In the end

In the end, the shadow of misery will come forth,
As sure as death will eventually enshroud us,
Today, we may comfort in each other's embrace,
Tomorrow, happiness may shine with us apart.

Life and Loss

One day I prayed to find God in my life,
Life made me forget in its business,
Then Life gave me hardship, trials and challenges,
Life took and gave me less when I thought,
I deserved more.

In my lowly stature, grief and loss,
I look upon what Life gave me instead
of what it did not,
God has taken away so that I may have Him,
God has bound me to what I know not how to value,
So that I may be free.

Meritocracy and Fairness

Today I read a comment in the papers about how meritocracy makes not a fair society. The statement stumped me but I was not in a position to stop and ponder and the meaning only came by at the end of the day.

I took my kids to the library today. It is one of those places where we could get our usual seats, unlike the rest of the country where you seem to be always competing with someone. In the most basic sense, we have became beasts of meritocracy. We dash into the train for that final space among many, we squeeze our way into lifts already almost bursting with people, we do it day in and out. Had we stopped to think and reflect on our actions would we like what we see? I can only hope that those of us who have been acting like these 'beasts' are too busy to do so, cause if reflecting does nothing to reform our actions- we can only question to what end our souls have come to. Which then brings me back to my first question. Why does meritocracy beget not a fair society?

Researching My Children

From this point till the next two months at least I'll be writing on my mini research which my supervisors had kindly allowed me to carry out on my children.
At the moment, I have just decided to carry out a study on how context- based experiences can enhance the learning process of a mixed-age homebased group of children through action-research.

I'm very happy to be able to do this because I'm returning to what I have started this journey of learning about education- my children. For me getting this certificate is just the icing on the cake of my four years of homeschooling.

To get started I guess I should write down my to do list:

1. Decide on the specific instruction method/s I will use during the study in the context of context-based learning.

2. Draw up a two-week lesson plan that will be carried out.

3. Read up on and choose the observation and recording methods I will use.

4. Read up on the guiding philosophies and curriculum theories my study will be situated on.

Next week's lecture will cover observation and recording, so I'm really looking forward to that. I have decided to use John Dewey's 'The Child and The Curriculum' as my guiding philosophy because Dewey spoke on the conflict between the curriculum, the child and learning.

The other angle that my study could cover in addition is how contemporary cognitive studies have shown how traditional teaching methods in their abstraction and instruction fails learning. The gap between enacted and experienced curriculum.

I have found a very useful article at http://www.education.com/reference/article/classroom-observation/
which spoke about the Brophy-Good Dyadic Interaction System, Stallings Observation System, and the Classroom Observation Schedule. I'm currently also reading Observing and Recording the Behaviour of Young Children by Cohen, Stern & Balaban, 1997 for my observation and recording methods.

If a system of government works and is effective, why do we still feel unhappy about it? Maybe, no matter how it is, Man is made to be dissatisfied and it is this state of disequilibrium that pushes him in new and better directions.

It had been an interesting week with the leadership clearly using the words 'selective','pragmatic', 'social cohesion' and 'social equity' in the same report.

Now, we have always been constantly reminded how pragmatic this society is. I mean how many times can a people be told they cannot survive without working to death (why retire? working's fun and keeps you independent on yourself)because they are small?

I am touched that we, the people, had been given the recognition that we have truly matured to embrace the 'selectiveness' of this system. Now we know where we truly stand by just looking at these markers that had been set up for us.

On another note, who needs entertainment news when you have politics in its purest form flexing its arms? It truly lives up to the Machiavellian spirit of accosting your enemies at its swiftest and deepest, leaving us satisfied and stupefied.

While the weak opponent was falling all over the place and as usual hanging his head in shame (again we not only keep saying sorry, we feel sorry for ourselves) the other managed to put a cloud over the mistake that had put this county in one of the highest state of alert since our parents' times, by swaying the propaganda to his victim's court.

