Changing education Paradigms

This RSA Animate was adapted from a talk given at the RSA by Sir Ken Robinson, world-renowned education and creativity expert and recipient of the RSA's Benjamin Franklin award.

The RSA is a 258 year-old charity devoted to driving social progress and spreading world-changing ideas. For more information about the RSA and its work, visit http://www.thersa.org.

Let's not mistake justice with retribution... Let's not forget that judgements are not for us to pass... For we have an uphill struggle before us... As people and as a person... to acknowledge our failure in giving respect and acknowledging their will. There won't any justice if a mere law is changed and death dealt as punishment. There won't be any justice unless women are empowered with choices and the strength to make their own decision... without the fear of their character being judged on the basis of it.

An epiphany of Change...

Knowing and seeing are two different things. I know how the earth looks from the moon, but can that ever compare to actually seeing it from the moon? Could just the knowledge of it elicit similar emotions in me? We all know that people die when shot at with a gun, mostly. Every day in the newspaper we read of similar incidents and we do feel bad. However, does it evoke the same emotions as watching it happen right in front of your eyes or on video? Knowledge doesn't equip me with the experience of it; hence, rendering me incapable of emotions that would be strong enough to result in a behavioral change. Many people appreciatethe protests of the Arab Spring, There many more still who can vouch for the romanticism of the french revolution. The opressed beings of inconsequence standing up against and overthrowing the opressors of great consequence. However, Can we ever experience the same feelings as those actually involved in it. We can't, we may understand as a viewer watching by the sidelines but we are bereft of the pain and loss and have not therefore, the ability to grasp the truth of the situation. 

Looking around us we realize that most of us have the knowledge. Some of us even have the actual experience. Which raises the question on the existence of serials like SMJ? Which makes people ask if it actually made any sense? Whether the hype and news it created  were well deserved? and lastly why people were going gung ho about it?After all what's the point in watching something on TV when you already know it, especially, when we know that Watching something on TV doesn't offer the same experience as going through the events as a part of them does. Hence, keeping true to the spirit of the ever pervasive cynicism that infests our population today we reject SMJ completely. And in the process we forget there may be more to it then we can understand.
               
                What SMJ does, and does well, is to bring to the conscious mind knowledge that otherwise was relegate to the subconscious. It brings people together and reminds them that they have knowledge of these issues, forces them to acknowledge that they exist, and breaks the myths that may exist in some minds. It’s effective because it provides our anesthetized minds with an Aesthetic experience, because it brings those separate incidents together to form a larger picture that includes everyone. It turns a personal experience into social malaise.It's true that the world would change if everyone in it changed. But we don't talk about change, rather the direction of it. And to expect everyone to have an epiphany on their own and for it to result in changes that are similar in nature is a little too much. Yes the world can change if everyone changes, but would everyone change? And so far as individual changes are concerned - It's a great theory. But how does it work? What are the probabilities of 10 % of the population changing themselves without an external influence and on the basis of self-introspection done at an individual level? The problem is that we misinterpret the statement. It doesn't say that society can change only when the individuals that make up the society will change. It says that Everlasting, real change can only be brought about by effecting a change in the individual psyche the variations of which form an existing social psyche as against instituting governance to discourage a persisting behavior. Yes little drops do make an ocean. But not by themselves. Not when they are scattered and need to brought together. Depending on every drop to roll in converging directions is a fantastical thought. Believing they'll do so without a driving force, an incentive or motivation breaks even those bounds.



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I had left him behind...

With resignation i watched him
cling to every drop,
as slowly they filled him,
wetting his breath,
clouding his thoughts,
overcoming his heart,
till there was nothing left
of the once warm embrace,
of the fond fatherly gaze...

The fire must've burnt fierce,
when unfamiliar hands burnt him,
the flames dancing in ecstasy,
as the pyre consumed him,
but these are just thoughts
that now forever torture my mind.
for without a last embrace
I had left him behind
I had left him behind...

We - The people?

The events of the past few days have been to very least what i'd call disturbing. First, a man died, which is a fair bargain any day for having lived a full life, given that many die everyday and that too after a life time of obscurity, hell some die too young to be said to have lived at all. Secondly, as in life so in death this personality reiterated the truth of our less than ordinary existence with ease and aplomb. Some would debate the righteousness or the sheer injustice in the actions of four very different factions of our society. A youth took time out to ponder and think on the situation and shared an opinion thus arrivied at. no leaflets were printed, no advertisments made, no hoardings created. a simple opinion shared on their own homepage like many others. An entirely apolitical act, devoid of ambition. Quite unlike the sentiments uttered publicly for decades by the demised man. The irony of the situation was overwhelming. However, the efforts of police to resolve the situation were even more so. Using an act not at all applicable and defying 2 others to ...What is the word ?....nab the two "offenders". That is an enthusiam one wouldn't appreciate even if used to nab nefarious criminals. The whole incident boggled my mind beyond belief. So I sat for an hour in front of the TV trying to understand where it was headed, but thanks to Arnab and Times now i've now realized that this is the direction people refer to when using the term 'nowhere'. What was meant be a serious discussion ended with a certain leader issuing a challenge to the country on national television. Well, such bravery should be rewarded with a response and here is mine -

There's but just one way you can earn respect, that being positive and affirmative action for the people. That you think there was a Statewide shutdown in respect for the deceased leader is something we find laughable. Especially when we were in the streets trying to buy stuff we need and saw people on bikes threatning shopowners and vendors to shut down business. the fact that some continued doing what business they can through the backdoor is a testimony to your failure in generating respect. I even know of a marriage being postponed as the banquet hall they had booked refused to honor their contract in the memory of the punishment they were dealt by you a few years back. I am sure you'd say that the families involved did it out of respect. But we expect nothing less from you. It's one thing to claim that you are loved, being loved however is a far more serious affair. an affair that involves serious consideration for the lives involved. In your case however the only consideration is of one life and what you can acheive in the name of it. I wasn't sure of this fact but your actions off late have been quite reassuring.  These acts do not add but take away from the glory (if there was any to be had) of your own leader. They establish your reputation not as a group of people devoted to a cause but as hooligans. they make us question you, your motives and your cause and your existence.

Living a dream

  


So this is what it's like,
To live a dream in this life,
Walking through the haze
of your visions, blurred
by those undiscovered lies,
That keep floating in your eyes.


So this is what love can do,
and you had to see it yourself,
even though you knew
where the shredded pieces
of your life would fall,
for you to pick up and sort,
Trying to make a memory of it all,

So while you say your goodbyes,
I'll forever close my eyes,
let life be what it has to be,
its colors hold no promise for me,

Damp memories now I'll have to find,
strewn across the dark recesses of my mind.



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Icarus....

I'll close my eyes
and forever tell you lies.
While you are busy redefining
my life with prudence.

Never hearing my cries

I'll hold your hand.

So you'll think i understand.

While I nod away the truth,

just to smile at you,

I'll soak myself in pretense..

And i hope that memories do weaken

That spirits break and so do men
That time can fill the gaping holes
That you so carelessly burn into my soul
Every time you bend me beyond resistance
That time can remake a life
From the shards of a broken existence

And in the meanwhile,

I'll close my eyes
and tell you lies,
While i fall like Icarus,
from your unyielding skies...

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