An Integral Education for Growth and Blossoming

The book is divided into five sections: physical education, vital education, mental education, psychic being, and the role of the adult. Each section is packed with exercises and discussions that teachers and parents could use. Many of the exercises are excellent, such as the ones on cultivating gratitude through a meal or on using improvisational theatre to explore emotions. The book is not designed to be read linearly – the reader can dip into any section using the table of contents at the back of the book.

The book has a few quirky features that are immediately noticeable. The main table of contents in the beginning of the book is called Summary. Only “The Vital'' is identified as a section title in the “Summary”, while “The Body” and “The Vital” are the only section titles in the table of contents at the back of the book. No publisher is identified, nor is there any copyright information. This lack of attention to detail shows up in some sloppy editing. For example, adults are asked to “incite” children to help themselves to smaller servings of food. In a graphic that lists 24 character strengths, “gratitude” is repeated. Emanuele’s illustrations are bright and colourful but have very little to do with the content of the pages where they appear.

But there are several shortcomings of the book that go beyond the nitty-gritties of typo and design. One of the biggest is a key question that is left unanswered – what is Integral Education? This question is posed on page 21 and the reader is asked to go to page 290, which has a few bullet points. The book makes no mention of the principles of Integral Education, such as Sri Aurobindo’s first principle of true teaching that “nothing can be taught”. This seemingly simple pronouncement contains a vast depth of philosophy of education and of the modern science of learning. It would have greatly helped if Dini could have unpacked some of this. Take language, for example: as Vinoba Bhave said, “In none of the fourteen languages in which the Indian Constitution has been written [does] the word teach exist; but there is a word for learn. There is no equivalent of the English verb ‘to teach’ in Sanskrit or any of the other Indian languages. In the English language, one is to learn and the other is to teach. Both are independent verbs. … It is the egocentricity of the teacher that he thinks that he can teach.”

The tone of the writing is a little confusing. At times, the author uses what Americans call “motherhood and apple pie” statements, such as, “Caring for animals can also be a rich learning activity, and living and learning in contact with nature also offers our children a joyful and rich childhood.” At other times, the text uses soaring rhetoric, such as, “Indeed, the rise of the infarctional to the rational is a crucial step to emerge from the misty swamps of life; but if we want to fly into the sky of Knowledge-Wisdom, then we will eventually have to continue our ascent towards the supranational.”

I couldn’t help thinking about how a typical teacher or parent would understand some of the content. Some of the well-meaning stories of inspiration could even be counterproductive. For example, the chapter on physical education talks about Michael Jordan and Roger Federer. It lists people who have broken records in marathon, Ironman and “Double Deca Ultra Triathlon” competitions. So, is physical education important only if you want to be a world-class athlete? It might have been much more interesting and relevant to see how famous non-athletes, such as scientists, artists or musicians, use regular physical exercise.

While missing the mark on inspiration could be relatively harmless, some of the statements in the book could lead to serious misunderstanding about children and how they behave. In one chapter, Dini writes, “It should be noted that some children get sick to avoid situations or to receive attention; we should give them sufficient attention and they will learn (with kindness and firmness) to face difficult situations.” This is certainly true in some cases, but the danger is that the lay reader will use this information in entirely inappropriate situations. I am reminded of a personal story. My son, who did not do formal schooling, once registered for a Cambridge biology exam to test himself. He was down with extremely high fever the day before the test, and the family doctor diagnosed it as a case of anxiety, saying that my son was not used to test-taking. A blood test, however, showed that he had a serious case of dengue fever.

Here’s another example of somewhat irresponsible writing: “Ludivine is a 13-year-old teenager who, from a very early age, systematically hurts herself when she is malicious: she runs after ducks to scare them and trips, she comes to pinch you and twists her ankle, etc. Aware of these patterns, she can decide on a strategy as soon as these specific thoughts or feelings arise in her, and thus avoid getting hurt.” What is the reader to make of this? That children with malicious thoughts hurt themselves? Or that if a child is hurt, she’s having such thoughts?

