_____________________
What are we educated for?
To simply get a job? Is that the entire purpose of years of sitting in a classroom: acquiring technical and historical knowledge? (Of course there are the liberal arts degrees taught in universities which veer from this narrow educational track, to (so-called) broaden the mind - which then quickly narrows again due to post-study, occupational, financial, social, and peer pressures.)
But is there more to life than a job? Should not education be driven by the need to fully develop the student and their unique and innate talents? Jobs are narrow functions in society, which induce daily habit and relentless repetitive routines. Should not the bureaucrats and educators be focussing on healthy and whole living, and compassion and integrity in their students - rather than merely filling occupational slots in a collective society, which are becoming more narrowly specialized as technological knowledge expands? Has education to date merely conformed the student to the prevailing culture of society, to the established historical authorities approved by the U.S. Ivy League?
Surely the primary purpose of all education is bring about the student's understanding of him or her self, is it not?
____________________
Educating the Educators
"... The intelligence of the educator is far more important than his knowledge of a new method of education."
(From: The Challenge of Change: The eNewsletter of the Krishnamurti Foundation of America, March, 2010; ellipsis added)
The central issue with all education systems, of course, is the quality of the teachers who teach in them (as well as the teaching methods they have been taught). Quality as being not only proficiency in imparting technical knowledge, plus the ability to communicate effectively with children, but also especially self-knowledge and intelligence (not as in IQ tests). Without that, the teacher is as ignorant as the pupil.
What is needed are teachers who operate in a spirit of collaboration with all the students, as well as their colleagues and the principal. They must foster an atmosphere of complete trust and love and nurturing of the student, bringing to the fore their innate talents.
Regrettably, the quality of the teachers is a direct consequence of the relentless devaluation by authorities of the teaching profession in general. There are many significant sectors of society much more highly valued by governments - national security, defence, and economics. As the profession does not directly and tangibly add to a nation's GDP, or to its overall economic progress, it does not receive the full attention and priority it should. (The public in general, of course, goes along with governments' priority lists, without challenge.)
Yet it does after all determine in a very real sense the future quality of leadership in the five crucial social sectors: politics, finance, commerce, the law, and the bureaucracy. As such, it should be the first priority and primary fiscal allocation of all governments the world over. Regrettably, in the current systems that have been devised by man, money rules over all else. So education becomes a secondary concern. People have to start caring about education, have to come to understand its critical importance in the grand scheme of society.
Bringing education to its rightful role as the most noble profession is an essential first step on the way to producing students who become whole integrated citizens of the world, with everything - academic achievement, emotional intelligence, self-awareness, thinking and acting - in proper balance. Without this integration they become pawns of an educational method, in which they are slotted by bureaucrats. They thus become slavish to society as it is presently constructed - a global, materialistic, competitive, culture.
The Global Failure of Systemic Schooling
"Has not society itself helped to make the individual unhealthy? Of course the unhealthy must be made healthy, that goes without saying;
but why should the individual adjust himself to an unhealthy society? If he is healthy he will not be part of it."
(Commentaries on Living: Series I, Chapter 20, 'The Fragmentation of Man is Making Him Sick.')
(Note: The often-quoted saying of Krishnamurti: 'It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society' has no basis in fact.
The KFA has stated there is no reference to this saying in the database of his talks and books. It may have been adapted from sayings such as this.)
The global higher-education system has completely failed - the current world financial crisis discussed elsewhere on this site is a dramatic case in point. It has failed in the sense that it has not developed the creative and questioning individual but one who is competitive, self-centered and specialized, bent on achieving purely materialistic success. All of these bankers who caused these problems, the so-called masters of the universe, are university graduates, mostly from the U.S. Ivy League. The Ivy League institutions are traditionally known as the boot-camps of capitalism. Capitalism is a system that worships money - money is god, and god is money. So these immensely influential centers of learning have sanctioned and buttressed the current financial system, built on ambition and human greed. The ultimate business degree one can take at these universities, the elitist 2-year MBA, does not confront head-on these issues of self-interest, as the whole degree is tailored towards 'shareholder maximisation,' which is the self-interest and financial wellbeing of the wealthiest corporate/banking/institutional shareholders.
(It is these very business-school professors at these elite universities who initiated the current economic downturn, with their belief in economic mathematical models based on the rational - or efficient-market - hypothesis: the idea that financial markets always adhere to rational thinking. This completely ignored the basic psychological fact that, when it comes to the self and its desire for accumulation, thought can easily become irrational -see: School for scoundrels, by Paul Krugman, Op-Ed columnist, The New York Times, Sunday Book Review, August 6, 2009.)
What they have also produced is massive inequality, greater now than at any time in history. Multi-billionaires living alongside families whose houses have been foreclosed (this stark inequality will come in the end to haunt society, as is evidenced already by the 30-million-plus army of low-income workers in the United States). Yet these elite institutions have sanctioned all this injustice, as well as mass conformity, worship of authority, ambition and the search for success, and the insidious mediocrity of mass culture. The result is elitism and endless white-collar crime, corruption and endemic financial manipulation - along with, of course, all the national, religious and ethnic divisions and endless state-sanctioned conflicts and wars.
Yet no-one addresses this mass failure of schools as a holistic issue. Instead, there are niche schools catering to the concerns of particular groups, with their own narrow concepts and agendas, craving academic success. They never address the systemic failures of society as a whole.
