Education and the Aim of human life

VI

The Evolution of a Class

I shall now describe, on the basis of the very limited yet significant experience of this year, the response of students placed for the first time in a new class. They pass very distinctly through three stages:

1. A Stage of Adaptation: Some children understand immediately what is asked of them and enter into the spirit of the new method. Some appear passive and try their best without much live understanding. Others find it more difficult to adapt themselves; for them it is a period of adjustment and wavering. A few, very few seem unwilling or incapable of doing away with unruly and mischievous habits.

Little by little a greater number of children begin to relax and find interest and pleasure in their work. Gradually the class settles down. There are ups and downs, days of relative quietness followed by a resurgence of restlessness. An imperturbable patience is needed from the teacher, without any show of temper or even displeasure. He should observe impassively all that happens in the class, try to understand each child and treat him according to his own nature, so as to make it easier for the child to attain the proper attitude. For the teacher it is a trying period as he does not see much apparent progress; it lasts rather long, perhaps three months.

As long as a child does not disturb others, even if he does not progress otherwise and remains closed, he can be kept in
the class. Experience has shown that the closed bud may in the end open.

When a boisterous child no longer gets an approving response from the other children, he begins to feel uneasy. It happens (we had two cases this year) that he feels so out of place that he asks to be sent to an ordinary class. At this stage of the class evolution, if a disturbing child does not spontaneously show a desire to go, he may be asked whether

he is happy and wishes to remain in the class. As long as he expresses a sure desire to stay, there is a possibility for a change of behaviour. If he agrees to go, let him be put aside temporarily, or else the progress of the whole class may be hampered.

2. At first for a short duration, then for longer periods, the children relax and do their work with a quiet concentration. The stage of responsibility is at hand. The majority of the children understand now what is expected of them and they do it with an increasing seriousness. Signs are manifest that they begin to experience the joy of discovery and progress. They appreciate the freedom that is given to them and begin to make a better use of it. The responsibility of education is gradually shifted from the teacher to the student. This may begin with a few children, but it is contagious and others feel attracted.

It is now evident to the teacher that the initial agitation and perplexity were due to the bad habits, deviation and distortions which the children had previously acquired. Children come to us loaded with all their past, a short but sometimes a heavy past, with the imprints left upon it by family and society. Each of these distortions was initially a defence against an imposition, an aggression from outside. Now it has become part of the nature and it takes time to be eliminated. Placed in the favourable conditions of a new class, these lingerings from the past will slowly subside like the waves of the sea after heavy winds. But it requires time, apparently interminable time. Endless patience is required and the loving attention that will redress what has been twisted and smoothen what has been crumpled.

As the teacher remains in the class-room for a long time, he observes the reactions of all his students. As they come to
him individually for guidance, he begins to know them well. At times a friendly chat starts; it is about the work, about some happening in the class, some psychological difficulty of the child, or about the reason of being in the class or the Ashram. The teacher may help a child considerably by an

attentive and warm heart-to-heart talk. Such talks must be allowed to come up as the circumstances permit, following the trend of the children's preoccupations, in a very simple and unassuming way. The teacher must be open and understanding, and avoid especially high-sounding and pompous words. He should even refrain, except in emergencies, to give an advice with the force of his authority; it is definitely preferable to help the child to find out by himself the source of his difficulty and put him on the way to solve it by himself. That means that the teacher must always aim to bring the child face to face with his own problem and let him look for the inner guidance and help from The Mother'.

Such talks do not come up often nor with every child, but even if they do not, the contact between teacher and student is much more close and durable than in the traditional teaching (I mean at the secondary level).

If the teacher is of real help to his pupils, he will find that the friendly talks extend spontaneously and in the end the whole class may voluntarily join in. If however a child remains aloof, no sign of disapproval should ever be shown to him.

How and when is one to speak of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo to a child?