Unfortunately, the book is filled with generalizations, such as “On the basis of a study, … it is even easier to learn and remember information when it is associated with movement” or that “… ideally, one should stop eating when 80% full.” How on earth can I tell when I am 80% full? Or when the author says that, “our body is the prodigious outcome of more than 13 billion years of evolution” and that, “this marvel of incredible complexity, with infinite potential and on which our lives depend, deserves all our attention and our solicitude,” what does he mean? Does a mantis shrimp that has been through “13 billion years of evolution” also have infinite potential? What separates a hermit crab from a human?

Although the book quotes findings from modern science, it makes some fairly dodgy statements, such as “synapses are generated by everything the child experiences”. What is generated is an action potential, which triggers the presynaptic neuron to release a neurotransmitter into the gap (called the synapse) between two neurons. This electrochemical signal travels to the postsynaptic neuron. Lots of other things happen, such as reuptake of excess neurotransmitters from the synapse, but what is important is to ensure that readers don’t leave with fundamental misconceptions about how the brain works.

This carelessness about science also shows up when Dini talks about the child acquiring the “precision and knowledge of the scientist and the sensitivity and creativity of the artist.” It is surprising to see that someone who is passionate about education thinks that scientists are not creative or that artists do not need precision. This false dichotomy between what scientists do and what artists do is at the root of much of students’ biases. A student of mine recently said that she was not a “science kind of person.” Depending on how we understand science, this could mean that she is not interested in “precision and knowledge” or that she is a superstitious person.

It is slightly uncomfortable to read, in the same book, about the effect of oxytocin in the body and read that “the vital … is the life force that flows in each of us like a river of energy.” We can all have our own beliefs about “vital energy,” but it will be hard to find a molecular biologist who subscribes to the idea of a “life force”.

While some ideas could be debated, other parts of the book are just plain baffling. In a section about how to integrate the 12 Qualities (which are attributed to The Mother in the Notes at the back of the book) in “classical branches”, here is what is suggested for mathematics: “Julie is a great athlete, Marc prefers to walk calmly; they are both following the route to Santiago de Compostela; Julie walks without a break, Marc stops for 15 minutes every hour. Knowing that they both walk at a speed of 4 km/hour, how far have they traveled and how many metres ahead is Julie after 2 weeks if they walk 6 hours every day? Knowing that Marc stopped walking for 2 whole days because of rain and another day because his foot hurt, which village are they closest to? They both left Le Puy Cathedral and are following the road from the Abbey Church of Saint Foy in Conques towards the Moissac Abbey.” I have absolutely no idea what this has to do with the 12 Qualities.

Here’s another example: While talking about the Ramayana, the author says, “In those bygone days, the Indus Valley Civilization included cities such as Harappa, one of the first cities in the world, which is believed to have had as many as 40000 residents, 3000 years BC.” What is the connection between the Ramayana and the Indus civilization? The early Indus cultures (Kot-Diji, Sothi-Siswal, Amri-Nal), which predate the city of Harappa, are dated between 3200 and 2600 BCE. As for the Ramayana, if we go by traditional dating, the story of Rama takes place in the Treta Yuga, more than 1.5 million years ago. If we use modern historical analysis, the text is composed between 400 BCE and 400 CE.

As with the past, the future also rests on somewhat shaky ground. The author’s “framework conditions for the 21st century school” offers nothing new or specific to the challenges of the current century. The framework could very well have been written by Rousseau, Dewey or Tagore. Dini talks about how to remember the value of pi, but nothing about how to understand the idea of pi. He talks about ways to improve memory, but very little about deep conceptual learning.

In summary, it looks like Fabrice Dini has a set of excellent exercises that he uses in his training programmes on mindfulness and “integral education,” which he wanted to compile into a book. In doing so, he has collected eclectic pieces of information, some of which he perhaps did not have the time to research thoroughly. I do hope the next edition of the book provides a deeper understanding of Integral Education.

Manas has recently joined Auroville. He has 27 years of experience in educational research.

An Integral Education for Growth and Blossoming. 

Available from [email protected], price in India Rs 950.