Since ancient times, edu­ca­tion, in one way or another, has been the basis of human devel­op­ment.  However, in modern times, the meaning of edu­ca­tion has changed dras­ti­cally.  The fore­most and fun­da­men­tal ques­tion upon us is “What is edu­ca­tion?”.  Is it limited to teach­ing chil­dren arith­metic, or does it go beyond that?

In my opinion, edu­ca­tion is an impor­tant tool with the help of which you (I say “you” because we are all edu­ca­tors in one way or another) can impact and develop the char­ac­ter of a human being in a for­mi­da­ble way.  That is why it becomes very impor­tant for us to not only provide an aca­d­e­mic edu­ca­tion, but to also impart good morals, values, and ethics to our stu­dents and chil­dren to ensure that India has solidly ethical and morally mature young­sters coming up through the pipeline to serve our country well in the future.  This is the need of the hour!  We must not delay.

If our desire is to erad­i­cate igno­rance from our society, it is then our respon­si­bil­ity to educate our chil­dren in such away that they can better under­stand their respon­si­bil­ity towards society and other human beings in a deeper way than aca­d­e­mics.  A more holis­tic approach is needed.  A care for the soul and the heart, not just the mind.

A bril­liant brain can unfold the mys­ter­ies of the uni­verse, but a caring heart can pave the way to God.

Thank you,

Ashutosh Gautam, Teacher of Senior High

 

 

 

Welcome to our website!

First, let me say a big “thank you” to our friend Matt in New Zealand for his effort and artistry in creating this site for us.

Second, as a guest here in the heart of India (well, I guess I can’t say that I’m a guest any longer since I’ve been here for nearly ten years, and Nagod has become my home just as much as Chicago or the Twin Cities), I want to express my heart­felt grat­i­tude to our stu­dents, staff, and local folks for being so kind and wel­com­ing of me.  I truly trea­sure this state, this town, and this school.  I am deeply honored to be here amongst you.

My per­sonal daily goal is to be a person who values, honors, and pro­motes the local culture, which is so his­toric and impor­tant.  I do this by teach­ing our stu­dents, in as quality a manner as I am able, to become excel­lent cit­i­zens of this great country by respect­ing each other, respect­ing nature and clean­li­ness, and respect­ing them­selves and their own think­ing and behavior.

I believe in an edu­ca­tion that is vast:  encom­pass­ing the areas of music, art, sports, truth­ful news explo­ration, expan­sion of mul­ti­ple vocab­u­lar­ies for self-expres­sion and good com­mu­ni­ca­tion, and helping each other achieve all that we can be as indi­vid­u­als and as a com­mu­nity.  My aim is to help our stu­dents evolve and evoke their inner dreams into real­i­ties, and help create quality path­ways towards success through a quality edu­ca­tion that spans the world.  Stu­dents with large minds that can tra­verse mul­ti­ple coun­tries, mul­ti­ple dis­ci­plines, with an appre­ci­a­tion and knowl­edge of world history and world cul­tures will become solid world cit­i­zens whose voices can be heard beyond Nagod and beyond India — stu­dents who will one day make India the world leader that it deserves to be.

Upon moving here, I noticed right away how won­der­ful the people are of this area.  The stu­dents work hard and are polite.  They have many skills in music and ath­let­ics, art and dance, and scholas­tic aca­d­e­mic sub­jects.  But, what they need is a quality pathway forward upon which they can exer­cise their skills and voices.  The talent is here; all it needs is proper cul­ti­va­tion and encour­age­ment, and to be taken seriously.

This is an excit­ing time to be here in Nagod.  I am thank­ful to be here playing a small part in making Nagod the best it can be through the edu­ca­tion of stu­dents and young people.  To encour­age them to appre­ci­ate their won­der­ful culture and history, and to show them other cul­tures through my expe­ri­ences and per­sonal studies (in clas­si­cal Western music, jazz, art, design, culi­nary explo­ration, lan­guage and vocab­u­lary, geog­ra­phy, and nuances that only a person who has expe­ri­enced first-hand) with the goal of widen­ing their minds and under­stand­ing of the world at-large.

When one has a wide vision and knowl­edge of the world, only then can they have a deep appre­ci­a­tion of the great­ness of where their roots are.

Our website will be the hub of our com­mu­ni­ca­tion.  My goal, with our student edi­to­r­ial team, is to keep our site updated daily with current school and civic events hap­pen­ing around the local area.  I will promote special events, for example at Art Ichol (our local gem).  I will help promote and orga­nize ways for our stu­dents to get involved as cit­i­zens (for instance, in tree plant­ing, clean-up days, and health­care events such as blood dona­tion drives).

I’m proud to be a citizen of Nagod and I pledge to always do my best for our town.  Our school, Satya Niketan Higher Sec­ondary, is here to help in many ways.  We work hard for quality, and we take the edu­ca­tion of stu­dents to be a very high calling to which we are honored to serve.

Sincerely, and many thanks!.….Ron (your local foreigner).