David William Sheehan is an Irish writer and educational leader based in Tamil Nadu, India. His essays explore education, institutions, culture, memory, migration, and the systems that shape how people understand themselves and one another. Drawing on history, philosophy, and lived experience, his work examines the relationship between personal identity and institutional life. Professionally, he has worked across Ireland, the United States, Sweden, Bangladesh, Thailand, Myanmar, Russia, and India, and is currently Founding Head of School at PSG World School. Email: david.sheehan.mot [at] gmail.com
by David William Sheehan Last monsoon, I was watching a group of students in a classroom in Coimbatore settle into a difficult conversation. Two students had reached an impasse over something that genuinely mattered — a disagreement about a community project that had moved from practical to personal without anyone quite deciding it should. The…