Autophobia – the fear of being alone. Most of us have had days where we have felt alone or isolated, including myself. It is a part of life, yet why is it a fear? When people talk about being alone, it is associated with negativity and presented as a fear for so many people. Although,
Tag: Blogging Prize Winner
The Value of Education
Victor Hugo said, “He who opens a school door closes a prison.” This simple statement resonates with depth and complexity. Was the author simply alluding to the obvious fact that a good education opens the prison door of poverty leading to prosperity? Did he mean that education is a gateway that offers freedom from the
Everyone Is A Prisoner!
What crossed your mind when you saw this title? Chains? Gates? Locks, bolts, and keys? Armed men standing at the door? Prison inmates stinking and looking at you, wishing you would pass them your plate of poorly cooked beans and say you’re too sick to eat it? Or the writ of another philosopher? I do
I’m Scared, Ma
The gunshot echoed through the forest as Savitri and her little son, Nanda, hurried across the thick brush bordering the outskirts of the jungle. The sun was just rising in the eastern sky, as the golden rays shone on their grey coats. It was nearly ten minutes before Savitri decided to slow down, so that
Indistinguishable
He was only a young calf when he first saw them. Tall, glorious and majestic. His mother had left, and he was alone. He was entranced. He knew of them; no one didn’t. It was a man, with graying hair and a twinkle in his wizened eyes. Next to him was a girl with the
The Torn Lotus
Her eyes haunted me. Black mirrors reflecting my horror and guilt back at me. She was expressionless as a woman fixed her jewellery and clothes every now and then. She had the look of someone whose body was in the present but not her mind or spirit. Like a hollow shell. When Carlos told me
Conquering the prison of life
As a matter of fact: education by itself is a tool, a source of conditioned power and a redeemer of human wits. This is because throughout the ages society has witnessed a tough battle, a war of minds. The conquered in this contest have limited space in the community. Just as other sources of power,
The people in the background
It must be amusing for angels to look down from the clouds and see us living-making the ostensibly easy effort of waking up in the morning, getting dressed, going to work, drowning in emotions, fighting silently and all alone against the world, in the hope of one day being able to make our way out
The Collective Memory
“Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.” – Albert Einstein “I have never let schooling interfere with my education.”- Mark Twain Once we allow ourselves a smirk and give a nod of approval for the quotes above, as it confirms the thoughts in the child within each of
Being normal
What do we mean by being normal? Does it mean being acceptable in society? Perhaps. And who by the way, composes the society? The Normal people. Who decides what’s acceptable? The Normal people. Heard about normalization? The simple term ‘normalization’ refers to adjustments made with intention of bringing entire probability distributions to a common scale.
Victory of Innocence
The statue of the charging bull has long been symbol of the confidence of investors in the stock market. In fact, we have seen it more as a symbol than as a work of art. With the recent addition of the “Fearless Girl”, who seems to be staring the bull down, however, there has been
The Abyss
I leap into the cold winter air and feel every bit of its freshness. It is blue all the way to the horizon where the ocean meets the sky. No matter how many times I view it, the gorgeous open canvas mesmerizes me every single time. This is the only time of the day I
Lincoln never said that
“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” – Abraham Lincoln. Do you agree? First things first. Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, never stated that adversity was an inadequate measure of a man’s character. It was his post-mortem biographer, Horatio Alger
Are co-ed schools the best environment for students?
When in 2010, the 107 senior students from the Urban Prep Charter Academy for Young Men in Chicago achieved 100% college acceptance, the situation caught the attention of many. Only four years before, just 4% of them were able to read at grade level. Since then, this outcome has been repeated every year. This success
Love Is Like An Apple Tree
Tim lives at the end of a very long road, at the foot the Bluff, and a long way up the valley. His garden is overflowing with life – purple potatoes, green beans, and many apple trees. A rippling stream runs between the cottage and the weaver’s house. Everything Tim eats comes from his garden.
How schools can be better potters
There may be as many varied definitions of the term “education” as there were varieties of sports at the 2016 Olympic Games. Summarising the key words in those definitions however, one can describe education as a systematic process of facilitating learning and honing skills, beliefs and values to cause individuals to develop personally, so that
Stop MOOCing around – Get back in the classroom
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are nearly as common as a mid-week sale on the high-street. Online shopping for learning is certainly redefining the education landscape. But, as in this case, if I’m asked whether MOOCs are the future of higher education, well now, that’s less clear cut. Digital detox please We live in a
The True Goal of Education
It was like a thick blanket covering us all; the mentality stretched towards the end of the earth. In every continent and country, on both print and electronic media, everyone was talking about the same thing. A victim I was to this era, where all our schools and learning institutes centered our learning on opinions
Tight public finances or otherwise, uniform subsidies are not the answer
During class X (grade ten), considered the most crucial year of an Indian student’s academic life, we were feverishly revising for our annual exams. During the final preparations, I noticed one of our classmates merrily doodling in her notebook. She seemed least inclined to study. “Don’t you want to revise? Aren’t you scared of bad
True Education is the Following of a Passion
In a classroom consisting of 37 wooden chairs and tables, a typical public school student in South Korea is allowed 3.3 meter square of space if he is lucky. When he first enters the classroom, he faces a decision of choosing which ‘society’ he wants to belong to. The first society would be the two