The Institute of Global Education created Mucherla Global School in 1994, now known as The Mucherla Educational Approach.
It is a worthy goal to educate those who desire to co-create a world where peace is the way of life, where is there is food sufficiency, where environmental balance exists, where social justice prevails, and where an individual achieves the highest degree of self realization within a community of cooperation. This is not to create a utopia but rather a world that we as humans deserve and need. This is the essence of the Mucherla experience.
It has become clear that the emphasis on personal and planetary transformation can be accomplished through education on a significant multi-dimensional scale. So what place does education have in the world view? Education is a very potent force in shaping values and in harmonizing the forces of tradition and innovation. Education must be sustainable, holistic, and experiential. Additionally, education must respect and draw on the resources of cultural and individual diversity by encouraging individuals, groups and even organizations to discover their special talents and potential contributions. We must educate toward an international world view as never before.
The educational philosophy and instructional system developed at the Mucherla Global School in Andhra Pradesh for nearly ten years can significantly contribute to improving India’s future. The instructional system no longer exists but the many graduates are the lasting legacy and continuing influence of the school philosophy and methodology. Ruth Schneider started and directed the school from August 1994 until her death in January 2000. Her husband and long time co-worker, Dr. Richard Schneider, Chief Executive Officer and President of the Institute of Global Education, took up the task fulltime and carried it forward.
The curriculum is based on the World Core Curriculum of Dr. Robert Muller, former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations and former Chancellor of the United Nations University for Peace, recognizes four keys: 1) Our planetary home and place in the universe, 2) The human family, 3) Our place in time and eternity and 4) The miracle of human life.
The curriculum emphasizes the connectedness between all parts of existence: mineral, vegetable, human and spiritual. Students explore their human heritage of direct communion with nature. This is accompanied by a mental appreciation of our interlocked connectedness as part of an entity that contains the planet, the solar system, the constellations, the galaxy, and space, which reaches out into infinity. Along the way students learn that each new life has an “agenda” different from every other and how to build their own unique connection to the universe.
The integrative and comprehensive nature of the Curriculum is illustrated in the following[1][2]:
The Four Harmonies
“We must learn to focus easily and lovingly our minds, hearts, senses and souls over the entire gamut of creation, from the infinitely large to the infinitely small, from the stars to the flowers of earth, from the entire human family to the last of our sisters and brothers embracing at any moment the plentitude of the miracle of education and of being.” –Robert Muller
[1] 1988. The Rober Muller School. World Core Curriculum Guide. Revised Edition. p. 7
[2] 1989. The Robert Muller School. World Core Curriculum Journal. p. 1
The integrative and comprehensive nature is further indicated by the descriptions of the four harmonies shown in the diagram above:
- Our planetary home and place in the universe: In the process of flowing from a microcosmic view to a macrocosmic view, the students discern the interconnectedness of the various aspects of life. The student also begins to understand the rhythms of the universe through the process of flowing from the universal to the particular and vice versa.
- The human family: This harmony reveals interrelationships of the various human groups using both qualitative and quantitative characteristics. The student begins to learn the beauty in diversity. They are led to discover the pervading thread of sameness that unites all. Thus is laid a foundation for an understanding, which can lead to peace and right human relations among all peoples.
- Our place in time and eternity: The evolving universe is constantly revealing to humans the necessity of responding to the present while at the same time keeping a long range vision into the future .The student learns that the past is the seed of the present and the future is the flower. An understanding begins to develop of how our own actions condition our future. This leads into an understanding of how the interrelations of national and international events are shaping the future on a larger scale.
- The miracle of individual human life: Here the four aspects of the human are studied: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. An examination of accumulated knowledge assists understanding. The intention is to provide the child with access to information that she/he can use to build some suitable forms through which the spirit of God can freely flow, enabling her/him to become a healing force upon the planet.
Design of curriculum
All parts assist students in developing consciousness and awareness of the ebb and flow of the vibrating life within every atom from the microcosm to the macrocosm. The educator’s role is to:
- Discover the student’s inner rhythm and balance in order to help each one blend with the forces of individual and group life as a planetary citizen.
- Help students develop positive self-awareness.
- Share with students the beauty and grandeur of the universe.
