He was reacting – not to any kind of disciplinary action, nor to a fellow student he might have gotten into a fight with – but to something as simple as not being able to figure out a certain word in his text. If the visitors hung around for a while, they probably would have seen the situation rapidly deteriorate into full-blown acts of violence as the boy started beating up other kids and ripping apart their books.

Yet, if these same visitors entered the classroom a few years months later, a very different sight would have greeted them: that little boy happily absorbed in his work, breaking off from his assignment only when he wanted to help a classmate who may have gotten stuck

The visitors would probably be impressed by this remarkable change, but they would learn that in this classroom it's par for the course.

Nanda Chatterjee

According to CIS teacher Swati Lal, an empathy-based approach to teaching is what makes this alchemy possible. "In my class, empathy infuses the texture of the entire school day: it is not something taught separately; rather it is the common denominator of every lesson, activity and interaction," she said. "Education is all about empowering kids to see that their choices can and do impact their environment and the world.

"To realize this, they need to understand the interconnectedness of everything: that we as humans are connected to each other and to our environment as well. And empathy – the ability to experience what another living thing is feeling by putting yourself in that being's situation – is essential to accomplishing this."

Nanda Chatterjee observes: "In my career of 37 years, of which I have been principal of schools for 19 years, Swati's empathy-based approach to teaching – composed of developmental programs of her own devising – is one of the most powerful pedagogic methods I have witnessed. "What's also amazing about Swati's class is that despite being very young, the children are tuned in to global issues and extremely articulate when they voice their opinions – whether it's about war or bombings. "CIS has a very strong value education component in each class, but Swati's approach impacts children in a way that is truly remarkable."

Swati Lal has been teaching at CIS since 1988, and every batch of young students has benefited from her powerful feelings-based teaching methodology. Strongly influenced by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore's ideals of holistic education, a firm believer in the importance of aesthetics in education, and a passionate advocate of Theater in Education (TIE), Lal's classroom is a learning environment founded – and strategized – on the core principle of empathy.

Lal has structured the school day so that it constantly encourages and enables children to analyze, understand and articulate their inner worlds. It is through this self-examination and awareness that one can actually experience another's feelings, she says.

And it is this ability to empathize that makes a better person: you don't want something to happen to you, and so you don't do it to others. Thus, the codes of conduct that govern how one interacts with one's environment comes not from rules imposed from the outside, but from an innate, organic discipline born out of the ability to empathize.

"I follow a feelings-based approach to the syllabus that naturally and organically nurtures empathy and ethics," Lal said. For example, she chooses storybooks for language class that deal with emotions – books like William's Doll, the narrative of a little boy who is persecuted by other children because he plays with dolls and so is "different." But, as the grandmother who gave the boy a doll explains, taking care of his doll will help William take care of his own child later, and to be a good parent.

Swati Lal in the classroom

The children talk about the issues raised by the book and reflect on questions like: What do you learn when you play with dolls? Does it make you more responsible, more caring? Does it teach you about taking care of a child? Does it make you feel good? Aren't these all good things? Should playing with dolls be only for girls?

This, of course, naturally leads to talking about the construction of social stereotypes and prejudices, and how meaningless they usually are. The process "enables children to judge behavior through the lens of whether it's making the world a happier place, and not by socially imposed norms," Lal said.

In social studies class, when they study plants and animals, the children learn about habitat destruction and environmental protection – not as academic facts, but through the more powerful channel of emotions. Exercises encourage the students to imagine themselves as an animal or a tree having its home destroyed, its family split up, living in the alien, confined environment of a cage.

"Little children understand most effectively through the first-person." Lal notes.

The children learn about current events from discussing headlines in the day's papers. Inevitably, there are reports of violence and violation. This provides another opportunity to analyze feelings and talk about actions and reactions.

When Lal's students discussed the U.S. invasion of Iraq, they approached the topic by picturing what their situation would look like in a war-torn Kolkata (Calcutta). This leads them to questions like: Can war ever be a solution?; Does one's man's evil justify suffering being inflicted on so many?

There is also a large theater element to the lessons because Lal believes that role-playing is a powerful tool for promoting empathy. "It forces you to stretch your emotional spectrum and sharpens your emotional recall," she says.

Swati Lal reading with children

The empathy-based approach is not restricted to the classroom. For example, instances of bullying on the playground, like deliberate shoving, are dealt with, not by punishment, but with a conflict resolution process that involves exploring and articulating feelings.

"Victims" talk about the feelings of betrayal, injustice, rage and helplessness that they experienced. "Aggressors" are encouraged to introspect and to express why they did what they did. They're also made to put themselves in the victim's situation, and to imagine aloud what the victim must be feeling.

Every actor in the drama gets a chance to speak, and as a result, nobody feels invalidated. Listening attentively to one another, they understand what the other felt, and where the person was coming from. This clears the air and makes it easier for resolution to take place.

Every year Swati Lal writes the end-of-term play for her students. The pieces typically highlight issues related to the environment, freedom, animal rights, family, friends – issues that her students have been exploring through the course of the year. Here is a song from her play, All Kinds of Cages (performed December 2000): You can be that person running down the street You can be that bird soaring up in the sky You can be that squirrel playing with light     and shadow You can be the ant deep inside a flower, and     know the secrets of a tree. You don't need to know magic You don't need to wave a wand You only have to practice EMPATHY When you empathize You feel the wisdom of a tree and the forests live When you empathize You love the freedom of all life and this Earth     can never die If everyone could feel another's gladness If everyone could feel another's sadness Love will never leave our world Love will never leave out world.

The constant sharing of feelings, analysis of situations and emotions, all helps the children to think things through, and it also trains them to become good listeners by demonstrating the importance of hearing other people's stories. The capacity to listen, to validate another's narrative, is crucial to becoming a more caring, empathetic person.

But, as Lal stresses, this approach to teaching can only work if the teacher herself truly believes in the underlying principles of empathy. Children are extremely intelligent when it comes to detecting double standards: they have inbuilt radar for picking up mixed and false signals.

The teacher's own behavior, she warns, must be consistent with what she expects from her students. How a teacher handles situations and manages and responds to emotions will impact how effective the teacher is with the students.

Teachers' own levels of empathy and codes of conduct will determine the extent to which they can shape their students' emotional education. Thus, introspection and self-awareness is crucial for the educator as well.

As the children learn to get in touch with their own feelings and are sensitized to the feelings of others, they become perceptibly gentler and tolerant of differences. They develop a moral compass, not through a separate class on "moral science," but because every subject is designed to make them conscious of being part of network where every action has a consequence.

"The old maxim, 'I think, therefore I am,' here evolves into, 'I care, therefore I am'," Lal concludes.

Swati Lal
E-mail: swatilal@hotmail.com