Gauges

Today I was at a place for village children with special needs (Deepam). Someone from the guest house here had invited me to accompany her. It was a kind of ceremony as part of Navarathri in honor of the goddess Saraswathi - she stands for education, prosperity and success. In India today, the objects needed for work were purified and consecrated as a form of thanksgiving. Offerings were brought to them and songs were sung. In the therapy center, in addition to figurines, books and other toys, these were also the accounting books with the donation file. In a second stage, the school bus arrived. It drove over lemons and pumpkins were smashed on the road.

I have taught for many years, sometimes lecturing, often discussing with students, occasionally criticizing. I tried to inspire, to share knowledge and skills, to give advice and to help with the search. I never taught, nor did I educate. I considered it a privilege to be allowed to teach. I rarely punished students for wanting to learn from me. That's absurd. If they didn't do what I expected, then either I wasn't clear enough or I had the wrong expectations.

Doors

Some teachers see themselves as gatekeepers, they want to determine who meets arbitrary quality standards. If you want to position yourself at a door, then my idea has always been to give the people who want to go through this door a good idea of what to expect and to think together with them about whether they want to go through this door or whether they would rather take another one.

I am not an educator, let alone a special education teacher. But what I saw today has given me a lot to think about. I was happy to be able to share this space. I saw so much joy, laughter, consideration, attention, intuition, fun, togetherness, and confidence that my heart felt light. What is happening here? With what words can I capture this? And what does this have to do with teaching? Some young and dedicated people started 30 years ago, under a tree, taking care of people with special needs. Now this has become a very solid and inspiring place – another moving story.

Who is actually learning from whom here? And what are we actually doing in all the other schools all the time?