While working on a current teaching philosophy, I stumbled upon a paper I wrote ten years ago in History and Philosophy of Ed:
An Art Teacher's Philosophy, Continuous Revolution
Excerpts taken from Krishnamurti’s
Questions on the Function of Education
Ed Se 600
Dr.Perri
June 13,2004
Tereza Mazur
The goal of
education should be to help us understand the whole process of life. Not to disregard our initial knowledge. Humans (everything tangible and intangible) are
miraculous forms. And still, every moment of every day throughout life, there
is awareness followed by layers of subtlety, fineness, quality, and magic to
respect and to relearn. History does not
exist. It is present now and parallels many stories happening at once. What is written as history is a version from
one perspective often with lessons on morality, right and wrong. The first
state we can work towards is no preconceived notions, a continuous process of
unlearning and learning at the moment and for the moment.
We breathe,
drink, eat, sleep, read and interact learning more and more subtlety; the how in the way we do these things.
My life
centers on creativity, a term that holds more potentiality than I have yet
realized. I am learning to unlearn many
of the structures from my personal past to be open to many possibilities
without fitting others around me into molds.
In teaching, I aim to bring out a knowing; an inner teacher. Students recognize themselves, their beauty,
to fully experience sorrow or joy; be truly alive. We know, learn another way, and then spend
our life unlearning so we can learn again, a new natural way.
"Education has no
meaning unless it helps you to understand the vast expanse of life with all its
subtleties, with its extraordinary beauty, its sorrows and joys"
Discuss your reaction
This
statement resonates strongly with my core belief and with the purpose of my
existence. Nature, or this concept that we narrowly define it by, has always
been magical in my life; something I was always curious about. Not just the mere physical properties of a
substance or the observable facts but more importantly the presence of the
unknown. It is a stillness, or grace of
subtle movement, I still, forever, devote my learning/teaching to.
For
example, my eighth grade students observed the second grade youngsters in their
confirmation dresses. We have eyes and
see naturally. All children see and
answer if asked the questions. We know
what is there. We sit still and focused
our minds on this task. I guide students
along the maps that they are already eagerly reading.
"Intelligence
is the capacity surely to think freely, without fear, without a formula, so
that you begin to discover for yourself what is real, what is true"
Discuss your reaction
Our limits
have a tendency to set our lives. Many
(I have the urge to say all) have a tendency to be driven by fear as soon as we
take our first fall. The distorted
version of our memory of the fall alters our present freedom of thought. Unfortunately, being ruled by these thoughts
we tend to manifest them around us, escaping, living for the future, driven
only by our fears of the past.
When do we
and can we truly learn? (When we are
aware of everything in the present, not just ourselves.) We can see the bush, the leaves, smell the air,
and hear the distant bird, the gentle fall of water, the melody and orchestra
of it all and our heartbeat, knowing that it is playing everywhere we go.
Of course
at certain periods of life we want
confirmations, draw conclusions and write formulas. We need to do the work and want to see the
fruit of our labor. We want to know
concretely. To continuously think we
need to 'learn' (in the current system of thought) seems overwhelming. We, in fact, are uncomfortable with the
concept of unknown, whereas it is just the opposite and quite natural. Reality and truth are ever changing and
creative. It is beautiful with all its qualities
throughout the process.
"You can appreciate its
(life’s) richness in depth, its extraordinary loveliness only when you revolt
against everything---against organized religion, against tradition, against the
present rotten society--- so that you as a human being find out for yourself
what is true"
"There is
freedom when there is a continuous revolution inwardly within yourself"
Discuss
The
first statement goes back to history and our past 'fall' affecting the freedom
of thought in the present. I learned of
this freedom as I observed my Kindergarten class my second year teaching. They naturally picked up any material,
curiously wanting to know, be it something they experienced before or not. They are aware of the magic and beauty in
everything. Watch young children at the
playground. By the end of the year and
first grade they fall into our institutionalized organization, categories,
(school) systems. My first grade was a
huge contrast and thus made me analyze both classes as to why. By first grade most of the time was spent
reprimanding one another for 'wrongdoing'.
This phrase they internalized by our labels projecting them on each
other. Much of the self-confidence and
magic was gone.
