A Liberal Arts Education

Brewing Knowledge Friday, May 9th 2025, reading the book My Good School with Sandeep Dutt.

Quick recap

Sandeep introduced the session, which focused on reading and discussing the book "My Good School: Where Passion Meets Education," and emphasised the importance of learning from the entire environment in their educational approach. The discussion also highlighted the value of liberal arts education, the importance of experiential learning, and the need for a balanced education system that values the humanities and the sciences. The group also discussed the concept of the humanities, the importance of a "Happy Teacher" blog, and the positive impact of weekend classes.

Next steps

• Praveen will search for and obtain a copy of the book "My Good School" for further reading.

• Khushi will invite more friends to join the next session.

• All participants are to join the Saturday masterclass for experiential learning and research.

• All participants must attend the Sunday session from 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM.

• Manisha will update the reading sheet on WhatsApp with the new chapters to be covered in the next session.

• All participants are to read "New Teaching and Learning Approaches" and "Freedom to Perform" chapters before the next session on May 16th.

• Praveen will search for and add the relevant blog post link for the next chapter in the shared spreadsheet.

Summary

Reading "My Good School" Book

Sandeep introduces the session, which focuses on reading and discussing the book "My Good School: Where Passion Meets Education," of which he is the author. He explains that they will read one chapter at a time and that the book's content is based on his real-life experiences advising schools nationwide. Sandeep mentions that they maintain a spreadsheet with dates, page numbers, and links to companion articles for each chapter read. He also notes that they expect a student to join the session, emphasising the importance of learning from the entire environment in their educational approach.

Liberal Arts Education's Value Discussed

Sandeep discusses the value of liberal arts education, drawing inspiration from Rabindranath Tagore's philosophy. He emphasises that liberal arts education goes beyond analytical thinking and finite answers, fostering creativity and a deeper understanding of the world. Sandeep highlights the importance of experiential learning, such as through excursions and service projects, in developing well-rounded individuals. He concludes by outlining six benefits of liberal arts education, including teaching students how to think and learn, enhancing wisdom and faith, and contributing to overall happiness and life satisfaction.

Liberal Arts Education Reading Session

Sandeep leads a reading session of a text about liberal arts education. Khushi reads aloud a passage by Thomas Henry Huxley describing the qualities of a person with a liberal education. Sandeep provides guidance on pronunciation and emphasises the importance of clear articulation. The group discusses the meaning of difficult words like "gossamer" and reflects on why good schools should offer quality liberal arts education.

Balanced Education: Humanities and Sciences

The discussion emphasises the importance of humanities and arts education alongside traditional subjects like science and math. Praveen explains how subjects like theatre help students understand human behaviour and emotions, contributing to their development as good humans. Sandeep and Minakshi agree, highlighting that understanding humanity is crucial for all fields, including science and technology. The conversation then delves into the need for a balanced education system that values humanities and sciences, arguing that the humanities are essential for building a just society and developing empathy, compassion, and values.

New Teaching and Learning Approaches

Sandeep announces that next week's session will focus on new teaching and learning approaches, starting from page 94. He emphasises that all sessions are available on YouTube for learning and design purposes. Khushi asks two questions about the meaning of the humanities and the distinction between blue-collar and white-collar workforce. Sandeep explains that the humanities involve understanding humans as part of an ecosystem and respecting all living and non-living elements. He also clarifies that the traditional distinction between blue-collar and white-collar jobs is blurring in the modern age, emphasising providing experiences rather than just products or services.

Humanities and Teaching Approaches Discussion

Sandeep leads a discussion on the humanities and new teaching approaches. He explains the concept of the humanities to Khushi and encourages her to bring friends to future sessions. The group discusses the importance of a "Happy Teacher" blog for sharing ideas and experiences. Sandeep demonstrates how to access previous session recordings and articles on their website. Praveen provides positive feedback on the value-based learning approach of the session. Manisha invites everyone to join the upcoming weekend classes, emphasising the positive impact of Sunday sessions.

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Freedom & Peace - Super7 BHIS

Rabindranath Tagore as drawn by
Janhavi Chitnis.

‘The best road to progress is freedom’s road.’

- John F. Kennedy.

Freedom is an innate right which humans have since birth. Freedom is not something that can be touched, seen, felt or reached. Freedom is the choice to live one’s life doing what one wants. It truly means giving equal opportunity to everyone for liberty and pursuit of happiness.

Freedom is something everyone strives to have, no matter who they are or where they are from. However, freedom is not always so easily granted or obtained. Throughout history, there have been many people who have used a variety of tactics in order to achieve their freedoms. Specifically, I would argue the most effective ways to achieve freedom are educating oneself and nonviolent protests. Freedom for the students means freedom from fear, greed, weaknesses and truly attention on developing long-term. It approaches their students freely, can think rationally without fear of future or greed of some kind.