Recently (with all the furore that ended with we'll talk and solve this now sounding like all talk and no action, another common trait associated (rightly?) with my community) the victor emerged with a coup of sorts that avoided all the drama and did all the work to provide a pragmatic solution.

Ah now, who cares about social liberty when you can have what works, and is fast to boot?

National Spirit

My spirit of nationalism is not something I had ever consciously thought about. Growing up in the eighties the issue of who I am in relation to the island I live in did not exist. That my friends spoke a different language at home and were of a different colour did not occur to me to be anything that made it necessary that we consciously work towards understanding each other. To me, I was no different from my classmates of other races.

We ate, played, hung out and even stayed over at each other's homes.  By virtue of being the only or one of a few in the cliques I was in, I even picked up a decent amount of my friends' language that I am able to understand and reply to basic conversation. However, nothing made me feel more unwelcome in my own land than when I entered the workforce, the real world. If I was accepted for my race, I was not accepted for my faith. Either way I never felt really accepted. I was always 'the other'.

On reflection, after more than a decade out of the education system, I believe the homogenous school environment creates a false construct that falls apart in the real world. We have all been literally dressed into our prescribed roles that we grew to believe as reality. After 9/11, the marginalisation grew even worse, with society scrutinizing our every move and fellow Muslims fervently apologetic for actions hardly of their doing. In the midst of all this, my country has been welcoming various nationalities to work and live here that I now not only have many native Chinese neighbours but a few from India, Myanmar and even Japan in my public housing .

Initially. I saw this as a further threat to the already marginal opportunities of my community. However, whether real or portrayed, I sense in my daily interactions, in the media and in the generally accepted school of thought that finally society has woken up to the need to be inclusive and not only tolerant of but to celebrate our differences. Five years from now, I would like to look back and honestly say that I, a native, feel that I am a part of this country. A sentiment, at least based on what is in the media, that immigrants already feel.

Curriculum Mindshift

I read with interest Tuesday's article in the main local English papers about how parents have turned to tuition centres to conduct tests and exams for their children and thus having exam-centred learning for primary one and two students when exams are soon becoming non-existent at these levels.

Such a change in the system shows a strong commitment by the government to implement more developmentally appropriate teaching and evaluation methods which at the general level of reflection in my limited knowledge of the field of education has been scientifically proven.

This brings to mind the complexity of curriculum innovation in relation to the community outside the school. You may get the go-ahead at the policy, administrative and teaching levels but you still need to convince parents and other role players.

Tuition centres, as commercial entities, can be a good indicator of what parents really think their children should get from their schooling. At this point, that seems to be , ironically, a scientific way of measuring their child's competitiveness. As pointed out by one of the interviewees in the article, students eventually after all have to sit for high-stakes examinations.

What I hope though is that this will not cause a turnaround in the government's policies towards implementing holistic changes in the system. It does have a trend
over the years of trying out new programs like SAIL, the initial SEED program, the 'freer' English syllabus in the 80s and eventually regaining control of the 'freedom' given in content and method to implement state level programs.

The difference I hope is that like other 'process' as opposed to these 'content' changes, the elimination of examinations at the foundation levels will, like the implementation of independent schools and 'alternative' schools and examinations like NUS High, SOTA and the IB, will see the light of day and not be buried under public pressure.

Maybe one way to do so is to convince the government of the economic benefits of a more holistic method of education (which I think they are already slowly warming up to as seen in the implemented changes)....that's a question the academics will have to answer. Although we can look at the Scandinavian countries and the United States, we can also question why we cannot follow Germany.

Then there's always the question of context. Education is seen as the labour producing machine of a country and we are always being told that we cannot afford to be anything but the best to survive as a small nation (although at this moment I wonder at this because we seem to be trying to fill our population to the seams with people of whatever educational level to satisfy the population ratio but that is another story) hence we must optimise every cohort that goes through the system.

As for me, I'm convinced that mass schooling in general is problematic and ,as can be seen in the 1001 policy changes, a reactive generator to the economic changes. In the end we have recreated society as it was before mass education and industrialisation in another form.

