Stories about education
17 Buddhist wisdom stories about education from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- Class A and Class BStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: An English school splits a year group into two classes of exactly equal ability by exam score — only the headmistress and two psychologists know the results — with equally good…
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This was a story of a test which was done in a school in England. Two classes of kids, the end of the year exams, you know, we just done the end of the year exams for our kids in school here in Western Australia. The school year is just finished or about to finish. And it's usually the usual thing is on the basis of the results this year, you know, that's how you'll be graded for, you know, the streams of learning for next year. And there was one school did this really interesting experiment. They had two classes in one year and having done their examination, they never published the results. There was, if I remember correctly, the head mistress and two psychologists were the only ones who knew what scores every kid got. But instead, what they did, they allocated the children as evenly as they possibly could. The kid who came top went in the same class as a kid who came fifth and sixth. No, fourth and fifth. Yeah. Fourth and fifth, 8th and 9th, 12th and 13th, 16th and 17th. They all went in one class. The kids who came second and third, sixth and seventh, 10th and 11th went in the other class. So they split the classes up as evenly as they possibly could. And the head mistress tried to find teachers who she thought were equally good. And they even went as far as to find classrooms with equal facilities. They made everything equal as possible except for one thing. They called one of those classes class A and the other one class B. And they were totally equal in ability based on the exam results. and they wanted to find out what would happen next year. Half of those kids went into class A and they weren't more brilliant, but their parents said, "I don't know how you did it, son. You're in class A. Carry on. Well done." And even the kids who came second and third going into class B. I want you to work harder next year. You know, no more privileges for you, more homework. the the parents thought class B meant the worst and even the teachers taught her to a lower level and the kids be know with her in class B the kids started to believe the class A kids were superior than the class B kids because one year later when they gave the exam again the children in class A did so well as if they were the top half chosen from the year before. And the class B kids did terribly. Literally after one year, half those children became class A children and the other one became class B simply because they gave that label and they believed in it, they became it.
- Don't revise the day beforeStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: He tells students not to study in the 24 hours before an exam — go for a walk, eat your favourite food, watch a movie. The last time, at Carmel School (the Jewish school in…
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look I teach this for schools it works at schools it works for sport why can't it work in every other part of your life that's good you tell people before you do an examination for goodness sake don't do any studies the day before 24 hours before the examination just go for a walk eat your favorite food watch a movie for goodness sake do not get out your textbooks and revise and the last time I taught that was at Carmel School here in dianello you know the Jewish school and after telling that just before the year 12s I got a letter back a couple of months later from the principal he never actually came to my talks we said thank you very much we got the highest results in year 12 in the whole of Western Australia we think it's because of you thank you so much I should have kept that that's from the principal it works
- 'Miss, can we have quiet time now?'Story · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A deputy principal who learned meditation with Ajahn Brahm teaches her Year 6 class 'quiet time' every morning, from five minutes at the start of the year to fifteen or twenty by…
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one of the uh the people who learned meditation with me uh she was a a deputy principal of one of the schools primary schools she's retired about 10 years ago now so it shows you how old the story is but she would uh be teaching meditation in her class of kids and there were year sixes grade sixes and know grade sixes you know they're starting to you know get close to puberty and starting to be a bit Troublesome but she started teaching the meditation from the very beginning of the year now she called it quiet time rather than meditation cuz now meditation is uh looked upon as being Buddhist and for a good reason cuz basically Buddhism invented meditation now we started it off so it has that Association even though that you know anyone can meditate you don't have to be a budhist to meditate and you even some people say that when they sit down meditating at home they the dogs meditate too which is one of the other nice areas they they sit quietly next to you and I'm sure that people who meditate next to their dogs their dogs bark less and they're much quieter maybe that could be could be a study on how to quiet down dogs but the uh she was teaching quiet time starting off with 5 minutes at the beginning of the year and finishing off with 15 or 20 minutes as a group activity which started every morning of the school year and she told actually it wasn't her but it was her principal because I remember going to the school once and obviously having some tea with the principal and he was he was not a Buddhist but he was praising sort of this lady and how that her meditation introduced in this year 60s the changes which he saw happen which was not just the children's intellectual ability increased because their attention was strengthened and but also and their academic uh results increased and he could see this having been a principal looking at it from objective position but also he found out some other things which were happening that the social interaction of the children in that class improve they are more sensitive more compassionate and less aggressive towards each other which was an important part of what happens when you do become more attentive more sensitive just the the mindfulness develops the compassion and the understanding and I remember her giving an example of what happened and many many times she said that sometimes in the class of kids in our modern schools sometimes there'll be some sort of argument or some sort of altercation and usually whether that would be a fight or a big argument now that one of the kids in the class would put up their hand and say Miss can we have quiet time now and when they had quiet time just for 5 minutes just doing a simple relaxation watching the breath calming the Mind down afterwards the altercation finished and there was no sort of big argument or big problem not only that that people were sensitive to each other because of their digital development of meditation year sixes they could actually tell when somebody was in a bad mood or someone was sick or someone was unhappy and because of that they had this beautiful little mini Society in their classroom which had been enhanced by doing a tiny bit of meditation every day
- Mr Howard — the jolly maths teacherStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: School maths head Mr Howard never scolds; laughs with students; praises them when they catch his board mistakes — Brahm credits him for love of maths and positive thinking.