* * * * *
______________________________________
Krishnamurti-based Education
"We have laid far too much emphasis on examinations and getting good degrees. That is not the main purpose for which these schools were founded, which does not mean that academically the student will be inferior. On the contrary, with the flowering of the teacher as well as the student, career and profession will take their right place.
Society, the culture in which we live, encourages and demands that the student must be orientated towards a job and physical security. This has been the constant pressure of all societies; career first and everything else secondary.
That is, money first and the complex ways of our daily life second. We are trying to reverse this process because man cannot be happy with money only. When money becomes the dominant factor in life there is imbalance in our daily activity."
(J. Krishnamurti, Letters to Schools: Volume One, 1st September, 1978)
The worldwide Krishnamurti-based schools - all 9 of them - have, in the end, completely sanctioned and supported the entire capitalistic system. They are schools like all the rest, interested primarily in academic success - which means they sanction comparison. When administrators or teachers or trustees are challenged about what the students have learned concerning self-knowledge and freedom from conditioning, they invariably point to how these students have been accepted into top universities, and the 'successful' careers they have subsequently taken up. They are, it is said, well-adjusted to the world - which cleverly sidesteps and even ignores the statement at the head of this subject.
This is a complete misunderstanding and/or distortion of the original intention behind the founding of the schools. This declared intent is to give the fullest opportunity for students to have a right relationship with people, things and ideas, which involves co-operation and integration - not to instil comparison, competition or exclusive examination ability (see preface on the Rajghat Besant School website). And right relationships mean right education - which certainly is not conformity to the existing social morality, values, and supposed social order (based on the worship of the self), which is what these schools have apparently produced in all their graduates.
Where are all these schools' alumni who are speaking out about the materialistic, money-making intent and worship of success that lies behind society, amongst all the other major issues confronting the world? These same alumni appear to be only too willing to reminisce about their time spent at these schools (in The Link, the Brockwood Park site, and elsewhere), which is dwelling on the past and hence meaningless. Yet they appear not so willing to challenge the social 'order' to which they now so comfortably conform. Nor do they appear interested in change, in both themselves and society at large, for that woud threaten their comfortable and secure occupations, social positions and mindset.
It is asked again: Why are all these worldwide Krishnamurti-School alumni so silent?
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_________________________
The Main Krishnamurti Schools:
Oak Grove School, Ojai California; from early childhood preschool through to college preparatory high school. Various Oak Grove videos on the Krishnamurti social network; Alumnus speech at a fund-raising event: Erik Huberman - Video, 4 mins; Oak Grove High School Graduation Ceremony June, 2009 - Video, 37 mins:-
[Note: This video of the 2009 graduates is remarkable for the fleeting references by a few students (and not the principal in her introductory speeches) to Krishnamurti - with one student referring disparagingly to "watching unintelligible Krishnamurti videos." Practically all of the students commented instead on the student bonding they had experienced and how OGS had become a second home to them - but there were no statements at all about self-knowledge, the self, awareness, critical or clear thinking, understanding and all the other subjects mentioned exhaustively in the books and videos. (The whole issue of the talks covering over 60 years - in this edited video and at this school at least - appears to have been in vain.)
There are also pronounced emphases laid out by the principal on the academic achievements of the class/school, in a tone that appeared to downplay this but instead ended up highlighting it. So much for overall self-understanding. Little wonder this school's alumni are so silent.]
Brockwood Park School, Hampshire, UK - International co-educational boarding school, for students aged 14-19.
The Brockwood Park School Blog, set up after the Reunion2009, celebrating 40 years.
The Newsletter of the Brockwood School - The Brockwood Observer
Rishi Valley School, India - A leading residential school for students, covering junior, middle and senior year levels.
Rajghat Education Centre, Varanasi, India - Comprising the Rajghat Besant School as its main educational unit - a residential, senior secondary school, co-educational and non-sectarian, catering for 350 students aged 7-18 years. It was founded in 1928.
The Valley School, Bangalore, India - Co-educational, day-boarding school, from primary to Year 12 high school level.
____________________________________
Krishnamurti Education References:
Prof. P. Krishna, current Secretary of the Rajghat Education Centre in Varanasi, and Trustee of the Krishnamurti Foundation India, with his essays on education:
* What is a Krishnamurti School? - What is Krishnamurti Education?
* The Role of Evaluation in a Krishnamurti School - The Nature of Issues in Right Education of Children
* Right Education for the 21st Century - See also (video): "Are Krishnamurti's Teachings Practical'?
(Professor Krishna was Principal of the Rajghat Besant School in Varanasi and is a former professor of Physics at Banaras Hindu University)
Book: Krishnamurti on Education - Available via Google Books online, 2001 edition, 189 pages (some pages are omitted from the book preview). Talks & discussions with students & teachers at two Krishnamurti Foundation India schools - Rishi Valley & Rajghat.
Paul Young: E-Book - The Layman's Petition: Excerpt from Site - About the Book:
* "The author urges all other students, parents and educators to acknowledge the disruptive and unsustainable nature of an educational system that fails to recognise either the fundamental purpose or the medium itself - as it relates to human consciousness and the role of dignity in a healthy and just society."