Now back to my domestic chores...

One of the hardest act that one can do is to forgive; for to have to forgive must mean one has been wronged. God reminds us that even He forgives but that Man has too much pride. However, pride can only be one side in the story of forgiving, for to be too proud to forgive one must feel a sense of being better and the one in the right. The question of who is really right then is secondary.
We then come to the question of justice. In consideration of events that have taken place, what occurred according to its place in the accepted norms of this life to give each man what is rightful to him? If one's rights has been trespassed, should not one have every right not to forgive?
Yes.
However,it's better for you, your soul and your redemption in the hereafter that you should.And, we know, despite whatever our mind and heart tells us ( which means that your mind is going against your mind, that is to assume that knowing occurs only in the mind)that this is true.
Yet the fact that God asks us to forgive means that we are capable of forgiving. Hence why do we find it so hard to do so? In fact, in putting forth this question, why do we find it hard to do what other God-blessed noble acts there can be? Which part of us makes the decision on whether we should forgive and do we base this on emotion or what is the best for our salvation in this world and/or the hereafter?
I cannot but realise how intriguing the emotional/rational relationship is and how it manifests itself in our life. In the end, if its what you do that matters and will be accounted for,then what you felt and thought are only means.
It follows on that any actions that we carry out brings consequences to those around us and hence our actions are never truly free. How then can we use personal emotions as the only scale to weigh in our reactions to any injustice that might have been borne unto us?
At the end of it all we can only find solace in the fact that God judges us only on what we do.

Reflections

Can one ever be an outside observer of this life and be a part of it at the same time? Well, you can argue that cognitively one can for therein lies the role of metacognition where one thinks of one's thoughts. Maybe if we all metacognize, the world will be a more rational place. Then again, what would be the standards one measures by and how is your view fairer than mine? In the end too when one detaches oneself from life personal, one detaches from the baggage of emotion; which is it not the reason why life is more bearable sometimes is it not? Why does a mother want to go through childbirth again, knowing the pain of having done so before and really why does one sacrifice one's dreams to be with one's partner if there is not the notion of love and in the severest 'rationalisation' ; romance? The fact of the matter is we are all put here by God to go through the same motions in different ways. If life is so, why is each experience still novel that we may need to struggle through them when many others have gone through the same and thus are models of how we should act as are the guidance one finds in the Quran? Is God trying to tell us that what is most important is doing the right thing and that we should get over this humdrum and drama of life? After all whatever will happen is going to happen and the question is how will you handle it that you will not only end well but go through it well? I guess the point is that it is hardly about you and eveything about you.

One of the reasons that keeps me homeschooling is the opportunity for my children to not be confined to the text and workbook culture that is the bane of traditional schools. This does not mean that I think that this practice should be abandoned, we in fact do use them at home, but it should not be the core resource of learning.

At the same time that it benefits mainly those who are more inclined to words, it also deprives others who think in pictures or music or the physical movements of their body; their other senses. It also confines thought to literal interpretations when it could instead be more richly experienced in other forms.

In his book, "Cognition and Curriculum Reconsidered", Eisner calls for schools to provide that varied experience in learning by using different forms of representations in recognition of the different ways in which students think and express themselves. This in turn follows that students should also be given the opportunity to be evaluated beyond pen and paper tests.

I believe that this is a culture that has been held on to for a long time by homeschoolers and something that we should cherish and nourish always. while this is much a lost cause in most schools, on a positive note, I am glad that the current educational system does allow for direct school admissions based on non-academic areas.

However, I do still see the emphasis on academic evaluations as although these students may come in on their strengths in non-academic areas, their learning experiene is still mainly in the traditional vein and in the end, they are still being evaluated on standardised examinations.

Eisner's point in his book is for learning to be made more accessible to people of various learning styles, if I may say so, that history for example is not merely a liturgy of words and dates but something alive like the languages and rituals that continue to exist today and the architecture of historical sites that we continue to be in awe of.

