We speak with Dr. David Penberg and Adhirath Sethi about Agastya, a unique educational ecosystem serving students and teachers in 22 Indian states. Agastya has a hub-and-spokes design, with an elaborate 172-acre campus outside Bangalore and a fleet of mobile vans and bicycles delivering science and art programming to poor and rural children in far-flung towns and villages.
Overview
00:00-00:43 Intros
00:43-03:26 Agastya’s programs
03:26-04:51 Arts and interdisciplinary learning environment
04:51-07:58 Teacher training
07:58-11:10 Young Instructional Leader program
11:10-11:52 Ages of girls who started the YIL program
11:52-13:33 Where the YIL do their work
13:33-17:02 Teachers learning in the ways that students learn
17:02-18:43 Alignment with Nell Noddings’s “ethic of care”
18:43:21:48 Relationships with animals other than human
21:48-24:09 Common elements with schools like Central Park East in different settings
24:09-26:14 Agastya relationships based on trust
26:14-27:27 Agastya as a source of inspiration
27:27-29:07 Agastya’s vision of reaching more children
29:07-30:33 Relevance to U.S.
30:33-35:49 Measuring success
35:49-38:19 Adhirath’s book about Agastya: The Moving of Mountains
38:19- Outro
Transcript
Click here to listen to the full transcription of this episode.
References
Soundtrack by Poddington Bear
Toni Smith-Thompson, Senior Organizer at NY Civil Liberties Union, discusses the importance of replacing police presence in schools with restorative practices. Toni envisions ethical...
We speak with Dr. Sue Winton of York University in Toronto about the effects of private money–much of it from parents–that replaces decreased public...
We speak with Paula Rogovin, who taught kindergarten and first grade in NYC public schools for 44 years. Paula empowered the youngest students to...