Page 121 - EW November 2024

lions of free India’s citizens his growing reputation as
were plunged into poverty. a popular economist, and EVERY CHILD CAN: RIVERSIDE
Paradoxically, as makes a strong case for SCHOOL'S DESIGN-LED APPROACH
Sharma recounts in this developing countries to TO EMPOWER CHILDREN
engaging book, communist reduce government spend- Kiran Bir Sethi, Mohanram
Gudipati and Apoorva Bhandari
countries have emerged ing to control inflation and
as the best practitioners take the capitalist road HARPER DESIGN
of capitalism. In 1978, to fulfill the material and Rs.599 Pages 208
Secretary-General Deng moral aspirations of their
Xiaoping abandoned state suffering publics.
control of private enter- DILIP THAKORE in the annual Education- Design thinking-
prises in China. For the World India School Rank- led learning offers a
next 30 years China’s GDP Design-led ings (EWISR). user-centric model
growth averaged 10 per- The authors are emi- for whole school
3.5 percent). Today China education nently qualified to explain improvement
cent per year (cf. India’s
design-led education. Sethi
boasts the world’s second primer is an alumna of the pres-
highest GDP ($18.5 tril- tigious National Institute When they are compelled
lion) and has transformed of Design; Gudipati is a to wake up early, it not
into the world’s manufac- OUNDED BY genetics and molecular bi- only deprives them of sleep
turing hub. Kiran Bir Sethi ology graduate of the Tata but also makes them tired
Another communist Fin 2001 and situ- Institute of Fundamental and anxious. As recounted
country that success- ated on the banks of the Research, Mumbai and in this book, Riverside
fully practices intelligent River Sabarmati offering Cornell University (USA), confronted this issue by
capitalism is Vietnam a direct view of Mahatma and Bhandari, who devel- sharing research with class
which has quickly bounced Gandhi’s Sabarmati oped Riverside’s pedagogy VIII students and involved
backed from the devasta- Ashram in Ahmedabad, for science education, is them in co-creating the
tion visited upon it by The Riverside School has professor of cognitive, lin- school’s timetable, thus
the US during a long war acquired a global reputa- guistic and psychological giving them a say in decid-
(1965-74). Between 1989 tion for the application of sciences at Brown Univer- ing relaxed school timings.
and 2016 it privatized design thinking (defined sity, USA. In the end, a 9.30 a.m
11,400 government enter- as “a structured process to These distinguished start time-table was adopt-
prises, steadily reduced discover a solution based authors provide live ed through a democratic
its fiscal deficit, invested on insights from and about examples of how River- process with full aware-
heavily in logistics and the user”), to every facet side School demystified ness that while students
education, and is poised to of education. It covers the design-oriented learning. will benefit from a few
emerge as the new miracle entire practice of teaching This approach requires five additional hours of sleep,
economy of East Asia, — curriculum, timetable, steps: empathise, define, their after-school activities
prophesies Sharma. pedagogy, teacher train- ideate, prototype, and would be curtailed because
Thankfully, Sharma also ing, assessment, nutrition, test. It also requires the of late start.
takes on the usual cop-out extra-curricular activities, cultivation of four “habits Breaking down pro-
argument that China and parent-teacher meetings, of mind” — (i) Be curious, cesses in this manner
Vietnam are communist excursions, and commu- start with empathy. (ii) Co- is obviously more help-
dictatorships, therefore nity engagement. create, negotiate. (iii) Start ful than a lecture on the
successful. In Europe he This fresh approach small, grow big. (iv) Show, virtues of collaboration,
identifies supra democratic has transformed K-12 not tell. because any educator
Switzerland as a country learning in Riverside into The world over most reading this book is likely
which has practiced classic a joyful and democratic schools expect adolescents to think about difficulties
capitalism to emerge as the process concomitantly to be on campus at the that could sabotage a lofty
wealthiest nation world- with improving learning crack of dawn although vision. Thankfully, the
wide. Ditto democratic outcomes. For over a de- research indicates that the book uses language that
Taiwan in Asia. cade, Riverside School has release of melatonin and a is friendly and compre-
With What Went been ranked among India’s change in the circadian cy- hensible to people without
Wrong with Capitalism, Top 10 international day cle requires them to sleep a background in design.
Ruchir Sharma enhances schools, and #1 in Gujarat until later in the morning. Learning from failure is

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