Dewey and Tagore: Together despite Differences

John Dewey (1859-1952) from the United States and Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) from then India can be positioned as two among some most important and influential philosophers of education in the twentieth century. The two scholars have written extensively about what purposes education should serve and how a good education should be. Dewey's Democracy and Education (1916) is a book that discusses in details his ideas and philosophies on education. Likewise, Tagore also has written extensively about educational systems and ideas, as rewritten in the chapter "Founding a New Education" in The Oxford India Tagore by Uma Das Gupta in 2009. These two scholars lived around the same time, but in two poles of the world. Thus, it is interesting to compare their ideas. What looks more interesting is that while Dewey and Tagore agree on some ideas like that education is not separate from life itself; they have many differences like what education should aim.

Augustine on Role of Signs in Learning

A Caravaggio painting of Saint Augustine.
Courtesy: The Guardian

In his dialogue with his son Adeodatus, recorded as 'On the Teacher' (389 AD), Saint Augustine has put forward his views on how one can learn, more specifically what agent can help one learn. In this context, he has also discussed roles of signs, words in particular, in the teaching-learning process. Though the father and son at first agree that a major function of signs is teaching, later they conclude that signs cannot help anyone to teach or learn. Thus, for Augustine, no sign in itself is capable of any help to facilitate understanding.

Aristotelian Definition of Phronesis: Clear and Convincing

Aristotle. Courtesy: www.britannica.com

AC MacIntyre, in his After Virtue: a Study in Moral Theory (1981), has interpreted the concept of "phronesis" developed by Aristotle. Defining Aristotelian concept of phronesis in his own words, MacIntyre says that phronesis is "a moral and intellectual virtue rooted in a natural human capacity to do the right thing in the right place at the right time in the right way" (qtd. in Carr 39). MacIntyre's interpretation of the concept of phronesis has differentiated it from "techne" on the basis of its moral and intellectual aspect. Techne and phronesis are two major branches of practical philosophy of education. Since MacIntyre's definition has clearly hinted the aspect which differentiates the two – presence or absence of moral value, it is well defined and holds the true meaning of phronesis. Thus, it is agreeable.

BOOK REVIEW: Voices of the Century

Speeches That Changed the World is a collection of some important speeches made by significant players of the twentieth-century world politics (though few speakers don't belong to the political domain). Compiled and edited by an Australian history teacher Alan J Whiticker and published by Jaico Publishing House in India in 2010, the book has 43 speeches covering a span of 104 years (1901-2004). The book talks about diverse issues from war to peace, from socialism to the Holocaust, from nuclear weapons to pacifism, and from women rights to AIDS-related discrimination. Considering the geography, time span and themes it covers, the book is a credible document of major ups and downs in the world politics in the twentieth century.  

English Medium Education: An Individual and National Need

From www.ekantipur.com

On a day in my twelfth grade, my English teacher was marking my test papers in front of me. Suddenly he asked me if I came from a government school. I said, "Yes, I am from Nepali medium." Then he commented, "If your parents had enrolled you in an English medium school…" He didn't complete the sentence, but looked at my face directly and seriously. My face turned very serious and quite shy. This comment had such an impression on me that I am still thinking what if my parents had enrolled me in an English medium school.

Quest for 'the First Principle': From Thales to Aristotle

Photo from http://lh6.ggpht.com/

It has been long that the western philosophy has begun searching "the first principle" – the fundamental element or principle that caused all the diverse things in the world. Though many things have been lost by now, traces of philosophical attempts to define the first principle can be found back from the seventh century BC. By the time of Aristotle in the fourth century BC, in Greece itself, there had been many attempts to know the first principle. In fact, the first principle was the most important aspect of pursuit of knowledge in the ancient Greece which every other aspect of knowledge revolved around.  The developments of the western mind in Greece from Thales up to Aristotle can be summed up as quests for the first principle.

