Rigorous Education and Student Empathy

Masterclass

To discuss Adlerian psychology concepts from The Courage to be Happy.

Key Takeaways

• Empathy is a Skill: Defined as imagining another’s life to understand their perspective, not merely agreeing with them (sympathy). It requires horizontal relationships built on mutual respect.

• Teleology Over Aetiology: Adlerian psychology asserts that present goals, not past causes, drive behaviour. The past is a subjective narrative constructed by the “self now” to justify current choices.

• Change Requires Courage: True change is difficult because it requires “death” of the old self. People resist this by affirming their current state and retroactively justifying their past to avoid the unknown.

• Respect is Contagious: Educators must model respect to teach it. This creates a “contagious” effect, building a community where others adopt the same attitude.

Topics

The Problem: Vertical Relationships & Sympathy

• The session began by challenging the traditional teacher-student dynamic, which is often vertical (authority-based).

• This model fosters sympathy (agreeing with feelings) instead of true empathy.

• The Youth character in the book argued that educators must prioritise scholastic results, not empathy, to be considered effective.

The Solution: Horizontal Relationships & Empathy

• The Philosopher advocated for horizontal relationships in which teachers and students interact as equals.

• Empathy Defined: A skill that involves imagining another’s life to understand their perspective and motivations.

• Contagious Respect: Modelling respect is the first step. Like a torch on a dark road, it shows others a path, eventually inspiring a community of shared respect.

The Rationale: Teleology & The Subjective Past

• The core of Adlerian psychology is teleology—the belief that behaviour is driven by present goals rather than past causes.

• Example: A person claims a “dark personality” due to a bad home environment (aetiology). Adlerian view: they chose that personality to achieve the goal of avoiding hurt (teleology).

• The past is a subjective narrative constructed by the “self now” to justify current choices.

• Example: A student who thanks a strict teacher later is affirming their current success and retroactively painting the past in a positive light to justify it.

The Challenge: Why Change is Difficult

• Change is difficult because it requires “death” of the old self—abandoning past habits and identities.

• This is a frightening prospect, so people often choose to affirm their current state, however unsatisfactory, to avoid the unknown.

• The Youth character’s resentment toward past teachers was interpreted as a way to justify an unsatisfactory “self now” by blaming the past.

Q&A: Clarifying “Human Beings Can Determine Themselves”

• Question (Vishaaka, Grade 6): What does “human beings can determine themselves at any time” mean?

• Answer (Sandeep Dutt): Your thoughts shape your present moment. By managing your thoughts, you can manage your life. This requires aligning your mind, consciousness, and thought.

Next Steps

• All Participants:

• Review the session recording and notes on www.happyteacher.in

• Join the next Masterclass on March 14.

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• FATHOM-AI Notes, read with care.

The Subjective Past: A Narrative of “Me Now”

Masterclass with Sandeep Dutt

To explore Adlerian psychology’s concepts of empathy, teleology, and the subjective nature of the past.

Key Takeaways

• Empathy is a Skill, Not Sympathy: Empathy is the active skill of imagining another’s life to understand their perspective, distinct from passive agreement (sympathy).

• Teleology Over Aetiology: Behaviour is driven by present goals, not past causes. The past is a tool used to justify current choices, not a determinant of them.

• The Past Is Subjective: Memory is a narrative constructed to affirm one’s “self now.” This explains why people recall strict teachers with gratitude (to affirm their current success) or resentment (to justify current dissatisfaction).

• Respect Is Contagious: Educators must model respect as an equal to students. This practice, like courage, spreads and builds a foundation for all relationships.

Topics

Empathy vs. Sympathy

• The session began by defining empathy as an active skill rather than a passive feeling.

• Empathy: The skill of imagining another’s life to understand their perspective.

  • Example: To understand a student who doesn’t study, imagine their specific life circumstances (age, home, friends) to grasp their motivations.

• Sympathy: Passive agreement with another’s opinions or feelings.

• Actionable Insight: Educators must “dive in” and show concern for students’ concerns, interacting with them as equals to build respect.

