So true.

Only once one is lucky enough to experience learning without grades does it become clear in retrospect how much damage grading has done. (That's probably what Nathaniel Hawthorne was getting at when he wrote, “She had not known the weight until she felt the freedom.”)

Anger and aggression sometimes seem to be protective because they bring energy to bear on a particular situation, but what needs to be acknowledged is that that energy is blind. It takes a calm mind to be able to consider things from different angles and points of view.

The only thing that will bring happiness is affection and warmheartedness. When you have a more compassionate mind and cultivate warmheartedness, the whole atmosphere around you becomes more positive and friendlier. You see friends everywhere.

If we make consistent effort, based on proper education, we can change the world. We are selfish, that’s natural, but we need to be wisely selfish, not foolishly selfish. We have to concern ourselves more with others’ well-being, that’s the way to be wisely selfish.

“Essay” comes from the French word meaning “to try.” But that spirit of tentativeness is crushed when essays are graded and the point isn't to explore but to snag an A.

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Someone may be very rich and powerful but without any trusted friends they will never be happy. Someone else may be poor but if they are surrounded by trusting friends they’ll be happy. Therefore, taking care of others is the best way to fulfil our own interests.

Cultivating compassion is not a religious practice focused on ensuring we go to heaven or a good future life. It’s about living a good day-to-day life here and now. It’s about being a happy person. Warm-heartedness is a fundamental good human quality.

Apart from its deleterious effects on mental health, OECD finally figured out a few years ago that competitiveness also gets in the way of achievement, even measured by something as silly as PISA scores: goo.gl/SkR3e4

And I would think competitive classes in high school would produce similar figures….

Great news as famed institutions move away from tests!

Rajaton - Butterfly (live) youtu.be/st4zI_37JtU via YouTube Dean Shareski

“We could be entering the endgame for Covid,” writes former C.D.C. director Dr. Tom Frieden. “How we play it will determine what happens next.” nyti.ms/3L5uJGM

1/2 Qualitative study explores how homework perpetuates inequities: Richer kids have advantages that help them succeed with assignments & are then "seen by teachers as responsible, motivated, & capable." Conversely, kids who struggle w /HW because of fewer resources at home...

2/2 ...are blamed for lacking responsibility or motivation: is.gd/1KwIgY As Deborah Meier put it, “If we deliberately tried to come up with a way to widen the achvmt gap, we might just invent homework.” (Never mind its lack of acad benefit & its neg. effects on curiosity.)

Thank you to Ms. Chawla and the Gurdwara Dukhnivaran Sahib for providing a Vaisakhi lunch for the entire ⁦Sullivan Heights Secondary⁩ student body. ⁦Surrey Schools⁩ #diversity #community #sd36learn.

For those teaching Philosophy 12…stumbled across this gem….takes complex concepts and explains them in layperson terms…so good.

It's challenging but essential for parents and teachers to celebrate kids who have the gumption to question what they're told, and, indeed, to actively support them in becoming reflective rebels. Alas, too many adults seem to prefer the child of least resistance.

Schools are not factories and learning is not “one size fits all” so we should praise teachers who are willing to take risks and utilize their strengths to build relationships with students.