Imagine... touching the hearts and mind of students who find reading repulsive and abhors Mathematics by watching the battles of ancient history through movies and listening to stories of ancient mathematicians. I remember being excited about buoyancy through the story of Archimedes in a Physics lesson I did with my eldest child and reading a story of how Pythagoras came up with his famous formula, even if it was made up.

In a sense, I identify with such students, although I do love reading, I found the sciences and mathematics dry and dead in school and turned off learning very early in my learning journey. Although I love the arts, I found them reduced to examinable bites too and instead read a lot on things I was interested in and had nothing to do with school.

In reading writers like Eisner though, I try to not romanticise the ideals that they bring forth for the rhetoric can get to your most innermost crises and cloud your vision that you fail to see the woods for the trees. I agree that more should be done for alternative mediums for learning and evaluation though but need to find out more how this can be done on a massive basis i.e. in schools.

Eisner did suggest the Waldorf schools as a great example the form of education that he visualised. I see a few areas of further exploration: "alternative admission requirements in local schools", "specialised schools- are they creating wider opportunities or strengthening the disciplinary divide", "cognition and representation in the classroom" and "the social class and cultural capital divide- how it can be minimised through a cognitively sensitive curriculum".

I have finished my first reading of Eisner and will be looking at some of the references that he used in the book like Dewey's "Art as Experience" plus Epstein and Singer's research papers as soon as I finish "Human Cognition", a very interesting read, by Bransford.

A Life Unexamined

If a life unexamined is not worth living, then I would like to be a child who has no conscious need to reflect on life but finds joy in the here and now for knowing how painful life's meanings under the surface can be I would rather not reflect on most of what life is. However, that would make mine a life not worth living. Either way, then I can find no avoidance of pain in life. In a recent academic study, which I have forgotten to note by whom, it was discovered than an emotional situation that is not dealt with continues to linger in dementia patients who are, of course unable to deal with their feelings. You might not want to deal with certain issues in your life, but like a ghost from the past, it will continue to linger in your shadows. So, the next time you sit on that sofa, watching your favourite show and you feel that there is something amiss, don't go on that way everyday. Examine your life...

Thoughts on Machiavelli

My husband came home from Idaho on Monday with my Strausses- " Thoughts on Machiavelli" and " Persecution and Writing". I haven't had the chance to read much though and was picking up on the chapter I was reading before I got cut off because of the limited preview on Google books which was on Machiavelli's teachings in "Thoughts on Machiavelli".

I am very intrigued by the thoughts on how religion played such a major role in his writings, or rather why it shouldn't play a major role in life in his case. It is probably because as a Muslim minority in a country where my people used to hold the reins of power and were the majority it really touches me especially when you grow up with the licensed bigotry and sense of haplessness that your community is always reminded of.

Anyway, I'm toying with the idea of writing my mini research project on cognition and curriculum. I have been informed that my grades will not be good enough to write a dissertation due to the higher requirements of my department. Oh well...life goes on.
Although I do get a feeling the my coordinator views writing a dissertation a Herculean task for everyone included and should not be encouraged.

I'm gonna bury myself in Machiavelli now and am looking forward to Dr. Wong's class on Socrates and Confucius next term, maybe now after understanding somewhat how Modernity afflicts us, I can now learn how it afflicts us in its form here.

Modernity thy name is my past

A lecturer once told me that to be modern is to look to the future and to be constantly pursuing something new. I must then be a conservative heretic as I'm struggling to hold on to my senses with the ruins of the past that have been bulldozed by the winds of change that has started long before my birth.

While some may say there's no looking back; I turn away from it and it is not easy in this city that embraces modernity in every aspect of life from our economy, lifestyle, the arts and if I may say etc,etc,etc...

One can always argue that we do have heritage sites, Asian values or ethnic traditions that are still very much alive but I think the most pertinent issue for me is one's lifestyle.We are so caught up with creating something new, a better life, more of everything that we can lose sight of living life.

