Published: December 2022

Keywords:
Ward Maillard, Processes of Learning, Humberto Maturana, Peter Block, Love, Education, Learning, Legitimate Other, India, Dehumanization, School, Co-construct, Evolution of species, Dominant narrative, Reflection, Social Network, Colonization, Curiosity, Observation, Experiential Learning, Mount Madonna Center, Self-teaching, Self-reflection, Supportive Community, Dominant Narrative, School, Class Culture, Colonisation.

Ward Mailliard

Ward Maillard is one of the founders (in 1978) of the Mount Madonna Center near Watsonville, California, and Vice President of the Board of Mount Madonna School, a K 12 school, committed to "whole child education" integrating intellectual, emotional, social and creative learning.

As an educator for over 25 years, Ward Maillard is deeply committed to the learning process and to building bridges of understanding cross-culturally and between the secular and spiritual aspects of life. He has been engaged in creating the "Values in World Thought" curriculum at Mount Madonna High School since 1992 in cooperation with Bill Moyers, whose ground-breaking interviews with anthropologist Joseph Campbell on the Power of Myth captivated Ward.

In 2007 Ward co-sponsored "Project Happiness" with the Dalai Lama Foundation, a project that developed a student-oriented curriculum based on the Dalai Lama's book "Ethics For The New Millennium." Their journey to India was the subject of a documentary film released in 2009. More recently, in 2009, Ward Maillard travelled to South Africa with his students to interview Archbishop Desmond Tutu as part of the Mount Madonna School Ubuntu and Sawubona Projects.

Ward has served for 35 years as President of the Hanuman Fellowship, the non-profit corporation that sponsors Mount Madonna Center and that is a vehicle for the teachings of Yoga and for the variety of projects that have been developed by the Fellowship Members.  He is Vice President of the Sri Ram Foundation, which sponsors Sri Ram Ashram, an orphanage and school in Northern India, where he spends two months each year.

wardkranti@gmail.com

Abstract

This video is the second part of the ZOOM discussion with Ward Maillard. He describes several of his experiences with different schools, especially in India, and how these have been valuable learning processes for all participants - students, parents, and teachers - for him and his students that escort him. He states the importance of understanding each other as legitimate others and how the educational system reinforces competition and performance instead of collaboration and respect for each other and their beliefs. He considers the "western" style of education as dehumanising people. He reflects on contemporary society and education, showing the difference with what Maturana said that the conservation of love is the foundation of human beings, liveliness, trust and cooperation. He ends with a question that Peter Block asked him, prompting us to reflect on this as well: “What is the name of your new story?”