About Learning

Rita Guzy regails her time as a Kindergarten teacher in Newark, NJ. Amid race riots, “white flight” and institutional corruption, Rita’s classroom remained stable as a rock.

What does a five-year-old need to know? Should your first year in school be all fun and games, or a crash-course in the three R’s? These are questions that can help us tackle a larger one: what should education be for?

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The best leaders are mentors. They see developing the people around them as a responsibility, and seek long-term progress over short-term results. My guest is Arun Tailor, an Immunologist at Oxford University. Arun shares stories from his own education in the US and UK school systems, and reflects on how his commitments beyond the classroom set him up for success in the workplace. We discuss what the purpose of education should be, and the enduring power of mentorship at all stages of life.

Learn more about Vichaar Manthan at vichaarmanthan.org

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In an increasingly tech-obsessed, career-driven world, Science and Maths are valued more than ever. But would neglecting the Humanities be a costly mistake?

This time I speak to Julia Fisher, a teacher from Washington, D.C.. We talk about her experiences in two radically different school systems and discuss the politics of school reopenings amid a pandemic in the US. Julia expects her students to surprise her with original ideas, and she makes the case that this is key to the continued value of the Humanities.

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In this introductory episode I speak to John Carden, a teacher and colleague with a passion for grand ideas. We speak about Radical Democratic Education, a model for teaching which values students’ ideas and gives children a say in how their community is run. We discuss the US school High Tech High, in which there are no formal lessons, no tests, and in which students are allowed to make mistakes. What can we learn from schools like this, and what are the barriers to change?

The film we discuss, “High Tech High” is available on Amazon Prime. If you would like to collaborate on a future podcast, please get in touch via [email protected]