Educated Alternatives

The lifestyles of the Adivasi people do not fit into the mainstream cookie cutter scheme that sets up public schools in India. The style of teaching found in the schools funded by the government and introduced by British colonizers is in the form of lecture and listen to how things are in the world with little discrepancy discussed. A member of an Adivasi tribe generally lives a less restricted lifestyle that does not force them to sit in a desk for 4 hours and take notes. Rather, their traditional classroom is in nature interacting with close community members and with the land along with taking the liberty to visit neighboring villages a celebrating cultural holidays which disallows school attendance. The difference of upbringing and customs plus the fact that the Adivasi people are outside the caste system causes the tribal youth in many schools to be made fun of in public schools and this very often leads kids to fall behind, get discouraged, and drop out of school.

One way these Adivasi youth are still able to learn is by going to an alternative school like Kanavu. Kanavu is lead by young adults from the surrounding tribal communities who have themselves gone to the school. The youth learn by taking care of the school and practicing various types of traditional music, dances, and crafts that encourage their creativity and aptitude to learn. This school does not grant an official certificate to its students, however many of the people who have gone to this school emerge, and others like it, as community wide leaders. It is refreshing to me to see the recognition of talents outside of strict math and science and sequential thinking. This school, although run and attended by people who are supposedly backward, as the name Adivasi suggests, seem to be actually quite modern in their non-traditional thoughts as is evident in the success of many of their students.

In Minneapolis, Minnesota there are an increasing number of schools geared toward the arts in more recent times. I think what we are witnessing is a more modern way of thinking that values alternative education. It is interesting to think that most often the alternative learning schools in Minneapolis are more for the rich where the people who go to this school are those who are poor. The relationship between them is the common recognition that people do not fit into boxes and to encourage art education is to encourage a vast array of new ideas that may otherwise not be explored. I think it is possible that globalization has positively affected the tribal people by encouraging a group of them to recognize who they are and how they learn as a way of affirming their identity in their minds and their communities through the success of alternative education.