Student and teacher
The child’s natural curiosity, the urge to learn exists from the very beginning, and surely this should be intelligently encouraged continually, so that it remains vital and without distortion, and will gradually lead him to the study of a variety of subjects. If this eagerness to learn is encouraged in child at all times, then his study of mathematics, geography, history, science, or any other subject, will not be problem to the child or to the educator.
Emotional openness and sensitivity can be cultivated only when the student feels secure in his relationship with his teachers and parents. The feeling of being secure in his relationship is a primary need of children. There is a vast deference between the feeling of being secure and the feeling of dependency. Consciously or unconsciously, most educators/parents cultivate the feeling of dependency, and thereby subtly encourage fear—–which the parents also do in their own affectionate or aggressive manner. Dependency in the child is brought about by authoritarian or dogmatic assertions on the part of parents and teachers as to what the child must be and do. With dependency there is always the shadow of fear, and this fear compels the child to obey, to conform, to accept without thought the edicts and sanction of his elders. In this atmosphear of dependency , sensitivity is crushed; but when the child knows and feels that he is secure, his emotional flowering is not thwarted by fear.
“Excerpt from Introduction” P. 12-13
‘Life Ahead’ by J. Krishnamurti