* "The point of education, surely, would be to dispel ignorance and division, not nurture and replicate the shallow neurological polarization that still threatens to destroy man." - From the Book, p. 24 (pdf). See The Amazon page for The Layman's Petition.
Joseph Chilton Pearce in an upcoming 2-day Conference at The Oak Grove School, Ojai, California, entitled: The Awakening of Intelligence through Education: Real Learning or More Conditioning? Introduced and co-presented by co-author Michael Mendizza, this conference will be presented on Saturday & Sunday, April 10th - 11th, 2010; organized by the Krishnamurti Foundation of America;
* He also presents a 2-day Symposium on his entire body of works, at Pepper Tree Retreat & Education Center, Ojai, April 8-9, 2010.
- Pearce has had a lifelong interest in human consciousness, the heart-brain connection, and the unfolding of intelligence and real learnng in the child (hence his interest in the work of Krishnamurti and the method of Maria Montessori, amongst many others in the educational field); he is also a strong supporter of the "non-violent" childbirth methods advocated by LeBoyer, et al.
Teacher Education Workshops, Ojai & Brockwood - The central premise: the educator needs to be educated; Brockwood, July 4-18, 2010; Ojai, August 1- 14, 2010. These are some of the questions these workshops are currently grappling with:
* What are the aims of education and schooling?
* What is the role of the teacher?
* What is the relationship between the teacher, the student and the subject matter?
* What does a learning environment look like that is not driven by a method?
* Can teachers ask and sustain questions in the classroom that they themselves don't know the answer to?
A Holistic Education, by Javier Gómez Rodríguez; Article originally published in The Link, April 1999.
- A tentative inquiry into education that should seek to awaken the student's interest in and concern for the wholeness of life.
Jiddu Krishnamurti and his Insights into Education: Scott Forbes explores Krishnamurti's emphasis on education as a religious activity; via the site infed.org. This article is from a presentation at the first Holistic Education Conference, Toronto, Canada, 1997.
- An essay broaching the religious nature of education - developing the student as a whole human being and not just a partial one in order to fit into society and all its mores. Raises the ironic issue that Krishnamurti-based schools would not accept the young Krishnamurti as a prospective student.
Holistic Education, Inc: About the consulting activities and programs delivered to schools on the subjec of holistic education, as well as an extended bibliography. Has an extended review of the book Holistic Education by Scott Forbes.
- See also the Wikipedia article on Holistic Education; also the Holistic Education Network, on the transdisciplinary approach.
Prospects: The quarterly review of comparative education: J. Krishnamurti - (Paris, UNESCO: International Bureau of Education); Volume XXXI: No. 2, June 2001, pp. 273-286; © UNESCO: International Bureau of Education, 2001 (PDF).
- An extended look at the 'good society' and right education as espoused by Krishnamurti in his lifetime.
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Education in General - Site/Article References:
Deborah Kenny: The Charter Schools in Harlem:
Teachers who are passionate about teaching - Bob Herbert, Op-Ed Columnist, The New York Times, February 22, 2010.
5 intentions for the schools from the founder:
* For students to have wholesome characters;
* For students to be compassionate and to see life as a responsibility to give something to the world;
* For students to have a sophisticated intellect;
* For students to be avid readers;
* And for students to be independent thinkers, to lead reflective and meaningful lives.
A Promise to be Ethical in an Era of Immorality - by Leslie Wayne, The New York Times, May 29, 2009.
Recent Harvard MBA graduates introduce a voluntary professional code of conduct - "The M.B.A. Oath" - as an ethical approach to business and managerial roles, stating that the goal of business managers is to serve the greater good.. This action, which was student-led, came without the support of the university professors and administrators. Remarkably, such an approach on morality grounds to the most influential business degree has not hitherto been adopted by the Business School, which still has the business of making money at the very heart of its curriculum.
There's Only One Way to Stop a Bully - by Susan Engel and Marlene Sandstrom, The New York Times, July 22, 2010. Here is an extraordinary statement written by these Op-Ed Contributors in this day and age: "As an essential part of the school curriculum, we have to teach children how to be good to one another, how to cooperate, how to defend someone who is being picked on and how to stand up for what is right." And: "as obvious as it might sound, teachers can’t just preach kindness; they need to actually be nice to one another and to their students." That this is not already at the very heart of early schooling in the U.S. - which is constantly overshadowed by the emphasis on standardized test scores - is an indictment on the entire state system. It is little wonder that most students come out of the system fixated on 'success' - which means a well-paying job.
Multicultural Critical Theory. At B-School? - by Lane Wallace, The New York Times, January 9, 2010.
Shifting beyond the hitherto narrow focus of M.B.A. courses, a minority of B-Schools are now looking at curriculum changes whereby students are encouraged to think critically and creatively, question assumptions, embrace global context and interdisciplinary and integrative thinking processes; along with awareness of their social responsibility as future business managers. Remains to be seen whether these changes are substantive and will be carried over to a business world and culture that is forever chasing profit. The article acerbicly quotes Upton Sinclair: "It’s amazing how difficult it is for a man to understand something if he’s paid a small fortune to not understand it.”
End the University as We Know It - by Mark Taylor, Op-Ed Contributor, The New York Times, April 26, 2009.