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Mr Howard and the reason he was he was influential for me he was always a very jolly fellow you know he was the head of mathematics that's one of the reasons I was really interested in mathematics because he was Jolly always happy would never actually scold but always be laughing at you and laughing with you when he made a mistake on the board you know and you picked it out he praised you for it he wouldn't criticize you at all I learn a lot of compassion and positive thinking just from just one
- Raise them honest and questioningStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: An English Buddhist couple ask a monk how to bring up their first child without brainwashing — Buddhist, no religion, or every religion? The advice Ajahn Brahm repeats: raise the…
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That is why this is one of those stories of I This was one of my friends a long time ago over in England. A Buddhist English family, Caucasians, had their first child and they asked him, "How should we bring up our child? Should we teach him to be a Buddhist? Or should we teach him no religion? Or should we teach him every religion? We're confused. I don't want to brainwash my kid cuz I was brainwashed. And I want to How do you bring up a child to have a good ethical foundation? And a monk gave this very brilliant advice, which I've repeated to other people. Bring up your child to be one, honest, and two, questioning. And if you encourage that in your child, honesty, it means that they will never deceive themselves believing something which is ridiculous. Truth will be so important to them that even religious statements, they would check out if it doesn't make sense, doesn't matter who said it, they'd reject it. Honesty will be one of the greatest uh filters of truth for misinformation. And secondly, questioning will always be challenging, challenging, challenging until they found out once they've questioned and challenged what's left. More they're questioning and challenging, which they can honestly believe in, that will be the truth. And that would be the best way to to encourage a child's religious or spiritual development as it is yours as well. Please always question and be honest. If you don't agree with it, say so. Don't believe it just cuz I say so. Don't believe it if everyone else in the world except you says so. No, don't believe it. Be honest with yourself there. If it really is true, you feel it is true, even if it goes against your beliefs, if it feels true and is true, change your beliefs. Never bend the facts to fit your faith, bend your faith to fit the facts. That's honesty. So that way, that is how good teachers teach. They don't teach you what to believe. They teach you to be honest and also to question.
