Improving Wellbeing for Students and Teachers in American Public Schools

Fit As A Fiddle

While it’s easy for some of our listeners to understand that there is inherent social injustice in the public school system in America, it is still a topic that is fraught with intense political, economical and ethical conversation. What we do know for sure is that there is always room for improvement at schools to progress our future society. Teacher burnout is real and so are statistics that point to increased detention, suspension, and dropout rates amongst children from communities of color.

Today we have Indu Viswanathan, Ed.D join us today to chat about her 20 years of working in the field of education as a teacher, curriculum developer, teacher educator, and nonprofit research director. While we both felt like we barely scratched the surface conversing about the educational system in America along with the impact of practices of meditation and breathing techniques, there is so much that Indu brings light upon today. Instead of punishing students for behavior, Indu suggests we should be transforming students' outlook. She discusses her research and doctoral work and how it evolved over the years as she delved deeper into the literature.

Indu’s research focuses on immigration, education, and the transnational consciousness of second-generation Indian American teachers. She examines how American education and media reinscribe colonial-era biases about Hinduism, often actively silencing indigenous Dharmic perspectives and expression. Indu is concerned by how this impacts the lives and identities of Hindu American youth and is committed to generative inter-community engagement.

Connect with Indu at:

https://understandinghinduphobia.org/

Twitter: @indumathi37

Instagram: @indu37

medium.com/@induv