This article outlines perceived obstacles to change in the postgraduate sector. The mass-production and division-of-labor university model in graduate education, first espoused by Immanuel Kant in 1798, has led inevitaby and inexorably to the separation of disciplines, as well as over-specialization - that is, increasing fragmentation. Theses and dissertations are regularly produced for a minute readership. Moreover, tenure has resulted in professors who are not amenable to change and hence this system should be replaced by seven-year contracts. What is required overall is an open, collaborative (ie, inter-university) and interdisciplinary approach to all graduate education, to deal effectively with global issues.
The Value of a Master's Degree - by The Editors, Room for Debate Blog, The New York Times, July 4, 2009;
Graduates' comment in this article on the overall value of their Masters degrees. The students find them valuable in many respects but find they invariably end up focused on jobs and financial rewards. The degrees do not prepare students for real work, as they are essentially a gateway for learning for learning's sake.
Alternate Path for Teachers Gains Ground - by Lisa W. Foderaro, Education Desk: The New York Times, April 18, 2010.
A new movement in the U.S. towards alternative education for teachers, away from the traditional approach by education schools, including immediate entry and alternative certification. This alternative program is exemplified by the Teach for America approach.
Does the Size of a School Matter? - by The Editors, Room for Debate Blog: The New York Times, March 11, 2010;
Strong evidence (as well as common-sense) indicates that small schools - and thus small classrooms - are more effective in teaching students, although studies have of course concentrated on academic achievement above all else. Bringing out the full development of the student requires the direct attention of the teacher, and this is only possible in small classrooms.
Rethinking Education Conference - Presented on the Touch the Future website, this international conference is held every September in Dallas, Texas, for families who unschool their children, a broad-based approach to education that focuses on student-centered learning. Proponents of this alternative education system include A.S. Neill and Ivan Illich, amongst others.
School: Sphere College, Phoenixville, Pennsylvania - 'A free college for adults 21 and over who are not a good fit for the current model of higher education.' This independent school focuses on educating adults in subjects they are inherently interested in - that is, an individualized, interdisciplinary curriculum tailored to their inclinations. They then use this education to enhance local community businesses and the environment.
Book: Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America's Schools Back to Reality - by Charles Murray, Three Rivers Press, 2009.
Dismisses equality of aptitude amongst students and argues that only the academically-minded scholars should go on to university.
- The whole premise of the book is based on the crucial importance of test scores, which exemplifies the comparison and competitive nature of students in the school environment - and the complete lack of regard and attention given to fully developing each student's unique hidden talents, irrespective of where these talents lie and whether they neatly fit in to established occupations and vocations.
******
What are we educated for?
To simply get a job? Is that the entire purpose of years of sitting in a classroom: acquiring technical and historical knowledge? (Of course there are the liberal arts degrees taught in universities which veer from this narrow educational track, to (so-called) broaden the mind - which then quickly narrows again due to post-study, occupational, financial, social, and peer pressures.)
But is there more to life than a job? Should not education be driven by the need to fully develop the student and their unique and innate talents? Jobs are narrow functions in society, which induce daily habit and relentless repetitive routines. Should not the bureaucrats and educators be focussing on healthy and whole living, and compassion and integrity in their students - rather than merely filling occupational slots in a collective society, which are becoming more narrowly specialized as technological knowledge expands? Has education to date merely conformed the student to the prevailing culture of society, to the established historical authorities approved by the U.S. Ivy League?
Surely the primary purpose of all education is bring about the student's understanding of him or her self, is it not?
____________________
Educating the Educators
"... The intelligence of the educator is far more important than his knowledge of a new method of education."
(From: The Challenge of Change: The eNewsletter of the Krishnamurti Foundation of America, March, 2010; ellipsis added)
The central issue with all education systems, of course, is the quality of the teachers who teach in them (as well as the teaching methods they have been taught). Quality as being not only proficiency in imparting technical knowledge, plus the ability to communicate effectively with children, but also especially self-knowledge and intelligence (not as in IQ tests). Without that, the teacher is as ignorant as the pupil.
What is needed are teachers who operate in a spirit of collaboration with all the students, as well as their colleagues and the principal. They must foster an atmosphere of complete trust and love and nurturing of the student, bringing to the fore their innate talents.
Regrettably, the quality of the teachers is a direct consequence of the relentless devaluation by authorities of the teaching profession in general. There are many significant sectors of society much more highly valued by governments - national security, defence, and economics. As the profession does not directly and tangibly add to a nation's GDP, or to its overall economic progress, it does not receive the full attention and priority it should. (The public in general, of course, goes along with governments' priority lists, without challenge.)
Yet it does after all determine in a very real sense the future quality of leadership in the five crucial social sectors: politics, finance, commerce, the law, and the bureaucracy. As such, it should be the first priority and primary fiscal allocation of all governments the world over. Regrettably, in the current systems that have been devised by man, money rules over all else. So education becomes a secondary concern. People have to start caring about education, have to come to understand its critical importance in the grand scheme of society.
Bringing education to its rightful role as the most noble profession is an essential first step on the way to producing students who become whole integrated citizens of the world, with everything - academic achievement, emotional intelligence, self-awareness, thinking and acting - in proper balance. Without this integration they become pawns of an educational method, in which they are slotted by bureaucrats. They thus become slavish to society as it is presently constructed - a global, materialistic, competitive, culture.
