Teaching Philosophy

My teaching philosophy and practices are inspired by two of the fundamental tenets of Tagore’s educational vision. First is the notion of freedom in learning and the second is the notion of harmony with oneself and with nature. My own lived experiences as a student in rural town in India always have prompted me to think about the notion of freedom in learning, but never had the imagination to articulate it until I read this evocative Tagore’s poem, Where the mind is without fear:

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

Gitanjali by Tagore, Translated by William Radice (2011)

Tagore saw true freedom as a state where knowledge is free and able to produce clear stream of reason that is not lost its way in the dreary desert sand of dead habit and that leads the mind forward into ever-widening thought and action. This poem continues to inspire and redefine my teaching to date.

You can find my Teaching Portfolio here.