However, the most dangerous thing about modernity is like that REM song- "Losing My Religion" ; in its conflict between faith and government. If political science is about the pursuit of happiness then a modern version of it follows that happiness can be attained without spirituality.

Maybe I'm going to find the answer or the beginning of the journey to my questions of life and my ongoing struggle against reason and faith that has encompassed half my life in this ivory tower; or maybe I will feel life as doomed as it seemed twenty years ago. Sometimes, I just hope that the questions will stop but they never do, so I might as well face my demons...now back to studying the father of modernity, right after I get my daughter to wash her greasy hands...

Perbahasan politik yang dipolitikkan

Singapura dikejutkan hari ini dengan komen bagaimana seorang NMP baru menerima 'teguran' keras dari 'bapa permodenan' negeri ini. Apa yang amat menarik ialah bagaimana, apa yang sebenarnya dikatakan oleh NMP ini tidak diterbitkan sepenuh mahupun sebahagiannya, apa yang kita dapat hanyalah komen yang boleh dikatakan terkeluar dari konteks perdebatan. Sebaliknya, reaksi ahli parlimen mendapat perhatian yang jauh lebih banyak.

Jika dibaca, apa yang NMP ini sebenarnya katakan; seperti yang boleh anda dapat di "http://nmpviswasadasivanmaidenspeech.blogspot.com/2009/08/nmp-viswa-sadasivans-maiden-speech-in.html", adalah menjadi persoalan mengapa akhbar menerbitkan reaksi ahli parlimen kita yang paling terhormat, dalam setengah lembar, yang memasukkan isu hak istimewa Melayu diketengahkan mahupun isu tentang bagaimana seorang bukan Melayu boleh mengatasi isu seperti anak remaja Melayu yang mengandung anak luar nikah, sebagai reaksi kepada isu peranan badan bantu diri yang berasaskan bangsa.Malah komen tentang sistem kasta boleh dikatakan tidak sensitif akan kepercayaan masyarakat Hindu di sini mahupun kepada NMP yang berbangsa India itu.

Mengapa tidak diketengahkan yang Viswa menyoal kenapa statistik tentang keadaan sosial sering dikategorikan mengikut bangsa dan pentingnya kita berdiskusi tentang masalah seperti penglibatan Melayu-Islam di SAF?

Apa yang penting ialah kita harus menyoal dan berfikiran kritikal akan apa yang dicetak di akhbar tempatan dan tidak menerima sepenuhnya apa yang diketengahkan. Syabas, Viswa kerana berani mengetengahkan isu-isu ini dalam sesi pertamanya sebagai NMP dan adalah diharapkan ia dapat diteruskan.

Education systems: A question of centralisation?

As we are all aware, the local education system is a very centralised one, as opposed to say the American system. One pertinent reason this is so, is historical, the need to unite the people quickly as a nation in the face of pro-China feelings, threats of communism and a majority Chinese state existing in a Malay-Muslim neighbourhood.

This has managed to see us through the turbulent years as English became the main, neutral language which economic reasons has certainly helped to push this reform through the vernacular system that existed during the British rule and Malay being made the National Language.

In the context of curriculum however, this centralised control has resulted in gaps in the institutional, programmatic and classroom practices with policies being carried out in some cases on a superficial basis, for example in the integration of National Education across subject areas with some teachers struggling to find connections.

One of course sees the benefit of having a centralised system. It helps to ensure standards are achieved and that we produce a certain quality of graduates. However, to a degree this is being served by the existence of high stakes education. I am still trying to figure out why then are our schools still being subjected to such control and a top-down approach of reforms?

The past decade or so however has seen the ministry giving greater freedom to schools with the introduction of independent, autonomous and integrated programmes. However, we are still bound to the regular curriculum that has always existed, just that now we can have some frills, as we need to make the grades in high stakes examinations and we need to attract the right students and get the right rankings so that our schools remain competitive institutes of excellence.