Teleology: The Power of Present Goals

• Adlerian psychology’s core principle is teleology—the idea that human behaviour is driven by present goals rather than past causes.

• Contrast:

  • Teleology (Future-focused): We act to achieve goals.

  • Aetiology (Past-focused): We are determined by past events.

• Example: A person with a “dark personality” isn’t a victim of a bad home environment (aetiology). They chose that personality to achieve the goal of avoiding hurt (teleology).

The Subjective Past: A Narrative of “Me Now”

• The past is a subjective narrative constructed to affirm one’s “self now.”

• Mechanism: To justify current choices, people select events from the past and assign meaning to them, while ignoring or erasing contradictory events.

• Example: A man bitten by a dog initially recalled only the attack, which supported his view of a dangerous world. When his worldview shifted to a safer one, he recalled being helped by a stranger, creating a new, affirming narrative.

• Application to Education: This explains why students recall strict teachers differently:

  • Gratitude: To affirm their current success.

  • Resentment: To justify current dissatisfaction.

History as a Manipulated Narrative

• The group discussed how this subjective principle applies to collective history.

• Insight: History is a “grand story” manipulated by those in power to legitimise their rule.

• Examples:

  • NCERT textbooks are periodically rewritten to reflect current political sentiment.

  • British history curricula often omit colonialism.

• Conclusion: The past, both personal and collective, is a tool for the present, not an objective reality.

Next Steps

• Priyanka Rathore: Share handwritten notes from the session in the WhatsApp group for collective reflection.

• All Participants: Review the session recording and notes before the next meeting.

• All Participants: The next masterclass is scheduled for March 7, 2026.

Fathom AI Notes, read with due care.

Here's How Can We Teach Kids Compassion - Pinkee Chouhan

We all want our children to be kind and have compassion in their minds.  But the biggest question here is how to teach compassion, kindness to the child.  Children develop different levels of empathy at different ages.  Compassion and kindness require the development of heart for human behaviour.  We should keep talking to the children on this subject continuously. 

The thing about children is that if they see kindness and compassion in our behaviour, they will behave the same way.  We will have to make many efforts for the development of sympathy.  Take the help of children to take care of any sick animal or bird.  Teach them to show empathy.  Encourage children to help someone in need.  Explain to the child why we should be sympathetic towards others.  If any classmate of the child is sick or injured, some person is poor or needy, some person is old or disabled, some animal is ill or hungry, then encourage the child to help, which will develop empathy and compassion.  And feelings of kindness will be infused in him.

The best way for kids to learn compassion is through watching models of this behaviour. Their teachers, parents, and other adults need to behave this way for children to see it as valuable and find approval in copying it. Finding compassion in moments of adversity is a skill that all adults should be working on mastering. The future generation depends on it.

Pinkee Chauhan

The FabIndia School

pco@fabindiaschools.in

Responsibility and Cooperation - Nikita Rajpurohit

Responsibility is a duty or obligation to do something. Responsible people are the ones that many look up to. They are the people who are considered role models for others to follow and are even known for their examples of responsibility followed by others. They are always the ones who help out. This quality helps people to find a fondness and trustworthiness in them towards those who are responsible.  Whether you are working, going to school, doing housework, or babysitting, being responsible is something that cannot be avoided in your day to day life. Some see the most responsible people as the first ones to call when emergencies happen while others know that a responsible person can be counted without having to be asked to be responsible.

Cooperation refers to the action or process of working together for the same goal. We cannot have cooperation without the development of sympathy. Sympathy depends upon the capacity of an individual to imagine himself in the place of another, particularly when the other person is in difficulties.  Cooperation is possible only when there is like-mindedness, the similarity of purpose, mutual understanding, mutual helpfulness and selfless attitude.

Both are two different terms, for sure, but they play a major role between a student-teacher life. So that student could be responsible for his task, be disciplined and cooperate with everyone in his surrounding. Responsibility of a student is to utilize the time he is spending in the school, gain knowledge, maintain discipline and follow what he is instructed by a teacher. At the same time, a teacher is responsible for giving the best clarification to the students about academics and their life as well. Students are curious because these are the growing years of life and they want to know everything they are still not familiar with. Here comes the role of responsibility of a teacher.