The Global Failure of Systemic Schooling
"Has not society itself helped to make the individual unhealthy? Of course the unhealthy must be made healthy, that goes without saying;
but why should the individual adjust himself to an unhealthy society? If he is healthy he will not be part of it."
(Commentaries on Living: Series I, Chapter 20, 'The Fragmentation of Man is Making Him Sick.')
(Note: The often-quoted saying of Krishnamurti: 'It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society' has no basis in fact.
The KFA has stated there is no reference to this saying in the database of his talks and books. It may have been adapted from sayings such as this.)
The global higher-education system has completely failed - the current world financial crisis discussed elsewhere on this site is a dramatic case in point. It has failed in the sense that it has not developed the creative and questioning individual but one who is competitive, self-centered and specialized, bent on achieving purely materialistic success. All of these bankers who caused these problems, the so-called masters of the universe, are university graduates, mostly from the U.S. Ivy League. The Ivy League institutions are traditionally known as the boot-camps of capitalism. Capitalism is a system that worships money - money is god, and god is money. So these immensely influential centers of learning have sanctioned and buttressed the current financial system, built on ambition and human greed. The ultimate business degree one can take at these universities, the elitist 2-year MBA, does not confront head-on these issues of self-interest, as the whole degree is tailored towards 'shareholder maximisation,' which is the self-interest and financial wellbeing of the wealthiest corporate/banking/institutional shareholders.
(It is these very business-school professors at these elite universities who initiated the current economic downturn, with their belief in economic mathematical models based on the rational - or efficient-market - hypothesis: the idea that financial markets always adhere to rational thinking. This completely ignored the basic psychological fact that, when it comes to the self and its desire for accumulation, thought can easily become irrational -see: School for scoundrels, by Paul Krugman, Op-Ed columnist, The New York Times, Sunday Book Review, August 6, 2009.)
What they have also produced is massive inequality, greater now than at any time in history. Multi-billionaires living alongside families whose houses have been foreclosed (this stark inequality will come in the end to haunt society, as is evidenced already by the 30-million-plus army of low-income workers in the United States). Yet these elite institutions have sanctioned all this injustice, as well as mass conformity, worship of authority, ambition and the search for success, and the insidious mediocrity of mass culture. The result is elitism and endless white-collar crime, corruption and endemic financial manipulation - along with, of course, all the national, religious and ethnic divisions and endless state-sanctioned conflicts and wars.
Yet no-one addresses this mass failure of schools as a holistic issue. Instead, there are niche schools catering to the concerns of particular groups, with their own narrow concepts and agendas, craving academic success. They never address the systemic failures of society as a whole.
* * * * *
______________________________________
Krishnamurti-based Education
"We have laid far too much emphasis on examinations and getting good degrees. That is not the main purpose for which these schools were founded, which does not mean that academically the student will be inferior. On the contrary, with the flowering of the teacher as well as the student, career and profession will take their right place.
Society, the culture in which we live, encourages and demands that the student must be orientated towards a job and physical security. This has been the constant pressure of all societies; career first and everything else secondary.
That is, money first and the complex ways of our daily life second. We are trying to reverse this process because man cannot be happy with money only. When money becomes the dominant factor in life there is imbalance in our daily activity."
(J. Krishnamurti, Letters to Schools: Volume One, 1st September, 1978)
The worldwide Krishnamurti-based schools - all 9 of them - have, in the end, completely sanctioned and supported the entire capitalistic system. They are schools like all the rest, interested primarily in academic success - which means they sanction comparison. When administrators or teachers or trustees are challenged about what the students have learned concerning self-knowledge and freedom from conditioning, they invariably point to how these students have been accepted into top universities, and the 'successful' careers they have subsequently taken up. They are, it is said, well-adjusted to the world - which cleverly sidesteps and even ignores the statement at the head of this subject.
This is a complete misunderstanding and/or distortion of the original intention behind the founding of the schools. This declared intent is to give the fullest opportunity for students to have a right relationship with people, things and ideas, which involves co-operation and integration - not to instil comparison, competition or exclusive examination ability (see preface on the Rajghat Besant School website). And right relationships mean right education - which certainly is not conformity to the existing social morality, values, and supposed social order (based on the worship of the self), which is what these schools have apparently produced in all their graduates.
Where are all these schools' alumni who are speaking out about the materialistic, money-making intent and worship of success that lies behind society, amongst all the other major issues confronting the world? These same alumni appear to be only too willing to reminisce about their time spent at these schools (in The Link, the Brockwood Park site, and elsewhere), which is dwelling on the past and hence meaningless. Yet they appear not so willing to challenge the social 'order' to which they now so comfortably conform. Nor do they appear interested in change, in both themselves and society at large, for that woud threaten their comfortable and secure occupations, social positions and mindset.
It is asked again: Why are all these worldwide Krishnamurti-School alumni so silent?
