This will be a two-part blog post. In this first part, I focus on preparation for holding a difficult conversation about poverty, and in the second, I will clarify how restorative practices might help facilitate a conversation about poverty and what to do to address poverty. In an earlier post about addressing misconceptions often made… read more
Perhaps part of what makes restorative practices so effective is that these practices embody a variety of approaches to behavior change. These approaches markedly contrast with what many media outlets have served the public in 2015; numerous news reports, that highlighted the use of physical force and sometimes violence in schools, dominated the public’s attention… read more
The following post was written by Carol Bragg, a graduate of the Metta Center’s Certificate in Nonviolence Studies program. Imagine a school where, each morning, the principal recites one of the principles of nonviolence and asks students to think about that principle throughout the day. Picture a school that has monthly assemblies devoted to one… read more
Many school administrators and educators have some familiarity with bringing nonviolence strengths to education through restorative practices for school settings. Although, quality portrayals of what school restorative practices might look like severely lack in online spaces. There are a few videos on YouTube (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) and there are some very helpful… read more
The following post is the second one based on my talk at the India Center in Charleston, WV for Gandhi Day 2015. Please read Part 1 here. What can we learn from Gandhi’s ideas about Nai Talim (new education) and how can we apply them to our context now? How can (must) education be a… read more
Discipline has been defined in a variety of seemingly contrasting ways. For example, discipline “is a repressive operation by which individuals are seasoned into productive labor” (Foucault, 1977). Moreover, it’s “a policy of coercions that act upon the body, a calculated manipulation of its elements, its gestures, its behavior…thus discipline produces subjected and practiced bodies,… read more
The India Center in Charleston, West Virginia celebrates Gandhi Jayanti, (Spinning Wheel Day, in honor of Gandhi’s birthday, October 2) each year by inviting a guest speaker to talk about a different theme relating to Gandhi and nonviolence. The celebration also includes dinner, interfaith prayers, songs by the children’s choir, and a poster and essay contest for… read more
In the end of his book, Weapons of Mass Instruction: A Schoolteacher’s Journey through the Dark World of Compulsory Schooling, John Taylor Gatto outlines his plan for a very simple project that could have a powerful impact on the future of public schooling. He suggests that everyone involved with schooling, from teachers to students to… read more