If a student is responsible, it makes it easy for a teacher to give the new- forming brain a good shape. And when a teacher is responsible, it automatically makes it easier for students to shape themselves into a better person every day. Besides responsibility, teachers and students must cooperate with each other or else difficulties might arise for both of them. If a teacher is non- cooperative, students might not feel so comfortable to share their questions/ opinions with him/her. On the other hand, if a student doesn't cooperate with the teacher, it might be difficult for a teacher to bring him on track. Therefore, responsibility and cooperation both are necessary terms in a student-teacher life.

Nikita Rajpurohit

The Fabindia School

Sympathy: Urmila Rathore

Sympathy literally means a feeling of compassion towards someone or understanding their

problems. In everyday life, we see how many unintentional events happen that shock us from inside. We see in children, their helpful nature towards each other. During lunch in school, they share their tiffin-boxes with other students who couldn’t bring one. They talk of their routine, share each other's emotions; ask of the problems they face and so on.

Similarly, they also share their pen, book, pencil, etc. with each other. I have seen many times in school that some children feed half of their food to dogs and when asked why they do this, they reply, “Who else will feed them then?”

In them, you have to teach moral values to be sympathetic to the trees, such as watering them, not breaking the flower leaves, etc. A school harbours children of vivid natures, some of them good in studies, some in collaborative activities. At the same time, they have to learn and need to be taught not to ridicule someone's weakness. Students need to be explained that their little joke can hurt someone deeply, so they have to learn to understand the situation of others, to experience their pain.

In the present day, COVID19 pandemic has explained to humanity that we can share one's suffering only with the help of others. Doctors, nurses, police, etc. are busy serving patients day and night without worrying about themselves and their families. On the other hand, governments and donors are providing basic needs to the daily labourers, migrant labourers and the poor; this is a perfect example of sympathy.

We should know the problems of others and understand their pain and help. Nature also helps every living animal to fulfil its needs. Therefore, we should not harm and keep every person, creature, trees and plants happy.

Urmila Rathore

The Fabindia School

Conscientiousness : Ready to take responsibility: Urmila Rathod

Duty loyalty usually means being responsible for a task or performing a duty. Whenever we talk about any responsibility, it is very important to understand the importance of time, place and position. It is also our duty to take care of each member, to listen to them and show responsibility towards each other, be it children, family or other acquaintances. We can also fulfil our duty by fulfilling small needs.

In the same way, every citizen living in a society should have sympathy, understanding, help each other and live in love among themselves. If we look at a large scale, neither our society nor the country should be harmed by any of our actions, whether it is of private interest or public. A person is considered responsible only when he/she has the audacity to uptake any task.

These things are also given priority in school.

Carrying out other responsibilities of the school along with teaching such as resolving students' personal and educational problems, monitoring and maintaining the school premises, taking care of cleanliness and participating in various activities, helping them, helping others, honesty and working with full devotion, etc. make a person diligent or 'conscientious'. It has often been seen that we are very conscious of our rights but whenever it comes to duty, we want to get rid of inattention or work which should not happen.

Just as we work with integrity, it should be our take to make children also learn. These attributes seem small but make a person great such as being disciplined in school, respecting elders, love for youngers, caring and sympathy for plants and animals, not spreading garbage, maintaining school property like buses, chairs, tables, boards, dusters, etc. Along with a good work ethic, sometimes circumstances also require us to care and support the weaker and needy members of our family.

There is a great need to teach moral values ​​to children, this value will make them a responsible citizen. In developed nations like Japan, students do their own school and classroom cleaning and other tasks which develop the qualities of responsibility and independence in them.

When we all together take responsibility for any task, then that work will be good on our own and we can knowingly and unknowingly make our home, society, workplace and country beautiful and peaceful.

Urmila Rathore

urd4fab@gmail.com

The Fabindia School, Bali