No Respect for Native Rules

"To write every word in correct rhaswas and dirghas, I'm not a Nepali professor after all", many youths and adults tell this sentence when someone tries to correct some spellings in their Nepali writings. So – does one need to be a Nepali professor to write Nepali correctly? If yes, given that most of us try to make our English spellings as correct as possible, why have not we been English professors yet?

 http://202.166.193.40/kantipur/news/news-detail.php?news_id=269940

Author and journalist Sharat Chandra Wastiwrites, "The national language should have become stronger day by day, but this is not the case due to extreme ignorance and an impulse toward fashion. On the one hand are those risen to senior positions and highly educated who feel proud, not shy, to say "I don't know Nepali much". On the other hand are those involved in language-related professions who take linguistic incompetence for their pride by saying "Do I need to learn Nepali? Whatever I write is Nepali." The general user lies confused between these two poles" (IX). It shows that Nepali population has been too much ignorant about correct use of own language. And, this can be best seen in spellings of Nepali words in Nepali (Devnagari) script they write.

English Affixation

1.      Affixation

Affixes are the bound morphemes which are added to base forms of words.  Yule, 2010 defines affixes as "a large number of small “bits” of the English language which are not usually given separate listings in dictionaries" (58). For example, "re-", "dis-", "-s", "-ed" are some common affixes in English language.

Phonetic Description of Nepali Consonants

1.      Consonants

Consonants are one of the major two subdivisions of phonemes of any language. It is distinguished from the other major subdivision 'Vowels'. Unlike vowels, consonant sounds cannot be pronounced without obstruction in airflow. In other words, "consonants are produced by temporarily obstructing or restricting the airstream as it passes through the mouth" (Lyons 75).     

Difficulties as Inspirations for Improvement

photo from http://voxy.com/blog/

Despite the fact that I used to score the highest in my class, I was weak in English among my mates up to class 8. In class 9, I realised that I need to work hard on this subject for better SLC result. I worked hard and improved satisfactorily, which ultimately gave me a score of 82 in English in SLC exam. This mark convinced me that I am not weaker than other English school students in this subject. But I was proved wrong when I stepped into my +2 classroom.

End of Internal Exams: Not Reasonable for Real Students

Almost all +2 and bachelor level colleges in Kathmandu Valley schedule internal examinations for its students; but surprisingly very few students attend them. The students are neither forced to attempt them if the exams do not contribute to their final evaluation/score. Nevertheless, many colleges have never thought of any alternatives which would be more favourable to their students. Disparity between attitude of students toward such exams and the colleges' continuation of them can be taken as an evidence of the fact that we have many problems in education system. Yet, internal exams are beneficial too, thus can not be removed altogether from the system.

Inspirations and Ideals

"Which woman is the best inspiration for you?"
In a program organized to celebrate soon-to-come International Women's Day, I face such question.Surely, it is an interesting question, though I couldn't find the answer easier. The focused participants of the program were some school girls, most of them mentioned their mothers or teachers as their inspirations.
I thought for some minutes: Don't I have inspiration from any woman? Or can't or don't I want to acknowledge them? Answers of both questions are "NO" to me. But, why can't I tell them who is my inspiration?

Still I am zeroing in on it. Now, I have some ideas.
No person (I unconsciously wrote here "man" first, but deleted and placed "person" for inclusive language) is perfect. To be ideal is to be perfect, so no person is ideal for me. As many people opine that human beings are made-up of unique mixture of intelligence and stupidity. When I think of any seemingly ideal person, first I want to mention him/her as an inspiration and ideal. Later, however, I remember the ugly truth of human life that no one is faultless. So, I so far haven't mentioned anyone as my single or specific source of inspiration.
It doesn't mean that I don't have any inspirations. Yes, I do have many, and today's m living is guided and influenced by many people. They all are inspiration for me, but they are not solely inspirations. Their motivation to me is only partial. If I just mention names of 2-3 person, it would be injustice for others, I think so.
However, you might argue that among many, there can be some top priorities . Yes, there can be. My weakness appears here. I haven't (tried to) set my priority-list of top inspirations. I am now thinking to do it. When I'll do, I surely share with you, if you don't hesitate to know it!

But, I am feeling sorry to those schoolgirls, who didn't find my answers. I was supposed to be able to answer it, by I couldn't. I apologize with  you, my lovely sisters!