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Cultivating honesty and moral reasoning:

      T he highest form of morality is said to consist of judgments that are based on internalized principles of justice, and the central question of moral development theory is how individuals develop internalized controls over behavior  (Wilson, 1983) . In the world of psychology, the tests of the stage concept have shown that morally mature people generally show greater consistency and greater ability to disregard situational factors than do amoral individuals. And on the other hand the inhibitions with regard to cheating are greater for the morally mature, less for those who are highly allegiant, and far less for the amoral, whose behavior is clearly contingent upon punishment, rewards, group status, and obligations  (Wilson, 1983) . There is a study which is undertaken by Professor Adrian Beck and Matt Hopkins from the University of Leicester in England  (Deccan Herald, 2016) . The study says that the use of self-service lanes and smartphone apps to ...

What  you  sow,  you  reap:

A  small  story  which  beautifully  illustrates that  what  you  sow,  you  reap. " Once  upon  a  time  there  was  a  small time  business  man  from  a  small  village who  used  to  sell butter  in  the  nearby town.  A  big  shop  owner  in  the  town  was his  regular  customer. The  villager  used  to  deliver  every  month the  shop  owner  the  required  butter  in  1 Kg.  Blocks  and  in turn  he  used  to  get grocery  items  like  sugar,  pulses  etc  from the  big  shop  owner. Once  the  shop  owner  decided  to  weigh the  butter  and  to  his  surprise  every  block of...

I Wish I could?

How much resource are we accumulating, and actually how much of it we really need it? Just think. It is important to remember that, we share the resources in the world, we do not own any of them. I have 400 channels in my TV, but I manage to look at only 30 of them. My note book has 200 pages, but I could use only 120 pages. My bike can accelerate to 140 speed, but I am able to zoom at 100 speed. My car can accelerate to 200 speed, but I am able to zoom at 120 speed. I have 5 pockets in my dress, I could use only 2 of them. My phone has 32 GB memory, but I could use only 10 GB. I have 80 GB of internet pack per month, I could use only 50 GB of it. My phone has 800 audio tracks, but I could listen to only 200 of them. My phone has 10,000 hours of video, but I could manage to see only 2000 hours of it. I have three mobile sims, but I could use only 1. I order 200 plates of food for my party, but I could use only 160 of it. In my life, in an year I could find 5 special vacati...

Moral dilemma on Religious practice vs. Social practice:

     Moral science is one of the extra curricular subjects most of us study in schools. The moral stories are explained to us and at last we were told about the moral of the story. But the moral is not about teaching rules and distinguishing 'Good vs. Bad'. It is more than that. It is about developing a cognition, thinking ability and decision making capacity of a person in order for him to take decisions in various situations which involves dilemma. Below is the incidence reported in June 2016 in times of India Bangalore edition. This parent is stuck in a moral dilemma on religious practice vs. Social practice. In this situation both are vital for him. Have a look on a below article and discuss with some of your fellow folks. Discuss what decision each of you would take and what are reasons behind each step. BENGALURU: A private school in the city has expelled a kindergarten student allegedly because he has a ponytail. When Manjunath BC went to pick up his son, V...

Moral dilemma: What does it mean in our everyday context:

Moral dilemma is a conflict in which you have to choose between two or more actions and have moral reasons for choosing each action. Now it is for us to decide on the extent to which morality is important. If it is important, then how it could be taught. If it has to be taught, it should be taught at home or school, or both. Now morality is not a subject on the curriculum of most schools, at least in the sense in which mathematics is. And the only specialists in its structure are moral philosophers. It is often said, too, that willy-nilly every teacher is a teacher of morals. A teacher could teach the child how 'borrowing', is distinct from 'stealing', with classroom experiences, and considerable amount of instruction and explanation.  (Peters, 1974) . For this a regular subject teacher could also play a role to imbibe this cognitive ability in the children. What, then, is to be said about learning the content of morality? Do we have to be concerned only with the ...

Patience vs Activism

Look to seek needs and not unrealistic wants:

One day, I was so angry, that I left home, swearing not to return, till I became a big guy. Parents, who can't even buy me a Bike, have no rights to dream to make me an Engineer. In my fit of anger, I didn't even realise that I was wearing my father's Shoes. I even stole his wallet, which had some papers, torn as well, which my mother won't seen... While, I was rushing on foot towards the bus station, I realised some prickly pain in my foot. I also felt dampness inside the shoe. That is when I realised the shoe had a hole underneath. There were no buses around. Not knowing what to do, I started to look in my Dad's wallet. I found a loan receipt of Rs. 40,000, which he taken from his office. A laptop bill (he had bought for me). To my utter shock, also found a letter from his manager to wear a neat looking shoes, henceforth to the office. I remembered my mother pestering him to buy a pair of new shoes, but he would convince her that his shoes would last another six...

The Real “Brain Drain”: Schools and the Experience of Democracy in Contemporary India

Below write up is from colloquium event poster by professor Janaki Nair. Its theme is written at this blog's  header. To what extent has the school classroom been witness to, or the site of, some of the most important churning in Indian democracy over the last four decades, a time before elementary education was made compulsory? A wide range of recent writings by Dalits, women and members of other oppressed sections of Indian society have allowed us a glimpse of the systematic and violent ways in which generations of Indians had been denied the most basic of rights. Even more revealing are the ambiguous results of the gradual participation of such marginalized groups in the process of education, which has generated new desires and fears, experiences of liberation and humiliation. Perhaps the longest standing expectation of education, since the colonial period, has been its function as a gateway to a job. Again, a very particular colonial inheritance has been the expectation o...

Bring virtues to light:

A King with a defect in one eye and in one leg asked all the painters to draw a beautiful portrait of his...! But no one was ready to draw, as how to show him beautiful with a defect in one eye & a defect in a leg. One painter however agreed and draw a classic one. It was such a FANTASTIC painting that every one was surprised. He painted the King aiming for a deer in a hunt, targeting with one eye closed & a leg bent for it Why can't we all paint others like this, "hiding their weakness" & "highlighting their strengths May we learn to hide other's weakness & bring their virtues to light. Source: whatsapp message

Don't steal my job...

One night when the whole world was sleeping, a thief broke into the house, the washer man was fast asleep but the donkey and the dog were awake. The dog decided not to bark since the master did not take good care of him and wanted to teach him a lesson. The donkey got worried and said to the dog that if he doesn't bark, the donkey will have to do something himself. The dog did not change his mind and the donkey started braying loudly. Hearing the donkey bray, the thief ran away, the master woke up and started beating the donkey for braying in the middle of the night for no reason. Moral of the story: One must not engage in duties other than his own. Now take a new look at the same story. The washer man was like a typical top management corporate guy. He had the fundas of looking at the bigger picture and thinking out of the box. He was convinced that there must be some reason for the donkey to bray in the night. He walked outside a little and did some fact finding, applied a res...