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The Main Krishnamurti Schools:
Oak Grove School, Ojai California; from early childhood preschool through to college preparatory high school. Various Oak Grove videos on the Krishnamurti social network; Alumnus speech at a fund-raising event: Erik Huberman - Video, 4 mins; Oak Grove High School Graduation Ceremony June, 2009 - Video, 37 mins:-
[Note: This video of the 2009 graduates is remarkable for the fleeting references by a few students (and not the principal in her introductory speeches) to Krishnamurti - with one student referring disparagingly to "watching unintelligible Krishnamurti videos." Practically all of the students commented instead on the student bonding they had experienced and how OGS had become a second home to them - but there were no statements at all about self-knowledge, the self, awareness, critical or clear thinking, understanding and all the other subjects mentioned exhaustively in the books and videos. (The whole issue of the talks covering over 60 years - in this edited video and at this school at least - appears to have been in vain.)
There are also pronounced emphases laid out by the principal on the academic achievements of the class/school, in a tone that appeared to downplay this but instead ended up highlighting it. So much for overall self-understanding. Little wonder this school's alumni are so silent.]
Brockwood Park School, Hampshire, UK - International co-educational boarding school, for students aged 14-19.
The Brockwood Park School Blog, set up after the Reunion2009, celebrating 40 years.
The Newsletter of the Brockwood School - The Brockwood Observer
Rishi Valley School, India - A leading residential school for students, covering junior, middle and senior year levels.
Rajghat Education Centre, Varanasi, India - Comprising the Rajghat Besant School as its main educational unit - a residential, senior secondary school, co-educational and non-sectarian, catering for 350 students aged 7-18 years. It was founded in 1928.
The Valley School, Bangalore, India - Co-educational, day-boarding school, from primary to Year 12 high school level.
____________________________________
Krishnamurti Education References:
Prof. P. Krishna, current Secretary of the Rajghat Education Centre in Varanasi, and Trustee of the Krishnamurti Foundation India, with his essays on education:
* What is a Krishnamurti School? - What is Krishnamurti Education?
* The Role of Evaluation in a Krishnamurti School - The Nature of Issues in Right Education of Children
* Right Education for the 21st Century - See also (video): "Are Krishnamurti's Teachings Practical'?
(Professor Krishna was Principal of the Rajghat Besant School in Varanasi and is a former professor of Physics at Banaras Hindu University)
Book: Krishnamurti on Education - Available via Google Books online, 2001 edition, 189 pages (some pages are omitted from the book preview). Talks & discussions with students & teachers at two Krishnamurti Foundation India schools - Rishi Valley & Rajghat.
Paul Young: E-Book - The Layman's Petition: Excerpt from Site - About the Book:
* "The author urges all other students, parents and educators to acknowledge the disruptive and unsustainable nature of an educational system that fails to recognise either the fundamental purpose or the medium itself - as it relates to human consciousness and the role of dignity in a healthy and just society."
* "The point of education, surely, would be to dispel ignorance and division, not nurture and replicate the shallow neurological polarization that still threatens to destroy man." - From the Book, p. 24 (pdf). See The Amazon page for The Layman's Petition.
Joseph Chilton Pearce in an upcoming 2-day Conference at The Oak Grove School, Ojai, California, entitled: The Awakening of Intelligence through Education: Real Learning or More Conditioning? Introduced and co-presented by co-author Michael Mendizza, this conference will be presented on Saturday & Sunday, April 10th - 11th, 2010; organized by the Krishnamurti Foundation of America;
* He also presents a 2-day Symposium on his entire body of works, at Pepper Tree Retreat & Education Center, Ojai, April 8-9, 2010.
- Pearce has had a lifelong interest in human consciousness, the heart-brain connection, and the unfolding of intelligence and real learnng in the child (hence his interest in the work of Krishnamurti and the method of Maria Montessori, amongst many others in the educational field); he is also a strong supporter of the "non-violent" childbirth methods advocated by LeBoyer, et al.
Teacher Education Workshops, Ojai & Brockwood - The central premise: the educator needs to be educated; Brockwood, July 4-18, 2010; Ojai, August 1- 14, 2010. These are some of the questions these workshops are currently grappling with:
* What are the aims of education and schooling?
* What is the role of the teacher?
* What is the relationship between the teacher, the student and the subject matter?
* What does a learning environment look like that is not driven by a method?
* Can teachers ask and sustain questions in the classroom that they themselves don't know the answer to?
A Holistic Education, by Javier Gómez Rodríguez; Article originally published in The Link, April 1999.
- A tentative inquiry into education that should seek to awaken the student's interest in and concern for the wholeness of life.
Jiddu Krishnamurti and his Insights into Education: Scott Forbes explores Krishnamurti's emphasis on education as a religious activity; via the site infed.org. This article is from a presentation at the first Holistic Education Conference, Toronto, Canada, 1997.
- An essay broaching the religious nature of education - developing the student as a whole human being and not just a partial one in order to fit into society and all its mores. Raises the ironic issue that Krishnamurti-based schools would not accept the young Krishnamurti as a prospective student.
Holistic Education, Inc: About the consulting activities and programs delivered to schools on the subjec of holistic education, as well as an extended bibliography. Has an extended review of the book Holistic Education by Scott Forbes.
- See also the Wikipedia article on Holistic Education; also the Holistic Education Network, on the transdisciplinary approach.
Prospects: The quarterly review of comparative education: J. Krishnamurti - (Paris, UNESCO: International Bureau of Education); Volume XXXI: No. 2, June 2001, pp. 273-286; © UNESCO: International Bureau of Education, 2001 (PDF).
- An extended look at the 'good society' and right education as espoused by Krishnamurti in his lifetime.
