Sifaan in Poland

Introduction

On May 25, 2024, Sifaan Zavahir visited Morska Kraina school in Kolobrzeg. It is not a democratic school, but it is led by progressive and empathetic Ms Zurawska-Nowak who extended the invitation to Sifaan. This was part of a 4 day visit that also included a visit to Korczak Museum in Warsaw and a visit at EUDEC conference at Pojezierze Drawskie.

Korczak vs. Copernicus

Sifaan is an admirer of Janusz Korczak and his philosophy. He wondered why Korczak isn't better known in Poland. After all, he pioneered the thought that underlies democratic schooling. He contributed to child's rights reasoning on the international arena. While the work of Copernicus was arguably preceded by heliocentric systems formulated by Ancient Greeks, and Islamic scholars, Korczak made significant imprint on our interpretation of what constitutes child's rights.

Correcting students

Sifaan believes we should not nag children with corrections, e.g. in reference to grammar, pronunciation or orthography in speech or in writing. He recalled the day his son (who is 9 in 2024) asked him not to be corrected. Along the belief the children have the right to be heard, Sifaan gave up correcting his son (here is the story). His observations indicate that children do correct each other in a friendly non-instructional manner when errors hinder communication. This might be the most efficient way of learning from one's own mistakes.

Sifaan asked children if they agree. Most of Morska Kraina children agreed with Sifaan indicating that being corrected, e.g. by a teacher may turn out stressful or frustrating, esp. if the teacher pays too much attention to minor details and corrections are frequent. One of the boys disagreed and insisted that perfectionism is the way to disciplined progress. He claimed that a bit of stress is ok as long as he could use every opportunity to improve.

The theory says that neural networks of the brain are not too good at making a perfect copy of reality for later reproduction. Instead, a rough modelled approximation is taken. This approximated model is then improved upon incrementally by trial and error with pragmatic effects providing the primary optimization criteria.

Restorative justice

Students did not know the term and the interpreters were also stumped. Sifaan explained:

What is normally referred to as "Justice" is actually "Retributive Justice"; but we don't even usually qualify that because most of us are not aware of any other kind of justice. Retributive Justice is like a revenge, except it is sanitized by law and executed by an arbiter, but the basic principle is the same: you have caused suffering, and you should suffer as a penance, with the punishment being proportional to the crime (hence an eye for an eye and a life for a life).

Naturally, because there is punishment, everyone puts a lot of effort to avoid being punished.

But there is another way: to recognize that harm has been caused to our relationships, and that we both may have contributed to that harm, so what is the harm that has taken place and how can it be restored and what to each of us need to do for that?

Dress code

Sifaan asked students if they are free to express themselves in terms of the way they dress or make up? Morska Kraina has a dress code that provides for a neat and uniform image of the school. Some kids would prefer relaxing the rules further. Sifaan explained that in Sri Lanka, boys are supposed to be neatly cut short. He himself sports long dreadlocks that reach his thighs. He explained that his hair was always an important part of his identity. He managed to get around the rules by being an excellent student. His school would opt for having an exception rather than to lose a student that adds to its reputation.

Sifaan: "A student asked me what I thought about the restrictions. I think it was more about hair style and make up than the uniform itself. I replied that how we dress, and groom is part of how we express ourselves and should be allowed under freedom of expression. Maybe not that hair was an important part of my identity, but it was one way of rebelling against impositions on our autonomy. I was permitted to get away with it because of the international achievements I had. It could have landed me a scholarship in an elite school and the school didn’t want to risk that happening. It was usually the case that students who performed well even nationally left middle-level schools like mine. So, it goes to show how rules are bent when it is in the benefit of the rule makers"

Freedom of the Principal

In Lex Libertas, the core principle of the new education system is the renunciation of coercion (see: Declaration of Educational Emancipation). However, in the second order, the owners of schools, the principals and the teachers also receive full autonomy. Their freedom will only be limited by contracts by which a particular school is governed.

In such circumstances we can imagine an owner or a principal who will execute her own vision of school. The dress code rules might be included in the statutes of a particular school. Such a contract is always voluntary: both students and teachers join such a school out of their own volition. It is up to the principal to decide if a given portion of her vision meets the assumed educational goals of a given school.

Sifaan was worried that not all kids will have the option to change the school, e.g. if there is just one school in a village. In Poland, this concern is diminished due to the arrival of modern digital schools such as Chmura. The range of option in Lex Libertas can only increase. For the efficient function of a school, educational visionaries need to be able to innovate!

EUDEC star

https://olgalustych.pixieset.com/eudec24/

Sifaan and Marianna Klosinska (democratic school pioneer from Poland):

Notes

Sifaan report:

ok restorative justice
ok correcting kids
ok hairstyles and dress code
ok retaining his long hair due to being strong in knowledge
ok Korczak in right-centric education vs. Copernicus
ok dictatorial principal allowed in Lex Wolnosc
opposition to learning Tamil due to coercion (gardener who died when he was 3)
winners of supermemo - tralala ... hands up ... 14 year old that is 190cm
Buddhist roots of Alfie Kohn's unconditional parenting
joyous goodbyes and strawberries
native speaker of English
zero-mark [zeermark] shoe-rack [shoowreck] English in Tamil community, restorative justice ...
penalized [e or i]
student "CARS" mentioned two flaws of the school (1) you need to go every day, and (2) there is not candy bar dispenser :)
https://2swords.manan.life/t/correcting-pronunciation-conversation-in-poland/23
https://2swords.manan.life/t/correcting-pronunciation/21