Thankfully,
nature gives us a 'revolt period'- our teenage years. But of course with our low self-worth by that
point (after institutionalization from first through eighth grades) our efforts
are by and large paralyzed. We shut
teenagers out of our lives, our families, our society believing they have
nothing positive to offer. It is
precisely to these people we need to turn for any hope of a revolution. It is the eighth graders drawings when
encouraged, that produce and surpass our greatest expectations. (See portraits
mentioned above.)
Currently,
I see a revolt again and again in my adult classes, where structured living
produced at many times, a “successful” outcome by societal standards. Yet, there
is still a search for more, for the intangible, the unknown.
In order to
open to any new information one has to continuously process. It is a hard concept, to know in order not to
know. It reminds me of the painting
process. Every time I think I know,
there are a million variables in the process in each painting, never to be
replicated at any other moment. It is a
skill I will forever only be an obedient servant of for it holds elements of
that wonderful creative nature. The
human struggle to be content/comfortable (in painting I would settle for okay)
when things do not go according to plan is part of learning.
"Is it the function of education merely to help
you to conform to the pattern of this rotten social order, or is it to give you
freedom-- complete freedom to grow and create a different society a new
world?"
How would you answer
The
goal in education in both learning and teaching is to have freedom to grow and
create. Through this process a different
society and a new world is able to emerge.
That is if we teach with these principles in mind and heart. It is not only Krishnamurti speaking, humans
have always inquired, observed, and created.
From these observations we then label, categorize and destroy. First I destroy and am continuously
destroying my systems of organization, categorization and labeling so I can
create anew. We go to the natural history museums gawking at the beauty of
various species of (stuffed) birds hardly noticing while we are out of doors
their sweet sounds or how they glide above.
We try to simplify our world, our lives by putting things and ourselves
into cages afraid of the beauty, creativity and reality of the unknown. Reality/nature/life is still stunning. The question is can we see clearly? Can we
realize it? Creating a society more in
tune with nature and ourselves; a world that is not overshadowed by our
personal egocentric, fear-generated blocks, but instead created with the
natural beauty and potential in all of us, is my aim.
"It is
only when you are constantly inquiring, constantly observing, constantly
learning, that you find truth, God or love; and you cannot inquire, observe,
learn, you cannot be deeply aware, if you are afraid. So the function of
education, surely, is to eradicate, inwardly as well as outwardly, this fear
that destroys human thought, human relationship and love"
Discuss your reaction
Each
of Krishnamurti’s statement resonates with me as if it were a part of my
belief. His speech is clear and words
layered in meaning. Our first lesson
must be facing our fear. What are we
truly afraid of? For this directly
parallels the way in which we are living.
We revolve our life around fear, from the moment we are told of its
presence. What are the potentials
without fear? I observe my six-month-old
niece. She has never fallen and as she has
no concept of my arms holding her, she flies with her whole being. Our inner safety and peace will manifest, I
believe, an outer safety and love. That potential
start is great.
"Life
itself is your teacher, and you are in a state of constant learning"
Discuss
The process
of life is certainly the greatest teacher; however throughout this process we
come upon others, another’s process that came before or after. I have been blessed with incredible teachers
who continue to teach me lessons five, ten, fifteen years after their actual 'classes'. My experience triggers their statements and
the concepts get realized. For whatever
reason I was not able to truly hear the lesson or the ramifications of it
then. Only after learning, listening and
trusting that inner 'teacher/voice' can I listen to life's constant learning be
it from a teacher, a stranger, a tree.
"Is it
very important to find out while you are young what it is you really love to
do, and this is the only way to create a new society"
Apply to your own life
This
statement is a very interesting concept.
As young as two or three, I loved playing in my grandmother’s garden- my
infantile paradise, observing grass blades, snails and eating the fruit of that
wonderland. I examined that small plot of land as the entire Earth; imagining the tree with the bend to be the car
or space ship, playing with a new family of rabbits, carefully tending their
straw and the occasional apple, mesmerized by their innocent pink bodies,
occasionally fulfilling my grandmother's chore of picking the forest
strawberries. I was free to totally
explore the beauty around me with interesting sounds and smells. Now I realize how much I love and have always
loved nature. In the gardens, I am at home. Close observation of the natural
world is my profession as an artist and conveying the subtleties of what I see
is what I teach.
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