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Education in General - Site/Article References:
Deborah Kenny: The Charter Schools in Harlem:
Teachers who are passionate about teaching - Bob Herbert, Op-Ed Columnist, The New York Times, February 22, 2010.
5 intentions for the schools from the founder:
* For students to have wholesome characters;
* For students to be compassionate and to see life as a responsibility to give something to the world;
* For students to have a sophisticated intellect;
* For students to be avid readers;
* And for students to be independent thinkers, to lead reflective and meaningful lives.
A Promise to be Ethical in an Era of Immorality - by Leslie Wayne, The New York Times, May 29, 2009.
Recent Harvard MBA graduates introduce a voluntary professional code of conduct - "The M.B.A. Oath" - as an ethical approach to business and managerial roles, stating that the goal of business managers is to serve the greater good.. This action, which was student-led, came without the support of the university professors and administrators. Remarkably, such an approach on morality grounds to the most influential business degree has not hitherto been adopted by the Business School, which still has the business of making money at the very heart of its curriculum.
There's Only One Way to Stop a Bully - by Susan Engel and Marlene Sandstrom, The New York Times, July 22, 2010. Here is an extraordinary statement written by these Op-Ed Contributors in this day and age: "As an essential part of the school curriculum, we have to teach children how to be good to one another, how to cooperate, how to defend someone who is being picked on and how to stand up for what is right." And: "as obvious as it might sound, teachers can’t just preach kindness; they need to actually be nice to one another and to their students." That this is not already at the very heart of early schooling in the U.S. - which is constantly overshadowed by the emphasis on standardized test scores - is an indictment on the entire state system. It is little wonder that most students come out of the system fixated on 'success' - which means a well-paying job.
Multicultural Critical Theory. At B-School? - by Lane Wallace, The New York Times, January 9, 2010.
Shifting beyond the hitherto narrow focus of M.B.A. courses, a minority of B-Schools are now looking at curriculum changes whereby students are encouraged to think critically and creatively, question assumptions, embrace global context and interdisciplinary and integrative thinking processes; along with awareness of their social responsibility as future business managers. Remains to be seen whether these changes are substantive and will be carried over to a business world and culture that is forever chasing profit. The article acerbicly quotes Upton Sinclair: "It’s amazing how difficult it is for a man to understand something if he’s paid a small fortune to not understand it.”
End the University as We Know It - by Mark Taylor, Op-Ed Contributor, The New York Times, April 26, 2009.
This article outlines perceived obstacles to change in the postgraduate sector. The mass-production and division-of-labor university model in graduate education, first espoused by Immanuel Kant in 1798, has led inevitaby and inexorably to the separation of disciplines, as well as over-specialization - that is, increasing fragmentation. Theses and dissertations are regularly produced for a minute readership. Moreover, tenure has resulted in professors who are not amenable to change and hence this system should be replaced by seven-year contracts. What is required overall is an open, collaborative (ie, inter-university) and interdisciplinary approach to all graduate education, to deal effectively with global issues.
The Value of a Master's Degree - by The Editors, Room for Debate Blog, The New York Times, July 4, 2009;
Graduates' comment in this article on the overall value of their Masters degrees. The students find them valuable in many respects but find they invariably end up focused on jobs and financial rewards. The degrees do not prepare students for real work, as they are essentially a gateway for learning for learning's sake.
Alternate Path for Teachers Gains Ground - by Lisa W. Foderaro, Education Desk: The New York Times, April 18, 2010.
A new movement in the U.S. towards alternative education for teachers, away from the traditional approach by education schools, including immediate entry and alternative certification. This alternative program is exemplified by the Teach for America approach.
Does the Size of a School Matter? - by The Editors, Room for Debate Blog: The New York Times, March 11, 2010;
Strong evidence (as well as common-sense) indicates that small schools - and thus small classrooms - are more effective in teaching students, although studies have of course concentrated on academic achievement above all else. Bringing out the full development of the student requires the direct attention of the teacher, and this is only possible in small classrooms.
Rethinking Education Conference - Presented on the Touch the Future website, this international conference is held every September in Dallas, Texas, for families who unschool their children, a broad-based approach to education that focuses on student-centered learning. Proponents of this alternative education system include A.S. Neill and Ivan Illich, amongst others.
School: Sphere College, Phoenixville, Pennsylvania - 'A free college for adults 21 and over who are not a good fit for the current model of higher education.' This independent school focuses on educating adults in subjects they are inherently interested in - that is, an individualized, interdisciplinary curriculum tailored to their inclinations. They then use this education to enhance local community businesses and the environment.
Book: Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America's Schools Back to Reality - by Charles Murray, Three Rivers Press, 2009.
Dismisses equality of aptitude amongst students and argues that only the academically-minded scholars should go on to university.
- The whole premise of the book is based on the crucial importance of test scores, which exemplifies the comparison and competitive nature of students in the school environment - and the complete lack of regard and attention given to fully developing each student's unique hidden talents, irrespective of where these talents lie and whether they neatly fit in to established occupations and vocations.
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(40-page site; Page last updated August 31, 2010)
(Photo courtesy beachhunter.net; Clearwater Beach, Florida)
"The flowering of the mind can take place only when there is clear perception,
objective, non-personal, unburdened by any kind of imposition upon it.
