Education + Science

First published in India International Quarterly 10(1) March 1983.

"On The Seashore Of Endless Worlds Children Meet.
The Sky Is Motionless Overhead
And The Restless Water Is Boisterous.
On The Seashore Of Endless Worlds
The Children Meet With Shouts And Dances."
  Rabindranath Tagore

idac 16/17 document. This issue of IDAC Documents deals with the School,this ever-present institution of the modern industrial society. Our analysis is based on examples taken from the Western European context in which we live. Nevetheless, the questions raised here have a broader reach, since they also concern the educational systems in other parts of the world,which have been influenced by this Westeren European model. IDAC is a non-profit collective. Its budget is based on its work - seminars and publications - and on the contributions of friends and organisations. IDAC 27 chemin de crets, 1218 Grand-Saconnex, Geneva, Switzerland.

Divaswapna is an imaginary story of a teacher who rejects the orthodox culture of education. He remains enthusiastic towards children and continues to experiment while consciously neglecting the traditions of teaching and prescribed textbooks. The theoretical background of his experiments lies in Montessori, but his preparation and implementation are thoroughly local.

essays by D. D. Kosambi. These essays were first put together into a book form by Sri R. P. Nene - a collaborator and friend of D.D. Kosambi. In this collection Kosambi critiques Nehru’s Discovery of India and shreds it to smithereens - exposing Nehru’s shallow knowledge of Indian History. The function of Leadership in a Mass Movement and Science and Freedom are very original contributions. This whole collection has been out of print for over 20 years...

Who was Janusz Korczak? "The lives of great men are like legends-difficult but beautiful, "

Janusz Korczak once wrote, and it was true of his. Yet most Americans have never heard of Korczak, Polish-Jewish children’s writer and educator who is as well known in Europe as Anne Frank. Like her, he died in the Holocaust and left behind a diary; unlike her, he had a chance to escape that fate-a chance he chose not to take.

This remarkable book was written for the parents of the Italian poor. But it is about poor everywhere: their anger is the anger of every worker and peasant who sees middle-class children absorbed effortlessly into schools as teacher’s favorites.

Introduction: It is an irony of modern consumerism that junk products are packed in tough cartons. While the frail human body consumes and digests the junk, it is the environment that has to grapple and reckon with the tough, non-biodegradable waste. And, in the process, humans become sick and the environment decays...

This booklet attempts to give a glimpse of some of the experiments and toys designed as part of the Hoshangabad Science Teaching Programme. Intensive use is made of things which are commonly available and with which the children are familiar. Many of the experiments were designed, often with the help of village children and teachers, in response to the dismal poverty existing in most village school.