- Set the exam so most pass and no one gets 100%Analogy · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: As a school teacher for one year he was taught to set tests so most students get at least 50% but no one gets 100% — too easy wastes time, too hard dispirits. He maps human life…
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I was a school teacher for one year. And when I was setting examinations and tests I was taught if you're going to set a test you want to sort of make sure that most people get at least sort of 50 percent but no one gets 100 percent. If everyone gets 100% that's a waste of time. That's not a good examination. It's just too easy. You know if too many people fail then you actually, you're getting them dispirited. You know it's too hard. You're trying to set that standard so most people pass but a few people fail a couple of questions. So actually they learn just, you know, their weak points so they can get stronger for the next examination. And that's exactly the same with life. You know, you have been examined many times and if life was too easy, if you never had any trouble or trauma, it would be a total waste of time. You wouldn't learn anything. You have a great time but there will be no, no oomph, no essence, no learning. Nothing which really is there for you to grow with. There'll be no spirituality. It's one of the reasons why in traditional Buddhist dogma you can't get enlightened up in heaven. You don't have enough to test you. It's just too fine, too nice. The same if you have too much difficulty. It's just too much pain. There's just too many sort of wrong answers and you just fail too many times. But in this human realm that you most the time you succeed, but a few times you fail. It's just the right level for learn
- Tell his girlfriend he might marry a dummyStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A Perth father whose university son was clubbing and failing waited up until 1 a.m., invited son and girlfriend in for coffee, and spoke only to the girlfriend: his grades are…
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he waited for his son and his girlfriend to come back maybe 1:00 in the in the morning he was waiting for them and when the car came in he went outside the house to greet them and of course the son was terrified what's my dad doing at this time of the morning morning is he going to tell me off in front of my girlfriend and embarrass me and he said no he said no can you please come in both of you and he brought them in and gave them a cup of coffee and he didn't talk to his son he was just talking to his son's girlfriend and he said look you know you've been going out for a while I don't know what the relationship is but you know who knows you know you may take it further one day you know get engaged and get married and because of that I just wanted to let you know talking to the girlfriend you know his grades at University going down is doing really badly what she said he never told me that he said well I thought I should tell you because I'm sure you don't want to marry a dummy no and when the girlfriend found out what was going on from that time on the girlfriend you better come home how are your grades are you doing your homework and the girlfriend had far more power over him than a mother and dad would ever have so his grades went up eventually you know he graduated and got a really really good degree and they got married ah isn't that nice
- The 'hopeless at maths' boy who came topStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: As a young schoolteacher, Ajahn Brahm is told a boy in his maths class is hopeless — he came bottom of three or four classes the year before. For the school year Ajahn Brahm…
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another case this was from this time I was a school teacher I love doing experiments some of them were maybe not fair but they were worth it because there was a kid in my maths class and the teachers told me he's hopeless at Mass he came bottom the year before of those about three or four classes in this school now is his math teacher for one year so I decided to find out whether it was because he can't do maths or there was some other reason so for 12 months I don't know nine months of the school year after every lesson I'd ask him did you understand that give him extra attention praise him when he got the thing right go to his desk you know doing the exercises and give him a bit of a hand really just give him special attention I say it was unfair because I never gave that attention to any other child in the class just this one boy because I wanted to see whether it was a case that a person just cannot do math or because they believe they can't do it and of course it was a second case because at the end of the year that boy came top I moved him from bottom to top just by giving him a belief
- The bodhisattva at the bottom of the classStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: As a schoolteacher, Ajahn Brahm hands out report cards; a 12- or 13-year-old reads “30th of 30” and slumps — how will he show his dad? Ajahn Brahm stands by him and says he…
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so he gave the exams and the end of the year this gave out the report cards in my class there's this poor kid when I gave him the report card he read it 30th bottom of a class in a class of 30 and I could see I I saw his face cuz I knew you know who came bottom people who came top they say yeah yeah we came top this poor kid know his jaw dropped his shoulders hunched he look so sad he was really suffering imagine you have to take that report card back to your parents how do you do son bottom dad that's suffering for us you know a young kid he must be about 12 or 13 and so even then I was very compassionate teacher I was kind you can't just ignore a person who's suffering like that so I went up to him and sort of stood by him and he said you came bottom of the class yes sir how am I going to show this to my dad I said look you actually deserve a medal for this I taught him a little bit of Buddhism in Buddhism we got something called a bodic SATA now a bodic SATA is someone who sacrifices everything for other people it's out of great compassion and B saford sacrifice sometimes a whole life for the benefit of others and I think that's what you are you've taken this terrible position in the bottom of the class so none of your friends will have to actually to take this position you've done this so selflessly all the other conceited arrogant people they just want to become top but you've taken the humble position and taken that suffering on yourself so no one else has to enjoy what's coming to you from your mom and dad this evening they said you're such a kind and wonderful person in Buddhism we'd actually praise you for doing things like that and he looked at me as if I was crazy but it stopped him getting sad and upset certainly laughed afterwards
- The PhD who was shown how to sweepJoke · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A PhD graduate can only find work sweeping floors in a supermarket and complains to the boss that he has a graduate degree. 'Oh, sorry, I didn't realise you're a university…
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but that old story years ago I believe it's okay now as well this person who had graduated with a PhD from one of the great universities ities, you know, the only job he could get was in the supermarket, you know, sweeping the floors and the the young graduate just complained. Said, "Look, I've got a graduate degree and you give me the job sweeping the floors." And the boss of the supermarket said, "Oh, sorry. I didn't realize that you are a university graduate." Now, here is the broom. This is actually how you sweep.
