“Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross National Product.”- His Majesty Drukgyel Zhipa Jigme Singye Wangchuck

A GNH Household Budgeting Approach to the Math Curriculum

A GNH School Vegetable Garden Approach to the Science Curriculum

Idea: Incorporate Household Budgeting Into Math Curriculum

• Conveyed by Khyentse Rinpoche to Dr. Ron

Focusing the math curriculum on household budgeting

allows the seamless integration of GNH values and

mathematics outcomes.

Focusing the math curriculum on household budgeting also

allows interdisciplinary connections to be made.

A math curriculum focused on household budgeting does not

in any way compromise the mathematics outcomes that are

stipulated in the current curriculum.

I will now explain how a household budgeting approach to the math curriculum supports

all of the GNH pillars:

• Sustainable Development

• Good Governance

• Environmental Protection

• Cultural Promotion

The principle of living by a balanced budget supports Sustainable

Development at the individual, familial, community, regional, national, and

global levels.

• Global Economic Crisis

• Staggering National Debts

• Business & Personal Bankruptcies

The ability to distinguish between needs and wants is a

key learning outcome of the household budgeting approach

to the math curriculum.

The more individuals in society who have good self-governance, the

more likely it is that there will Good Governance at other levels,

especially at the various levels of government.

Full-cost accounting promotes all of the GNH pillars by taking into consideration these costs:

• Financial

• Social (e.g., Health, Educational, Cultural)

• Environmental

While the basic ideas of full-cost accounting are accessible by even

children at the lower elementary level, the full breadth of ideas of full-cost accounting requires the

study of math, science, and humanities beyond the

undergraduate level to the graduate or post-graduate levels.

Example: Compare Cola and Bumthang Apple Juice on the

Basis of True Cost• Conveyed by Dr. Ron to Shafik

A comparison of the true costs of Cola and Bumthang Apple Juice would have

to take into consideration their economic, environmental, and health

costs and benefits.

How would one go about determining the healthcare cost associated with the

increased risk of type II diabetes for someone who drinks cola everyday?

• Present Value of cost over lifetime of a 16-year old male.• P1(x) = Prob. of T. II in x yrs if no cola is drunk.• P2(x) = Prob. of T. II in x yrs if 1.5 L/day is drunk.• L1(x) = Prob. of being alive in x yrs if no cola is drunk.• L2(x) = Prob. of being alive in x yrs if 1.5 L/day is drunk.• C = current annual cost for someone with T. II diabetes.• Annual cost increasing at 10% per annum.• Present Value based on interest rate of 3% per annum.

Figure 1: Probability of Developing

Type II Diabetes, After x Years

x20 40 60 80

0.5

1.0

P1(x)

P2(x)

Figure 2: Probability of Being Alive, After x Years

x20 40 60 80

0.5

1.0

L1(x)L2(x)

Formula for healthcare cost associated with the increased risk

of Type II diabetes:

dxxLxPxLxPC

x

x

1122

80

0 03.1

10.1

That all the learning outcomes in the math curriculum can be covered by a

household budgeting approach is supported by the involvement of

advanced mathematics:

• Calculus

• Probability

• Modeling of Functions

• Actuarial Science

• Theory of Interest

Household budgeting is an ideal focus for a GNH math curriculum.

• Budgeting as a GNH life skill applies to all levels • Contentment in satisfaction of needs (vs. greed)• Embodied understanding leads to self-governance• Full range of environmental and social priorities• Priorities derived from GNH pillars themselves• Full-cost accounting includes all math outcomes• Key decision-making tool for a GNH society

We have seen how a household budgeting approach to the math curriculum allows the

seamless integration of GNH values and mathematics outcomes.

Now I would like to talk briefly about a parallel approach to the science curriculum.

Many of you have already established vegetable gardens in your schools and

so you know, from firsthand experience, the benefits of having a vegetable garden in your school for:

• inspiring students to retain traditional knowledge of local farming practices

• providing concrete learning experiences suggested by the agriculture curriculum

• promoting club activities pertaining to agriculture

I would like to discuss briefly how a school vegetable garden approach to the science curriculum allows the seamless integration

of GNH values and science outcomes.

The relationship between biology and the garden is fairly clear; the Class IX

syllabus lists topics such as:

• Cell Biology

• Flowering & Non-Flowering Plants

• Plant Physiology: Types of Seed & Conditions of Germination

• Microorganisms

For chemistry, the Class IX syllabus lists topics such as:

• Water

• States of Matter

• Air as Mixture

• Oxygen

• Nitrogen Cycle

• Fuels

• Carbon & Carbon Compounds

For physics, the Class IX syllabus lists topics such as:

• Measurements & Experimentation

• Forces & Motion

• Heat

• Matter

• Light

• Wave Motion

Over two-thirds of Bhutan’s population still practices subsistence farming …

A school vegetable garden approach promotes the following GNH values (linked to pillars of Cultural Promotion, Sustainable

Development, and Good Governance) :

• validating students’ lived realities

• making learning relevant

• strengthening ties and communication between school & community

• preserving traditional knowledge

• legitimizing the agricultural way of life

Through their lived experience of supporting the viability and vitality of the vegetable

garden, as well as through conceptual study of the scientific principles underlying its health

and proliferation, students come to embody the following GNH values (linked to the

environmental pillar):

• a sense of connection to the earth• a heartfelt appreciation of the food they

consume• a passion for maintaining the sanctity of

the food source

This eco-consciousness, derived from a whole new approach to the science curriculum, helps to create

a whole new kind of graduate.

The graduate of a GNH approach to the curriculum will be prepared to serve humanity and become a steward of the earth through an

eco-consciousness stemming from direct experience and conceptual understanding of

the inter-connected and inter-dependent nature of reality, so beautifully manifested in the living

example of the vegetable garden where so many organisms and inorganic molecules come together to produce the bio-chemical symphony

understood to be a vibrant eco-system.