I am now going to bury myself in history books on education and contemporary writings on the system to find out why. But first we have to homeschool, which by the way I am grateful for having the choice to carry out here.

Rambut sama hitam

Baru-baru ini fikiran saya terganggu dengan gambar-gambar perkahwinan yang disiarkan di akhbar 'Berita Harian'. Sekali imbas, saya sangka gambar-gambar tersebut ialah satu perkahwinan bukan Islam namun sangkaan saya ternyata salah bila dibaca keratan akhbar tersebut.

Agak sukar sekarang membezakan antara Islam dengan bukan Islam kerana dari luar ada di antara kita yang nampak sama. Di dalam hati saya inilah kesan negatif meritokrasi yang ingin memberi peluang yang sama kepada semua. Malangnya, pada masa yang sama kita juga menjadi 'sama' dalam setiap segi.

Di dalam negara yang berbilang bangsa dan agama ini, mewajibkan setiap orang 'kelihatan' sama adalah satu kepincangan yang disembunyikan dalam etos kewarganegaraan yang dipandang mulia. Bukan saja diri seseorang itu dinafikan di dalam pelosok-pelosok tertentu, dia juga dimasukkan ke dalam acuan apa yang dipandang sebagai peranannya dalam masyarakat berdasarkan keupayaan-keupayaan yang difikirkan ada padanya.

Adalah tidak salah mensosialisasikan masyarakat kepada kepentingan umum tetapi kita tidak boleh menolak ketepi perbezaan masing-masing dalam kepercayaan dan kelakonan. Melakukan demikian hanya menjadikan interaksi sosial antara kaum dan agama hanya berlaku pada tahap sandiwara yang berdasarkan pertukaran perspektif yang palsu.

Pada diri orang Islam sendiri juga mestilah ada pendirian untuk tidak dibawa arus ini dan berpegang teguh kepada prinsip-prinsip agama. Kita tidak harus rasa terpaksa untuk diterima orang sekeliling sehingga menggadaikan apa yang kita percaya dan amalkan, mahupun melakukan lebih kurang bila di kalangan bangsa dan agama lain.

Di dalam hal ini, satu golongan yang kritikal ialah para pelajar kita. Di sekolah-sekolah, agama dan tradisi menjadi sesuatu yang disembunyikan kerana inilah suasana di dalam mana mereka dididik. Tanpa kita sedari, kita telah memberi kebenaran untuk anak-anak kita dibesarkan dalam institusi yang kosong dari segi kerohanian dan kemudian kita menyoal kenapa orang Melayu Islam begitu bermasaalah. Manusia itu roh dan jasad, jika tidak disuburkan dengan yang baik, roh itu akan mencari yang lain; ia tidak dapat wujud dalam kekosongan.

My thoughts I

I wonder how we will all turn out if our education system is not what we know it is. Would we have become what we are today despite the education we received or for that matter would the world be what it is today?

If you think of it, our political, economic and social systems are products of thinkers from their respective disciplines and thus how our lives are shaped was influenced by the schooling that these thinkers received to a certain degree.

Now, if economists think that there is no cost of money, then there would be no interest rate; that would certainly make a significant part of what we know of economics break down. Things would be at their real price of what people value them to be. Now, wouldn't that be a beautiful life?Instead, we have a complicated web of financial and economic systems that can ride on something that doesn't even exist as long as someone find it profitable.

Which makes us come to the question of ethics. As a result of secularisation, most schools now are stripped of not only 'religious' practices but even symbols. We try to replace them with moral and civics on a purely abstract level that leaves the spiritual essence of the child empty. Our children are told to leave their beliefs at the school gates and live half their day as a separate social entity.

Diversion

I have recently decided to take a break from Montessori to learn more about the Waldorf method. Technically however, I realise that I'm just learning something else on top of Montessori. *:>*
Can they work with each other, yes, but at the expense of going against some very core opinions.

