During my visit at Brockwood Park School I met with dr. Gopal, who shared a video with me. Its called  “Teaching for Learning”. I found the question about emotional dependance most revealing. You can hear it the video between min 38,20 and min 40,30.

Later on Gopal gives an interesting example about creation of emotional dependence, drawing upon the experiment conducted in the school during the process of evaluation:

A child interacts with a teacher, showing his drawing of a flower (for the first time). His eyes remain glued on the flower. Teacher showed an emotionally charged appreciation towards the child, praising the child. Next time the little one presented another drawing. His little eyes were no longer glued on the image, they were looking towards teacher’s eyes – waiting to receive appreciation.

Gopal points out this can lead to emotional dependance. Focus of a teacher should stay on the “flower”. Appreciation and interest have to be expressed but the attention, conversation and focus have to be managed with care and awareness.

What would our educational system look like if grades were taken out of the equation, if the knowledge eager minds would learn for the sake of learning?

Do you think there would be a completely different attitude and motivation, which doesn’t create dependence? Would that true motivation come from within? Would individuals no longer cling on to other people’s reactions but become more self confident, independent, curious?

Would this support a different way a being, a Self-driven way of being, fueled by one’s own will to learn, live, to be, to explore, without waiting/ fearing to be endorsed or punished for doing or not doing something/ anything?