- The pickaxe mum whose son won Iron ChefStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: An early Bodhinyana disciple helped smash rock for the ablution-block plumbing with a pickaxe, raised four kids who did poorly at school but brilliantly in life — one became head…
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she was one of the first disciples she was always bringing Danna to the first monks know a and Ja and myself and whenever we're doing any building work she'll come come up and help I remember that first building we did down at bodana Monastery the ablution block and very stupid Builders at that time we built It On Solid Rock and we tried to sort of break the rock up you know to put places for the plumbing and there she was you know this 30 40 year old mother with a pickaxe attacking this rock she was such a tough lady and she had four children and none of them did well at school but they're brilliant kids in life and they still come and see me from time to time and every time they come I just so impressed how well they've done in life and one of those kids uh you may get to know who he is but I'm trying to sort of keep these stories Anonymous he is the the head chef of scotch college and about a year ago sort of he entered iron chef competition on TV and apparently he's the only person ever to have won it and I I knew he'd do that because the way he was brought up his I went to see his mother when she was just before she was dying in her home and she had this big queen bed I've never seen a bed that big you know you had to squeeze past it to get in the room it took you know 80% of the room and I asked this was about how many years ago about 15 years ago now they said why you got such a big for it's so for my son so when he brings his girlfriend home he's got somewhere to stay with her and I was really shocked you know it's only 17y old boy uh son he said no he's going to do that anyway so in home give him a good bed and that was this boy one M Iron Chef brilliant sort of motherhood CU he understood her kids and said okay if you a girl you know quite likely they're going to have sex before marriage so make sure that you know they you understand that accept that and just make sure they've got the protection and say that Mom and Dad are here you know if anything goes wrong you know you don't have to be embarrassed just tell your mom what's happened I won't criticize you I won't shun you I won't be ashamed of you because you know in my community you're not supposed to do that no please never make your children feel ashamed or don't be ashamed of your children for whatever they do
- The principal who heard the three questionsStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Invited to an education seminar 'for the free breakfast', he's greeted by a woman: 'Do you remember me?' He doesn't. A year earlier at a Gosnells school he told Tolstoy's three…
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I was invited to give this uh seminar once on on an education day over I think the eastern suburbs education department or something. They were having a seminar. They had a nice hall. They said, "Ajent, if you come, we give you a free breakfast." That was good enough for me. So, I went over there for the free breakfast. And of course, as soon as I walked in, I'm not really sure why I was invited. They never told me. And it was like an education seminar. And the lady came up to me and said, "Thank you, Ajam Brown, for coming. Do you remember me? That's why this story comes up." I said, "No, I haven't got a clue who you are." And actually she told me the story that about six months earlier or maybe a year earlier I've been invited to give a a talk uh in Gossnol's uh I think it was a primary school you know that I go to all these places to give talks I don't really get much feedback but I went to this school and gave a talk and one of the uh stories I told was the old emperor's free question story now is the most important time, the one in front of you, the most important person in the whole world, the only thing to do is to care. And that really hit her very hard just like it actually meant so much to me when I first read it as a student. I remember first reading in this book by Leo Toltoy. And after I read that, wow, I mean, that was powerful. And I just got up from my room and just went walking around Cambridge for an hour just wow. It really blew my mind literally. So anyway, did the same to her. She was a principal of a school, a very successful teacher. That night, she told me after hearing me talk about that story, she resigned. She gave it up a job instantly. And then what she did, she knew that Gossnos is was a low socioeconomic area at the time. There were many kids had left school at a very young age and she wanted she kind of knew what had happened to them. They run away from home, boys and girls, dealing drugs, prostitutes living on the streets underage. And she thought, I can't just ignore this. So what she did was um now is the most important time. She had to do it straight away. And she went, you know, to these places in Perth, under the bridges, the places where homeless people hang out, especially underage, and she went to talk to them. But when she was talking to them, she didn't feel fear. Instead, she felt, "You are the most important person in the world to me. You underage prostitutes. You kid on drugs or selling drugs. And the only thing I'm going to do is care. How that care works out, I don't know, but just be kind." And she felt that she could now communicate with these people who were in immense social difficulties. And it was actually some of those kids were at this conference or which I went to and they were telling me just how it was the first time someone was listening to them. They didn't have an agenda. They didn't want to try and get them back to school or