Inside Out, Outside In: Thinking a Tagorean Future of Education: Inside Out, Outside In: Thinking a Tagorean Future of Education

Rabindranath Tagore’s ideas can still inspire education in the East as well as in the West today. In thispaper, I survey Tagore’s philosophical anthropology and argue that there is more coherence to hisphilosophy and pedagogy than is usually seen. For Tagore, the highest goal is to make the world one’sown, as well as to enlarge one’s self to encompass the world. The educational practices through whichthis ideal can be reached can be classified as “creative action,” “love,” and “freedom.” On the basis of suchan ideal, realms such as the arts, nature, and movement no longer remain expendable additions to the kindof knowledge-driven education that aims primarily at making everyone economically productive.One ofthe problems with such a pedagogical strategy is that it treats human beings as means and not as ends.Tagore’s educational approach (his “method of nature”) refrains from turning children into adults as soonas possible and accepts the deceleration of learning and the simplification of living asmost forward-leadingapproach to a successful and comprehensive education