| ஒத்திசைவு | प्रत्याह्वय | resonance |

You see, every once in a while, some guys (peace be upon them, poor  things) become unfortunate enough to take part in my random training sessions – wherein I pretend  to bestow my infinite  wisdom on an otherwise  normal and happy bunch of people; there was one such workshop that I conducted a couple of weeks back, in which a few of us discussed the various angles / prisms (or axes, if you will)  through which one can see the myriad facets of that phantasmagorical beastess (yes, education is a female!)  called education; this note was circulated to seed  some discussions and here it is, as some food for your thoughts, that is, if you are the type which likes to think…

But then, this is a rather looooong document, that has taken very many years of practical experience, observation and a sort of  reasonable scholarship to get assembled –  and so some patience is advised. If you do not have the patience, you please stop  right here. And, go away. Seriously.

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In this document, we would look at the common ways of stereotyping education in terms of what sociologists call their sociological categories, Ideal Types.

“An ideal type is formed from characteristics and elements of the given phenomena, but it is not meant to correspond to all of the characteristics of any one particular case. It is not meant to refer to perfect things, moral ideals nor to statistical averages but rather to stress certain elements common to most cases of the given phenomena.” (The methodology of the social sciences’ – Max Weber – a very fine text; some details below)

The methodology of social sciences / Max Weber / 1949 / The Free Press, Glencoe, Illinois; this is one of the books that I keep getting back to, when I have some fundamental doubts about categorizations – sociological and much else! Strongly recommended for anyone who wants to seriously study societal dynamics and dialectics…

Simply put, the world of ideal types merely allows one to stereotype, simplify and attempt to slot  – and then to grapple with  things – such as white and black, so that we can easily pretend to understand things.

But you see, the world is NEVER defined in terms of black and white. It has myriad hues – it is a true celebration of gray areas.

Salutations to thee, the Goddess of the Great Gray!

When I think about the applicability of the sociological category of ‘ideal types’ – a few examples float up immediately and I tell myself that we would bother only about ‘education’ here – and in terms of all of them being seen as forming pairs (or dyads, if you will) located on the opposite ‘extreme’ sides of a given phenomenon – or, an axis  of interpretation/understanding, if you will.

Of course, they are not in any particular order, but I sincerely hope that, a reasonable taxonomy would develop eventually – based on the following axes for the understanding of education, right??

Let us discuss!

आ नो भद्राः क्रतवो यन्तु विश्वतः

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Note: I have tried to slot various pointers related to the beastess, under some ten headings – please note that they are NOT watertight compartments and  that, many of the categories straddle many universes; of course, this list is likely to grow, diminish and morph in its progress towards oblivion…

Meta

• Frequently Asked Questions Vs Frequently Avoided Questions
• Frequently Answered Questions Vs Frequently Questioned Answers
• Infrequently Answered Questions Vs Infrequently Questioned Answers
• I have all the Answers (oh the arrogant  me!) Vs I have all the Questions (oh the smart  me!)
• Searching for Meaning Vs Meaning to Search
• Meaningful metaphors Vs Content free sounds
• Form Vs Content Vs Essence
• Cliches Vs Perennial Truths

Philosophical moorings

• Why Education (for a given, assumed value of Education) Vs Why not?
• Literacy Vs Education
• Theory of education Vs the Practice of it
• Quality Vs Quantity
• Tangible frame (‘certificate’) Vs Intangible content (‘education’)
• Arts Vs Science (OR Creativity Vs Concepts)
• Only social sciences Vs Only pure and applied sciences
• Big picture Vs Details (OR Bird’s eye view Vs Earthworm’s view)
• Competition Vs Cooperation
• ‘A picture is worth 1000 words’ Vs ‘Even 1000  pictures are not sufficient to represent a word, leave alone being worth a word!’ 
• Oriental Vs Occidental accents
• Spiritual Vs Materialistic accents
• University Vs Multiversity
• Flaw of Averages Vs Minimum Common Denominator
• Education as a: Social Emancipator Vs an yet another Social Stratification system
• Free Progress Vs Free to Progress(for a given  value of progress)
• Histories of Education: Western Vs Non-western
• Education: Breadth first Vs Depth first
• Education as providing: Models of excellence Vs Models of Mediocrity
• Education as a force to: Transform the world Vs Transforming oneself
• System beating/cracking Vs ‘following his own drummer’ Vs ‘also-ran’
• Respecting Tradition (learning also from the past) Vs Totally new approaches (jettisoning the past)
• Education as learning: How to learn (fill it, shut it, forget it) Vs How to constantly unlearn, relearn, fine-hone
• Education as teaching: How to make a living Vs How to live
• Learning Vs Teaching
• Education as an aid  to life Vs Education is life

Education theories

• Education for All: A big YES Vs But, Why?
• One theory/approach fits all Vs Endless adaptations based on the given local conditions
• Tagore? Steiner? Piaget? Gandhi? Goldman? Dewey? Montessori? Bruner? Aurobindo? Vygotsky? Or that bane of Indian education – Macaulay?
• Connectivism? Cognitivism? Behaviorism? Constructivism? Contiguity? Gestalt? Experiential learning?
• Learning theories? Andragogy? Symbol systems? Repair theory? Apprenticeship models?
• Pedagogy of the Oppressed Vs Pedagogy of the Oppressor Vs Pedagogy of the Repressed (mommeeee!)
  

… there are as many theories about education as there are folks on earth!

And, does it take only  a village to raise a child??

