Can Education have a heart again ?

The picture above: my husband’s chalkboard drawing from an Art History course with Van James

What must we do so that education can have a heart again ? How will we educate the heart of a child and not just the intellect ?

These were the concluding questions Rudolf put forth to his audience in his opening address to a conference in Dornach addressing the child’s changing consciousness. That was way back in 1923 almost 100 years ago. Today those questions are relevant more than ever as our children are surrounded by anything and everything that only works upon our head, our physical senses in the head and by extension our intellect. Bringing a feeling of “within” to a child is unheard of today and more and more parents proudly proclaim bringing up their children in a “secular” “non-denominational” “unreligious” environment. Rudolf Steiner says a child is a human ‘being’, a tiny microcosm of the entire universe with all its secrets and wonders and inherent laws. And each child carries this blueprint deep within and then begins a journey towards earth, toward a life of the physical senses. It is not easy for me to accept this concept, especially given the fact that I come from a catholic upbringing where such things are unheard of – the concept of re-incarnation and the possibility of my own death begetting my next life here on earth in a new physical form, with a new purpose.

Take for a minute this philosophy of Rudolf Steiner to be true. For a moment put all our views and beliefs aside and look at our children as divine, heavenly spiritual beings who have recently chosen to return to earth to fulfil a purpose. What then would be our role as parents ? What then should be the role of education ? Imagine a tiny little spec within the child’s body is carrying this deep secret from the universe, the reason for this being’s incarnation. In such a situation, my role as a parent, and by extension education should be to make my child “know” this spec within so well , that when the time comes, like van Gogh yielding to his paintbrush on the canvas, this tiny spec enlivens and fills up his/her entire body. This tiny spec would take over and thus conduct the rest of this child’s life in sync with the purpose and destiny he/she had chosen.

What must we do so that education can have a heart again ? How will we educate the heart of a child and not just the intellect ? If you ask me, WE must BREATHE. As parents and educators we are always trying to fill our children’s days with everything we feel they must know. I say WE meaning we parents, we teachers, we the education system. Our children need us to have a time out. For education to have a heart again, WE as parents need to change. Instead of sending our kids for one after school class after the other, we need to free ourselves up to just “be” with them, enjoy their growing up and be part of their journey. How many of us are willing to do that ? What is it we fear ? Do we not have the confidence in them that they will make it in life irrespective of the school grades they get in some exam which will have no relevance to really how they lead their lives. I have seen myself how baseless the pressure on academics was in our generation and how finally it did not matter, because we all found our own paths. No one can really say in my generation that we are what we are today because of our wonderful education, and that is sad. And yet we choose to make the same mistakes with our children, why ? Here we have an opportunity to change, to really make a difference, but fear rules over yet again.

Children need to enjoy the joy of discovery that learning something new gives them, without the pressure of having to perfect it for a test coming up in two weeks. But in order to progress further our children must ‘live’ for a time in the past. In their heart they need to ‘live’ on the battle field as a soldier in the army when they study world history, in their 5 senses they need to knead dough and bake bread to appreciate the value of sunlight in our lives, and in their hands they need to spin yarn on a charkha to respect the struggle of freedom that India went through. All of this if done slowly giving them the time to process, will make them guardians of the earth and of each other. They will develop a new respect for the planet and for people. Our past is the seed for the future. The current version of the Earth or Man is not the final version. Where will we go next, How will we evolve from here on? What will we do next, these are questions for our children, and it is only by educating the heart of the child will we be readying their minds to embrace the challenges of the future in a positive constructive way.  

Baby steps we can take – review all the extra classes we put our children through . Are they really helping our children discover themselves and the world around them or are they just helping them get better grades. Spend some time trying to understand what our children enjoy the most and use the weekends to do such activities with them. Children need nature, make it a point to step out in nature as a family atleast once a month on a weekend (not just going for a drive in the car). There is really nothing that television currently offers our children that can really enrich their imagination. Invest in good story books, good quality paper and some good paints and crayons. And the big one – Reduce our own dependence on the internet and e-commerce as a way of life. Make the effort of going to the Sabziwalla in the market or get a carpenter to come home to build whatever furniture we require and let our child experience life at work.