- Make available challenging learning experiences, which provide needed knowledge, information, and skill in action so that students can view life from a global perspective.
- Draw out the students best qualities to develop positive behavioral patterns of responsibility, concern for others, creativity and cooperation. As students mature they will become adept in working with ideas, plans, and group interchange, thus gaining new insights necessary to work with the community, national and international concerns and problems.
To guide the day to day application of the four harmonies, Ruth Schneider created “Granny’s Rules for Living”: (1) Be Kind, (2) Be Courteous, (3) Do Your Best, (4) Be Honest, (5) Respect Yourself, (6) Be Happy, (7) Accept Responsibility, (8) Thank God, and (9) Dream Big.
These principles were applied practically through daily physical exercises, personal communication, games, songs, written exercises, drawing, arts, crafts, gardening, a student council of student elected members, special interest activities, as well as field trips, and social activities such as picnics and hikes. Each student had a garden that the student planted and maintained, carefully documented and charted, and took the produce home for family use. The principles guided all class and group instruction, personal work, and teacher training.
Granny’s rules emphasize individual worth and personal responsibility and also foster group cooperation. She recognized that a modern society requires a healthy interdependence. Ruth encouraged students to think seriously and creatively. She wanted them to understand and discern not merely repeat information from memory.
In just ten years, the School became widely recognized in Andhra Pradesh and internationally. The student body started with 30 younger students and grew to 180 with Kindergarten through Tenth Level. It produced students who did well academically, rejected discrimination and caste and were widely recognized for their mature, responsible behavior. They serve as role models for rural youth adjusting to a world community.
The Mucherla School had many advantages which may be difficult to replicate such as the leadership of Ruth and Richard Schneider and small classes. Yet it is believed that India in the last ten years has become more open to these ideas and that much of the Mucherla approach could be applied, albeit sensitively, while retaining the best of the current educational system.
Educational Needs
How is this sustainable, holistic, experiential education to be accomplished? First we look to the forms of education which has sustained indigenous groups for millennia: tribal, neighborhood, village and community based forms of education. Today with computers, cell phones, television, satellite communication, even isolated communities can take advantage of global communications and educational opportunities at many levels.
The faith that an individual will become an intelligent human being, who sees his or her personal interest aligned with, rather than in opposition to the rest of the world, is indeed the corner stone of global education. This is partly connected to a faith in the unknown and partly based on the ability to enter into fruitful dialogue with the world and others: teachers have to let go of any preconceived ideas and be willing to learn also from their students; students have to be willing to give up unquestioning obedience to outer authority and, at times, teach their teachers. Global education must teach students how to let go of their personal point of view and work together. They must learn to be sufficiently rooted in the unknown to place life’s experience at the service of the greater design and not be tyrannized by the finiteness of previous learning. In other words, students need to remain enlightened by the insights that come from the unknown. This involves more than intuitively drawing on the unknown. It demands that we incorporate the process, much as the tracker, born and bred in the wilderness might, when in totally unfamiliar terrain, head directly for the right destination, guided by a flash of insight, while the novice is attempting to intuit the way abetted by trial and error.
Education as a process, with developing consciousness, is the best vehicle we have for pursuing our goal of a global family united in peace and assuring the needs of all of the human family members. Holistic, experiential education produces individuals who can think, reason and improvise. We must create systems, educationally, economically, and socially that bring the planet and ourselves into meaningful balance. We must come into the future as part of a global family and not as an assorted number of unrelated entities. Learning leads to the assumption of responsibility. The Mucherla approach instills in students a value of their own, a sense of responsibility for themselves and one another, and an ability to see beyond the confines of caste, social and economic status to a better and more enriched life. Thus, entire families and extended families, and entire villages are transformed and uplifted.
Since June 2004, concentration of the Institute of Global Education has been on the Indian Student College Scholarship Fund. Through donations and sponsorships this fund assures education for those deserving and financially-in-need students beyond Tenth Level who would otherwise be unable to go to college. Many are from families where they are the first to go to college. For these students education is their only access to a real future. The Institute has enabled students to graduate with degrees. These are the first to share the Mucherla experience from the beginning grades and completed Tenth Level studies with impressive marks. We have sponsored and sustained these students for 16 years from kindergarten to a college degree.