The principle of academic freedom is derived from the notion of freedom of thoughts, which is a basic human right. It implies the freedom to teach and the freedom to learn, both of which are central to the proper functioning and purpose of higher education.

There is a common misconception that to be most effective at classroom management you have to be controlling. Without liberty, students aren’t truly learning or being educated, they are being conformed to a certain mode. 

Education gives you the tools to be able to think and learn, liberty gives you the ability to find the truth. Liberty is basically freedom from restraint. However, it is not the freedom to do whatever you want, being irresponsible and denying basic truths and morals.

Abraham Lincoln, the president of the United States, once said, "Freedom is not the right to do what we want, but what we ought." Liberty gives you the ability to seek truth and progress in life. 
   

Looking at today’s scenario of locked down, one of my students commented
“I feel free “
No school
No homework
No rules
Wow I’m so free
I feel like a bird in the sky
This gave me thought when the school bell rings for break time is it the break bell or the freedom bell??


Freedom is something that we hold very dear to our hearts.
Then I thought I should remove fear from my classroom
May be children are having fear of homework assignment or tests or maybe anything.

The hardest thing about increasing freedom your students have is releasing some of your control as a teacher. By building relationships with my students will give both of us a healthy environment in the classroom. Giving them a free hand to do their work.

It is often said, "give your child roots of responsibility and wings of freedom". This will help with peace among all of us. So the next time that school bell rings what will be in the child’s mind is our responsibility and their freedom.

Freedom and peace are interconnected. Only a free mind can work in peace and create magic! We have various examples where when a child is freed from the necessary restrictions, he designs wonders. We can take the example of the great Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore who refused the traditional way of education. Little Rabi felt suffocated within the various limitations of a school. He consciously avoided classroom schooling and preferred to receive education from nature, from wise people and from circumstances. He went on to establish his own university Shantiniketan where he attempted to break barriers of Language, Culture, Race, Religion and Politics. 

Inspired by the great poet one of our teammates tried to practice this in her classroom to the extent possible. Krishna was a dyslexic kid. He was special in more ways than one. He was a wonderful painter, musician and could create magic with technology. However, he hated examinations. The teacher decided to evaluate him in a different way. Instead of the regular examinations, she asked him to make a project on 'Wonders'. The child created a 4-minute video comprising of his paintings and added a background score composed by him. He did have some difficulty with vocabulary which he could easily overcome with the help of his teacher. The child's birthday was near and the teacher played it on that day in front of the entire class. His classmates were ecstatic. They felt so proud to have their own 'Ishaan Awasthi'. The child was overwhelmed with myriad emotions and discovered newfound confidence. The video was later played on the Annual Day and the boy received a standing ovation from the parents. 

Our present system of education does not allow us to cultivate the power of thought and imagination. But we have to try to break boundaries within our limited means. The visionary in Rabindranath and the great educationist in him solved some of the present educational problems as far back as one hundred years. Some of the problems of modern education are attendance, copying or use of other unfair means and discipline. Tagore solved these problems in a noble way. Freedom in the class solved the problem of attendance, absence of invigilator solved the copying or use of unfair means. Thus Tagore's educational system is a great feat.

 

In a poem that expresses Tagore’s goals for unrestricted education, he writes:

Where the mind is without fear

 and the head is held high,

 Where knowledge is free;

Where the world has not been broken 

up into fragments by narrow domestic 

walls;

 Where words come out from the

depth of truth;

 Where tireless striving

 stretches its arms towards

 perfection; 

 Where the clear stream of reason

 has not lost its way into the

 dreary desert sand of dead habit;

 Where the mind is led forward

 by thee into ever-widening

 thought and action–

 Into that heaven of freedom,

 my Father,

Let my country awake.

Promoting peace in the classroom is one of the most important things that we as teachers can do. By promoting peace, children will feel safe, adored, nurtured, and ready to learn. They will have the freedom to make mistakes and to try things that they did not think they were capable of. Peace teaches children to accept others, it teaches children to respect the work of their peers, and it teaches them to look beyond themselves and to think about others. A four-year study in schools situated in high crime neighbourhoods showed that focusing on creating an environment that felt safe and “violence-free” had significant impacts on behaviour incidents, school attendance, grades, graduation rates and perception of positive school climate.

We can create a peaceful environment by explicitly teaching positive communication strategies to build a collection of easily accessible skills. Create a space and emotional environment that will have a universal impact. And last but not the least, we can make them engage in activities that integrate strategies and develop peaceful habits of mind.

Super 7 @ Billabong High International School, Thane

- Sayantani Mukherjee, Dimple Awasthi, Ritu Chitnis, Manjusha Saji, Jyoti Ramdhave, Vijayalaxmi Ramesh & Sumati Muthukumar