Rabindranath Tagore on Democratic Education

doi:10.1017/9781009071536.010

8 - Rabindranath Tagore on Democratic Education

from Part One - Historical Perspectives

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 April 2023

Edited by

Johannes Drerup and

Julian Culp: Affiliation:
The American University of Paris, France
Johannes Drerup: Affiliation:
Universität Dortmund
Douglas Yacek: Affiliation:
Universität Dortmund

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Summary

Rabindranath Tagore was a progressive educational philosopher whose ideas were far ahead of his time but are most relevant to the contemporary challenges of today. The first Asian Nobel Laureate, his cosmopolitan, democratic ideas, and experiments in education were pioneering. But he was primarily known as a literary genius, and his image as a mystical poet from the East obscured his educational vision and philosophy in the West. The purpose of education was to him the development of critical consciousness and of freedom not only from poverty and oppression, but of the mind from ignorance and prejudice. Strongly against British colonial rule he, nevertheless, loved English literature and music and admired Western science and technological developments. Although proud of India’s glorious past, he was strongly opposed to chauvinistic nationalism and imagined a world of unity of all peoples, a synthesis of the East and West. He built a university which would represent his international liberalism.

Keywords

Tagore inclusive education decolonization of the mind student-centered education cosmopolitanism internationalism unity in diversity

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Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge Handbook of Democratic Education , pp. 108 - 126

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009071536.010 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2023

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