It will naturally depend on the personal approach of the teacher; he must act and speak to the best of his knowledge and feeling. But this is a matter of considerable importance for the evolution of the class and the teacher has to be extremely careful. I shall give here a few suggestions in a negative form:

Speak of The Mother to a child, to a group or to the class, only when they are at their best, i.e., when they are in a state of peaceful collectedness or when they make a specific request for help in a difficult situation. It is better to remain silent than to speak of The Mother at a wrong time or in a wrong way.

Do not mention the name of The Mother when children are unruly and boisterous. Do not threaten to report to The

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Mother their mistakes or misdeeds, but rather their aspirations and achievements.

Never use The Mother's name to support your authority. You would do harm to the children and to yourself.

Never speak of your own spiritual experiences but remain always what you truly are: a child of The Mother among other children of The Mother.

3. When a peaceful atmosphere of work has become the normal condition of the class and many children have reached the stage of responsibility, then one day after a friendly talk to a group of children and as the outcome of a subsequent state of self-collectedness, a new thing happens. It is an inner contact, an opening within, call it what you want. There is rapt attention, a deep self-gathering, like listening to something within that is unmistakably happening in the depths. The atmosphere is of silent intensity. The faces express a peaceful and smiling gravity, a translucent beauty, the beauty of the soul that reaches the surface. The feeling that this experience (for it is truly an experience!) stirs up in the teacher is one of wonder and respect. It will surely mark the children's life, and the teacher's also, although all the children may not be equally conscious of what has happened. A new consciousness has emerged, and even if it recedes and disappears for a time, it will surely work from behind towards its reappearance. The main preoccupation of the teacher will henceforth be to protect it from all disruptive intrusions, so that it may stabilize and perfect itself.

This experience is crucial. It is a promise of a conscious inner guidance. The teacher realizes the meaning of Sri Aurobindo's words:

... the true secret, whether with child or man, is to help him to find his deeper self, the real psychic entity within. That, if we ever give it a chance to come forward, and still more if we call it into the foreground as 'the leader of the march set in our front', will itself take up most of the business of education out of our hands... .2

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And to the teacher comes the certitude that, if he wants the soul to come forward and assume the lead, the child must be brought to the stage of responsibility, and this can be done best through the protected freedom (freedom+ security) which is the gist of the new system. For the teacher who has been a witness to the beautiful change which marks the beginning of the stage of psychic opening, not only anger but scolding his pupils becomes impossible. Indeed for a child who has reached this stage scolding becomes injurious, especially if it is done by the person who has been instrumental in bringing about the psychic change. In face of a fault or a mistake, a misbehaviour, the only thing the teacher can do is to help the child to examine lucidly and quietly the inner and outer consequences of his action and decide whether the same course of things has Ito go on forever. Let him collect himself, take the decision from within and seek by himself the steps to implement his decision. The teacher should then give his wise: and restrained support to the child.

The three stages I have described belong to the individual development of the child, but the collective atmosphere has a great role in this evolution. The harmonious surroundings in which the child lives a large part of the day engaged in perfecting his instruments of knowledge and action, and the persistent attempt to give him the charge of his own education, in an atmosphere of freedom and security, are the means conducive to the unveiling of the psychic entity within. This blossoming is the result of a slow maturation in favourable conditions and cannot be rushed through. One may work for it, hope for it, pray for it, but one cannot summon it.

I shall close this chapter with two remarks:

1. Students who have already been in a class of the new system for one or two years will certainly adapt themselves to it rapidly, but the assimilation of a number of other new students has a considerable repercussion on the whole class. In any case there will always be a period of adaptation, even

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if it is only an adaptation of students to teachers and of students to one another. The length of this period will largely depend on the experience of the teachers taken individually and on their unity of purpose and attitude.

2. One can easily imagine that the progress towards responsibility and psychic opening will become easier and quicker if the child finds, outside the class-room, similarly favourable conditions. The understanding and collaboration of the family would be a great asset. Parents or guardians should be given, in their own language, an outline of the new principles and methods. It is not expected, except in a few individual cases, that they should adopt at home the methods, but they should try to understand the spirit that is behind them and accept all the implications of their child's growth, particularly his gradual evolution towards independence and responsibility.

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