One does not have to delve deeper than on when the child should learn how to read. If the child is exposed to reading skills in Montessori schools as young as three, Waldorf educators believe that such an act is detrimental to his holistic growth no less.

Academic learning starts only after the child has lost his teeth, usually around the age of seven. For only then does the child has the 'energies' available for such activities that have been freed from being inputs for the child's basic physical or spiritual growth, for example.

Then there is the area of play, specifically imaginary play, that puts Montessori and Waldorf poles apart. In Waldorf play, the 'toys' are made in the most simple and natural manner so the child's imagination can play an architectural role in how the play is to be carried out.

A doll, for one, shouldn't have too much details about it. None of those fancy painted eyes that shut and open when you want them, sounds of crying or laughter nor lifelike features. Like any toy in Waldorf, it should be simple and natural. Better without an expression for the child to imagine one for himself.

I can help thinking about Hello Kitty and Miffy... were they Waldorf inspired?

Where Montessori believed that 'imaginary play' in a young child is a phase not to be encouraged; one shouldn't make a stick a horse but go out there and see a real horse....It's perfectly fine in Waldorf for the child to imagine any stick or flower to be horses or fairies, in fact it's healthy.

I have just read "Children at Play" where there was a section on how a child deprived of imagining her rolled up nightie to be a doll has created an imaginary doll. Montessori believed that children imagine things because of an unsatisfied need and if this need is satisfied this 'make believe' will go away. Two parts of the same coin?

One platform that brings Waldorf and Montessori together is respect for the child and the importance of creating a sense of awe in learning. All those nature walks, admiring the skies above, learning things from nature....then there's the Head, Heart and Hand.

I am enjoying this journey of discovery every minute. I must say it has been a smoother and more beautiful journey since I incorporated the two methods into our homeschool.

Current Projects

These are the projects I'm working on now. My plan is to work on three subject areas over 1 or 2 weeks according to the lesson plans by Montessori R&D. That takes away a lot of the planning:)

1. Parts of a plant and its extensions

2. Geometric Cabinet 4-6

3. Level 1 Chemistry experiment cards.

Btw, the books I bid on ebay finally arrived after almost 3 months. Somewhere between Seattle and Portland they took more than two months before finally arriving in Singapore. Hmm.... I cannot complain about our postal service anymore....Will, InsyaAllah, review them when I'm done.

Book Review: Waldorf Education by Christopher Clouder and Martyn Rawson

This is a great book to read as an introduction to the Steiner Waldorf School of thought. No, I'm not deviating from Montessori, but it has been such an enriching experience. This is especially so because the Waldorf school is 'radically child centred and is based on the on-going study of the developing human being.' Gasp! that sounds like the Montessori philosophy.

If Montessori has 'Cosmic Education', the Waldorf school also seeks to assist the child in finding meaning in life for 'it is a central task of education to give children not only a sense of identity but a profound sense of purpose'.

I also find it intriguing how they stress on creating deep impressions for 'the more profound and true to the being of the phenomenon the young child's experience is, the more profound the conscious knowledge in later years.' Ka-ching again....

I can go on. There are of course differences in approach and methods. However, what I am most attracted to is their 'sense' based education that is translated in their programme which is very arts based such as music, dance, drama and the visual arts.

I have always had a soft spot for the arts. Having reconciled somewhat, my artistic tendencies with Islamic values, I have come full circle from reviling in art as defined by the West, throwing it aside and returning to art with a new, more Islamic, perspective. I want to share that with my children, especially Umayr who is more artistically inclined.

The arts are so much apart of the Waldorf school. I am not for the fairy tales and myths but the artistic angle is an attraction that I'd like to incorporate in my Montessori teaching with my kids. Montessori herself did not feel the need to dabble in art curriculum for she felt that it was already doing a great job!

It is certainly a much easier read than what you can find at www.rsarchive.org which provides a lot of literature online on the Waldorf school. Darn, even Montessori doesn't have that. However, if you want an academic read, it is a very good website.