation of Palmer: The way we diagnose our student’s condition will determine the kind of remedy we offer. I taught mainly English to my non-English speaking students who considered English as a dreaded subject because they were not able to understand. So I was before joining the Jesuit order. Thank God, that my principal was very supportive of me and I was able to bring many changes among the students based on the cooperative learning. I changed the text books and used simple story books and songs. Students were divided into groups and every group has to teach the whole class. This instilled in them great confidence to come forward and speak before other students. As a net result, I conducted a session to the English teachers of Government schools on how to teach English to the non-English speaking students, in the presence of some of my students. I myself was amazed by seeing the learning and growth in my students within a year. It was a moment of grace for me and it was a proof that if I as an educator change, my students too will change.
As Palmer rightly points out that there is something wrong in our system of knowing and learning. We need to move from objective mode of learning to a heart of learning which is based on relationship, connectedness and community, where everyone can feel at home with oneself and with others. I greatly appreciate Barbara McClintock on her research on genetic transposition. She is a great role model for our need to change our education system.

The Heart of a Teacher

Parker Palmer develops his book The Courage to Teach based on a premise that good teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher. It is also the experience of Palmer who worked many decades in the field of education and I am sure everyone who has worked as teacher or educator accepts this premise. This premise looks simple but not very easy to be lived. One of the disciples of Gautama Buddha asked him a question why is it that some of the disciples get enlightenment and others not. In reply Buddha said to him that those who follow the path that I teach do experience Nirvana but those who just listen and never make attempt to follow the path never reach the goal. It is same with the teaching of Jesus too. Unless we take up our cross and follow Jesus, we cannot reach the kingdom of God. The above examples suggest that I as an educator or teacher need to be open to ongoing change, and make an every attempt to grow in my identity as a total person in integrity. I know it is an ongoing challenge yet it is possible. My thirteen years of formation in the Society of Jesus has brought in me a tremendous growth as a religious and as a person. I believe that God works in my life through various ways, but the journey will continue.
A good teacher’s integrity is shown in joining self, subject and students in the fabric of life. This is true when I recall the lives of great teachers who have come into my life. I do agree with Palmer in his following quotation. the courage to teach is the courage to keep one’s heart open in those very moments when the heart is asked to hold more than it is able to so that teacher and students and subject can be woven into the fabric of community that learning, and living, require. Before coming to Berkeley, I worked for two years as a class teacher and assistant in-charge of a boarding which had about 275 boys. It was indeed a tough job for me as I was just fresh from my philosophical studies. I had to teach in the high school as a regular teacher during the day and rest of the time I had to take care of those boys. It was a 24x7 job. I had to do more than my heart could offer. But on the day of my farewell, I indeed felt that what I have received from students and boys is more than what I have given to them.

The Teacher's Calling

Teaching is a journey full of surprises with many beginnings and endings but it is always the person called teacher moves on. I like the two aspects of teaching journey—inner journey and outer journey—explained by Gloria Durka. It is the delicate and healthy balance between these two journeys makes a teacher who he or she is. A teacher’s awareness of inner journey reveals a teacher his or her true identity which helps one to express oneself in the outer journey through meaningful relationships with students, colleagues and whoever comes in a teacher’s life.

The journey of a teacher includes also known and unknown aspects of life. It is the unknown aspects which make a teacher’s life challenging and vulnerable. Happy is a teacher who passes through this journey and finds meaning in one’s life as well as helps others find meaning in their lives. In the film, lion king, the sage monkey helps Simba to acknowledge his true identity. During the journey of teaching, a teacher has to always strive to do the best and leave the rest to God as aptly said by Don Bosco. It is the genuine trust in God enables a teacher to find joy in the joy of students, and patience in failures and difficulties. I firmly believe that Jesus has truly given us his Spirit to guide us in our lives as teachers, as persons dedicated to the growth of our students.

Teaching Wisely and Morally

I do accept the words of Paulo Freire that education is an act of love, an act of courage, where teachers and students become dynamic, creative and integral part of education system. There is a trend in the developed world to minimize the role of teachers due to the advance technologies, yet many agree that these technologies can never the role of teachers. Technologies can help us with readymade information but they cannot teach us to love, respect one another and become wise and courageous. A wise teacher, who knows different ways of knowing, can help students to become better human beings by helping them to reflect and choose how to live. Wisdom of a teacher is also shown in the ability of a teacher in creating a healthy learning space in a school. I like the three features of healthy learning space: openness, boundaries and hospitality given by Gloria Durka. These features help us to understand the importance of learning space while teaching the students.

I got stuck by the words of Thomas Lickona that “virtue can be caught and taught.” I used to hold that values are caught and not taught. It made me to think at the responsibility of a teacher in guiding students to build an ethical behavior. It’s true that a teacher needs to be a role model for the students but it also a moral obligation for a teacher to create an ethically safe learning space or environment where students undergo a transformation during their stay in the school. Everyone will agree that it is the love and care provided by a teacher changes the minds and hearts of students who will cherish their rich memories throughout their lives.

Teaching Courageously and Creatively

Many years of teaching may bring in stagnancy, complacency or pride in the lives of teachers. But to teach courageously every time, they require first of all the generosity of hearts to teach every new student lovingly. Like a burning candle, a generous teacher gives one’s life to make the lives of those children meaningful and joyful. A teacher can truly educate such children if she or he has both the vocation to teach and skills to be effective. Hence Gloria Durka is right in commenting, “Vocation without skills is ineffective but skills without a sense of service can be superficial.” To bring out the best in students, a teacher needs to have the passion so that the students can really become what they could be. Hence I believe that a teacher has the responsibility for the designing the environment and for guiding the process of education.
The designing of positive environment in a school promotes and provokes creativity through imagination. The former president of India, Dr. Abdul Kalam was inspired to be an air force pilot when his high school teacher explained to him the aerodynamics of a bird. Though he could not be an air force pilot but his imagination and creativity led to him to be one of the greatest nuclear scientists of India. We know imagination can lead us to a greater level of life and make us do unbelievable things. Albert Einstein came up with his theory of relativity through his imagination. He imagined himself to be a light that traveled at 300000 km per second. Thus, the philosopher Maxime Greene claims that the role of imagination is to awaken, to disclose the ordinarily unseen, unheard, and unexpected. It is true for any of us who believes in the power of creative imagination.