• Mappings: Developmental Stages Vs Graded Outcome Management
• Autodidactic approaches Vs Teacher centeredness
• Punishment Vs non-punishment
• Gratification: Instant Vs Postponement
• Try Vs Do
• Direction by the needs of the self Vs behaving as dictated by outside instructions
• Development of self esteem Vs Addiction to rewards & mere tokens
• Self validation Vs External validation
• Blooming under privacy Vs Wilting under an atmosphere of surveillance

Parental involvement

• Complete outsourcing of education to the ‘school’ Vs Symbiotic relationship with the ‘school’
• Schooling Vs Unschooling Vs Homeschooling … OR Schoolhoming Vs Unhoming Vs Homing
• Overdiagnosed paranoia (=dyslexia) Vs Underdiagnosed parental mess
• Overstimulated homes (= TV, Gadgets, busy parents, perennial holiday/weekend plans, parties…) Vs Understimulated homes (equipped with boring, duh oh so ordinary parents, armed-chair intellectuals)
• Unfulfilled lives & desires of the Parents Vs Aspirations of the Children
• Work ethic: System beating/priming okay Vs Principled approaches & hard work first
• Quick & Dirty short cuts Vs The exploration of the Garden of the forked paths
• Following familial vocations / traditions Vs Joining a non traditional unskilled force of Clerks

Practical pedagogy

• Learning (use and throw) Vs Meta-learning (reuse, recycle, repurpose, repackage)
• Medium of instruction: Mother tongue Vs Some other tongue (English) Vs an admix of languages
• Language as a Tool  Vs Language as an End
• Rote memorization Vs Learning with understanding
• Physical Vs Mental activities (or) Working with Hands Vs Working with Heads
• Left brain Vs Right brain Vs No Brain
• Exams Vs No-exams
• Work Vs Play
• State board Vs CBSE vs IGCSE… (what a delightful variety)
• Computers Vs NO-Computers (or a Sony PSP Vs NO gadgets)
• Vocational training Vs NO-vocational orientation
• Guild and Apprenticeship models Vs Class room / blackboard based deliveries

Educational/Class Environment

• Democracy in classrooms Vs Autocracy
• Open environment Vs Closed environment
• Textbooks Vs No-textbooks
• Class/Period/subject switching every hour Vs child directed activities
• Older children in the environment (‘mixed’ age group) Vs Children of the same age (‘narrow’ group)
• ‘Special’ needs of Normal children Vs Normal needs of  ‘Special’ children Vs Special needs of Special children (Death be  to euphemism and asinine political correctness)
• ‘All children are Special Children’ (=All children are differently-abled children) Vs  ‘Some children are lesser than others, therefore are Special children’
• Schools providing skills for being: Sociable Vs Antisocial

Schooling systems

• Montessori Vs non-Montessori (OR Waldorf  Vs non-Waldorf OR NaiTaleem Vs non-NaiTaleem OR  <insert your favourite theory, including Piaget’s>)
• ‘Open’ schools Vs ‘Closed’ Schools
• Farm schools, Forest schools, Community schools Vs ‘Concrete building’ schools
• Big school Vs Small school
• Local schools Vs ‘International’ schools
• Valley Schools (such as The Valley Schools) Vs Mountain Schools (such as a Montfort or a Lovedale or a Doon)
• Non-missionary schools Vs Missionary schools (mainly those gazillion factory schools that call themselves ‘Christian’ schools that are neither Christian nor Schools, unfortunately)
• Religious education Vs ‘Secular’ education
• Professional teachers Vs consultants/experts
• Government run ‘public’ schools Vs Private ones
• ‘Mainstream’ schools Vs ‘Alternative’ schools
• Guilds and Gurukulas Vs Boarding Schools
• Brand building Vs Getting Branded (*ouch*)
  

Economics of education

• Education as business Vs The business of Education Vs Education as service
• Opportunities based on availability of funds Vs Others available irrespective of funds
• Funding patterns: Local community supported Vs funded from ‘elsewhere’
• Education as one giving respectability Vs one enabling the getting of some ‘required status’ (=dowry, ‘a good match’ and all that!)
• Education driven by: market forces Vs equitable society building efforts
• Scalable education models:Accommodation of Diversity Vs A Central Core approach

Politics of education

• Equality of opportunity Vs Equality of status
• Exclusion Vs Inclusion
• Education as a political agenda: Collecting votes Vs Mobilization based on ideologies
• Ensuring uniform national blandness (as Bill Watterson so eloquently puts it) Vs Celebrating the Exceptionals
• Education for: Inner Party Vs Outer Party Vs Proles (Thanks, George Orwell!)
• Us Vs Them

May be, we should jointly try to address and understand where we stand and where we may  want to go – with respect to the above and a few more.

And, we may begin to understand that both polarities in most of the above (so perceived) dyadic relationships are important, if we are seriously talking about education.

So, we may eventually find out that, in most  of these so called dyadic cases, we are, in effect, traversing a Möbius strip – which apparently & on the face of it, has two sides, but actually has only one.

In some of the above dyadic ideas, we get more pointers to reach clarity about the others – they by themselves are not critical, but they help a lot towards understanding things that impact education or at least make us aware of our  understanding of it.

We would also discuss the broader social context in which ‘education’ operates – coexisting and symbiotically working with other ‘systems’ in society.

Of course, your mileage will vary, depending on where you are and where I am coming from  – and therefore where we are NOT.

Please feel free to share your thoughts / anger / annoyance in the interim. The forum is open. If you are silent, you will be forced to listen to my untempered views!

Caveat emptor, what else! :-)

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Connected post:

• what is education? 18/12/2013