anything. They just wanted to listen and give these little kids importance instead of discriminating against them or just just trying to reject them or bung them in a school in a prison somewhere. She was listening. And when she was listening and get that connection with these underage prostitutes and drug dealers and kids, 14, 15 year olds, she connected so well with them. She learned what they the kind of things they needed, what kind of things they would need to bring them back into the school system. Not just an ordinary school, but being able to have times when they can come when they feel they want to come. and to have lessons or education tailored for them so they could feel that they were part of the education system not something just given to them but they were contributing towards it and she got the funding from the education department even when she went to see these people behind the desks in East Perth still that she remembered now is the most important time and the person behind the desk is the most important person in the whole world for her. And she really cared and that came out and she got the funding. And this little seminar was actually um celebrating the success of that program. I gave a talk, but my talk was totally overpowered by the next boy who gave a talk. He told where he'd come from and the pain and difficulties which he'd gone through in his life. And then just under the bridge somewhere in Perth, this lady came up to him and was the first person who did actually listen to him, not judging him. Never made him felt afraid. What do you need? What can I get for you? You know, I I have the resources to make sure that we can, you know, get you some food, a place to stay, get off the drugs, get a career. and he gave this very eloquent talk and he said he's got a place at university next year. When he said that, it's amazing where he'd come from and where he got to. I said, "I can't match that. Whatever I talk, that was a real person who'd been really down, had bad luck all his life, and somebody actually cared, listened, gave him that sense of importance, and now he was going to university. He's got his life back. And that was just one out of many. A girl talked next and she was just as good.
- The tadpole who studied waterAnalogy · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Analogy: intelligent tadpole goes to school and university and even becomes a nun studying the chemical composition of water — while already swimming in it.
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little tadpole and she was born in this wonderful lake she was a very intelligent tadpole and she went to school and she went to university and she even became a nun this little tadpole and at university she learned all about water now this chemical composition or what it does and when she was an Angie even studied the abbe de mer on water what its nature was but even the socio is one of the highly most intelligent tadpoles in the whole lake and she had a PhD in hydraulics could the little tadpole understand what water really was no more than a fish could understand what water is
- The Taiwanese school quieter than a cemeteryStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Visiting a large traditional school in Taiwan, Ajahn Brahm thinks it must be a holiday because there is no sound — even cemeteries are louder. There are about 1,600 pupils.…
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Even I visited one Taiwanese school. You know, it was the the ancient tradition. And when I went there to this big school in Taiwan, I thought it was a holiday or they had some sort of day off school. Cuz when I went in there, there wasn't a sound to be heard. Even cemeteries are louder than that school. And I found there was about 1,600 pupils there. You can never go into a school in Australia that's quiet. They're always noisy. They're always alive.
- They preferred the taller Islamic teacherStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Multi-faith school visit: feedback says girls preferred the blond Western Islamic speaker — taller than the short Buddhist monk. Ages 14–15; he does not mind.
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Pinjara school the was it Para school? No I think it was another school. It's a girl school. They wanted to have different teachers. one teach on Buddhism, one teach on Islam, one teach on uh Hinduism. I did the Buddhism bit and afterwards I got the feedback from them. He said, "No, we preferred the the Islamic man." He was a westerner because he was blondhaired and much taller than you. [snorts] These were 14, 15 year old school girls
- Two crooked bricks at the Chinese universityStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Invited to the Chinese University in Sha Tin (captioned Chartin), Hong Kong, because of student suicides, he told the two-bad-bricks story — wanting to blow up a wall over two…
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they invited me to the Chinese university in Chartin and the reason was because they had lots of uh students committing suicide and that's the story I told apparently it worked many of those students the suicide rate went down said why I wanted to blow up a wall destroy it because I saw two faults how many Kids see a couple of faults and they focus on that's all they see. You can understand why you want to blow it up. You can't stand it any longer
- Where everybody thinks the same, no one thinks at allAnalogy · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: At Dalhousie University he joked their Latin motto should be replaced with: where everybody thinks the same, no one thinks at all — praising rebellious, deeper seeing.
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change the name to the old slogan where everybody thinks the same where everybody thinks the same no one thinks at all