I just returned from a circle exploring compassion and kindness in education convened by Audrey and Ward Mailliard who was one of the founders of Mount Madonna School. The school compound felt much less like a school and more like a retreat. The footpaths crossing 350 acres atop a mountain site inspired a sense of awe, adventure, and exploration, how rare for a school campus!



I was humbled to learn that Ward himself built the school with his own hands brick by brick He shared how he embraces a philosophy of "not knowing" as the human story is constantly changing and we are all beginners. Curiosity is the doorway to empathy, and the values in world thought program embodies these tenets.

While there was agreement that key to the educator’s goal is creating an environment that sets the context for learning to emerge, I was reminded that there exists an even more powerful invisible network among students that could provide the context for that teaching. If we cannot create a safe space and shared vision within the classroom, then tapping into that network is difficult, and a context is artificially imposed; consequently very little learning can take place.

I resonated deeply with how the deepest learning is emergent and unpredictable. In our attempts to make learning it predictable and outcome-driven, we turn learners into performers and remove the humanity. And when we threaten to take the humanity out of someone, they will surely expect something in return, in the form of a transaction.

Our education today is still primed for individual security and comfort. I wonder how that might change with our evolving human story - with the latest generation being over-educated but not content, with a crisis of existence and of meaning, and with our new understanding of emotional and mental well-being that is tied to the health of our human networks?

This brings up some poignant questions that we hold in MoolahRun - a physical playing field that we setup for large groups of students that recreates an open economic simulation over time, where students build their tower of earning power in teams, and have to make all kinds of financial and social decisions and experience the consequences over time. We intentionally do not give them a game goal so they have space to define what success is for themselves. But naturally, everybody races and competes to build the tallest tower. Questions such as "why should I give when I don't even have enough?” are asked frequently. This is the current context they first bring to the game.

We rerun the game a few times trying out different design principles, and ask students to think of what success means to them guided by the 8 forms of capital, and what strategies they might try so that all their towers become more resilient (we blow down the towers randomly with a fan to simulate economic and environmental emergencies). Eventually some teams start pooling their resources and putting their towers together to make one gigantic tower that becomes quite formidable against our fan. The spirit of the students then shifts from jeering at the smaller towers to celebrating prosperity together as a community.

I realized this kind of emergent learning is only possible with enlightened leadership that trusts a younger generation and its own students with the evolving narrative of what our society really wants.

Am incredibly grateful to the leadership of the Riverside Secondary School, that not only convened a gathering for Character and Citizenship Education for the North-Zone school district in Singapore last year, but are also living their values in the small acts they practice. I remember coming out of a meeting where we spoke about money and values education. It was raining as we left, and I watched as the VP took an umbrella to shelter his students on the way to the school bus while directing traffic at the foyer. What was most heartening for me was their wish to have all their teachers and admin staff experience MoolahRun before the students did, so the whole school would have a shared context, embody the values, and extend the learning post-programme. They even gifted us hand-made badges at the end! But the most exciting ripple from that was a PE teacher was inspired by the principles of Moolah Run, and is designing them into their leadership camp this year :)


Small act of kindness rippling to become a chain massage!

Writing this in huge gratitude and a big thank you to Audrey and the whole crew for the circle and opening our hearts, minds, and souls. I am also incredibly thankful for the enlightened teachers who are paving the way for greater compassion and kindness in our world, starting in their own classrooms. A final questions I was contemplating on my drive home that was offered by mary - what would it take for students to want to run into their classrooms, rather than running out of it as soon as the bell rings?