It is not what to think but how to think clearly. We have been for centuries, through
propaganda and so on, encouraged in what to think.
Most modern education is that and not the investigation of the whole movement of thought."
(Letters to Schools: Volume One, 1st September 1978)
objective, non-personal, unburdened by any kind of imposition upon it.
It is not what to think but how to think clearly. We have been for centuries, through
propaganda and so on, encouraged in what to think.
Most modern education is that and not the investigation of the whole movement of thought."
(Letters to Schools: Volume One, 1st September 1978)
All the problems in education lie not with the students but with the educators and administrators.
"Governments want efficient technicians, not human beings, because human beings become dangerous to governments – and to organized religions as well.
That is why governments and religious organizations seek to control education."
- J. Krishnamurti: Education and the Significance of Life, HarperOne, 1981 [1953]
That is why governments and religious organizations seek to control education."
- J. Krishnamurti: Education and the Significance of Life, HarperOne, 1981 [1953]
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"... [T]he difficulty is society is so strong, the temptations of the young person who wants to be with other young children who are already corrupt, who have already, you know, have accepted all the nonsense of society, and it becomes extremely difficult to bring up a child who will not yield to the tremendous weight of society." (Fifth Question & Answer Meeting, Saanen, July 1980; ellipsis added)
Society is ruled by inertia, which is also called the status quo, or vested interests. Things are - simply because things are, by tradition. In the corporate world, jobs and profit prevent many innovations and/or technological solutions from taking place. Then, once firmly established, institutions, corporate structures and social systems are practically impossible to dismantle - the profit-principle, royalty, the nation-state system, Constitutions, the Catholic and Anglican churches, parliamentary democracy, traditional education, the class system, global organizations like the UN, the World Bank and the IMF - to name just a few. This is the burdensome weight of society, of the status quo. The vast majority of the public want all these things to continue, for they revere past traditions as they give them great comfort and security. This is the major reason why there are so few true iconoclasts in all of history: Jesus, the Buddha, Socrates, Krishnamurti.
See: (Stifling a universal fuel source - thorium (YouTube video) - related article: Obama could kill fossil fuels overnight with a nuclear dash for thorium, by Ambrose Evans-
Pritchard, International Business Editor, London Telegraph, August 29, 2010.)
Society is ruled by inertia, which is also called the status quo, or vested interests. Things are - simply because things are, by tradition. In the corporate world, jobs and profit prevent many innovations and/or technological solutions from taking place. Then, once firmly established, institutions, corporate structures and social systems are practically impossible to dismantle - the profit-principle, royalty, the nation-state system, Constitutions, the Catholic and Anglican churches, parliamentary democracy, traditional education, the class system, global organizations like the UN, the World Bank and the IMF - to name just a few. This is the burdensome weight of society, of the status quo. The vast majority of the public want all these things to continue, for they revere past traditions as they give them great comfort and security. This is the major reason why there are so few true iconoclasts in all of history: Jesus, the Buddha, Socrates, Krishnamurti.
See: (Stifling a universal fuel source - thorium (YouTube video) - related article: Obama could kill fossil fuels overnight with a nuclear dash for thorium, by Ambrose Evans-
Pritchard, International Business Editor, London Telegraph, August 29, 2010.)
"I was thinking last night, that I have been to this valley, off and on, for about forty years. People have come and gone. Trees have died and new trees have grown. Different children have come, passed through this school, have become engineers, housewives and disappeared altogether into the masses.
I meet them occasionally, at an airport or at a meeting, very ordinary people.
And if you are not very careful, you are also going to end up that way."
(Krishnamurti on Education, Chapter 1)
I meet them occasionally, at an airport or at a meeting, very ordinary people.
And if you are not very careful, you are also going to end up that way."
(Krishnamurti on Education, Chapter 1)
TED video presentation:
Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity;
On how teachers steer students towards traditional disciplines and consciously deter those with inner creative talents.
Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity;
On how teachers steer students towards traditional disciplines and consciously deter those with inner creative talents.
Tertiary Education not a Prerequisite for "success":
The moral of this remarkable YouTube video (4 mins) clearly demonstrates that dropping out of university education, as well as suffering a 'disability,' does not necessarily preclude success in the corporate world; what overrides these ostensible 'handicaps' are an early interest and capacity in one area, plus perserverance and commitment (as well as opportunity) to the development of that capacity. (Note: This video may appear simplistic and obvious in its early text stages, but perservere with it to the end - for those who have not seen it before, it is truly an eye-opener.)
The moral of this remarkable YouTube video (4 mins) clearly demonstrates that dropping out of university education, as well as suffering a 'disability,' does not necessarily preclude success in the corporate world; what overrides these ostensible 'handicaps' are an early interest and capacity in one area, plus perserverance and commitment (as well as opportunity) to the development of that capacity. (Note: This video may appear simplistic and obvious in its early text stages, but perservere with it to the end - for those who have not seen it before, it is truly an eye-opener.)
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"He later wrote that the spirit of learning and creative thought were lost in strict rote learning."
A line from the Wikipedia Article on the young 16 year-old secondary school student, Albert Einstein,
who withdrew from an engineering school after a clash with authorities.
A line from the Wikipedia Article on the young 16 year-old secondary school student, Albert Einstein,
who withdrew from an engineering school after a clash with authorities.