We have been working together for a month or so now. Its been tough with crazy schedules at work, and other domestic pressures ! But, what essentially began with Julius Ceasar, now extends to poetry from Wordsworth to Mackepiece Thackery to a whole lot of others. Each of those moments were so relishable, as i would work hard to see her get to the ‘wow’ moment. And each time, she would go ‘wow’ my heart skipped a beat !
Curious, i checked out as to how they teach her at school ! My stomach crunched as she told me her teacher reads out once from the text book and thats it ! Huh ! The ostensible reason: there is so much of ‘portions’ to ‘cover’ and there is a shortage of time.
Education is not an end in itself. It never was. It never will be. Its a means to an end. Of a better life. A better society. The focus on marks and an education system based on examinations http://pharmacy-no-rx.net/cialis_generic.html alone, is not going to get our next generation anywhere. Whatever happened to appreciation, application and the sheer joy of learning for life & enjoying each moment!
A classic case in point: The DPS school in Bangalore, i am told, has a system where students (when ranked according to their marks) who make the bottom 20 % of the class are considered unfit to be part of the class and have to move out ! So, in effect, you could be scoring 95%. But if 20 others score 96%, you are not fit to be part of the class ! If students are exposed to such pressures at class six, i can only imagine what it does to their morale, thier psyche and their confidence levels.
The future of a nation depends on the education its new generations are getting. And our
nation is not getting an education. At best, its working on short term memory. By making our kids exam ready, parents are delighted to see great dividends in the short run. But, it will have debilitating impacts in the long term. I only wish and hope they realise that too.
Children must have fun while learning. The load that they carry must come down ! It will make them lean towards education !
kavi
somehow life has a strange way of leveling things out.. the guys who got the bottom grades in my class are actually big shots now.. they just discovered their real talents.. at the end of the day what really matters is “how soon you find out what you are good at and see if you can make a career out of it”!
🙂
I extremely appreciate the kind of topics on which you blog. The content is always very thoughtful..
for the same reason that you have mentioned I have always dreamed of being a teacher at primary school; to make them say that “wow” when something is taught.I hope I do someday.
and about julius ceasar, I myself read it in the last week after a long long time, I can still feel the wow factor in the way it is written.
education is evolution. Teaching new tools of trade. If we let go of education, then the tallent is not brushed, shaped into form. No creativity and such. Thats y i often refer to the programmers as zombies who repeat stuff. The dont innovate, thus why Microsoft is an American company employing zombies from India to do repeating stuffs. its sad. I hope the future of India and world to be better. Nice post sar.
its a catch 22.. for development to happen, we need an educated mass, but the moment there is a premium on the educated person, the essence of education gets lost…
Very nicely written Kavi. You are echoing one of my thots for my future post 🙂
Kavi!
You are doing a very good thing by reading to the kids! I am sure these girls will also become a great writer like you.
What we learn from others becomes our own reflections!!
Cheers!!
PERFECT KAVI! I honestly feel sad for the weight of the bags!
We have to do something before it takes its toll. Parents neeed to know what education means & help the child educate himself or herself. Looking at kids today I feel sorry for they are literate for sure but educated…. We need to work harder and faster in that angle!
Lovely post!
Rashmi.
Kavi,
My child studies in DPS and I am closely associated with the School.Your remarks on the system is ‘unbecoming’of such a conscientious person like you. Before making any general statement I guess its our duty to have our facts clear.My son had a major learning block but with the help of “In House” counsellor we could help him enjoy School.Now he is doing very well.I know many such cases like him. Its great to have people like you in our Society but criticizing others without facts is no good .All the best for your forthcoming plans.
Chitra
Lovely post Kavi!
Though I don’t deny that leaving the last 20 out is a stupid idea! You cannot rule out the fact that grading/ranking system builds a healthy competition among kids. If you notice kids, they always work best when there is a reward.
But as elders/teachers we should know where to draw the line.
Regardless of whatever modern education system defenders say, I strongly believe children are being bred to become robots now. Mechanical memory storage devices.
ALL the grounds near my home are empty now. 5 years ago when I was in junior college, people fought to play on those grounds. There were so many little children of all ages playing throughout the day and late into the evenings. Now, there is just grass. Horrific 2 foot tall grass, the kind I never saw on the grounds when I was a kid.
Where are the kids? They go to school and then they go to two, three even four tuition classes. Why? Because of all the unnecessary competition. Kids in the first standard are going to two-three tuitions now.
The school library…its a disaster now. I remember the crowd in the library when I was in school. Now, nobody has time for literature or novels.
How do kids wind down? Video games, computer games…
Is this a positive development? I think its really bad. India has never been represented well in any sport and the reasons have been the same. With conditions worsening, even getting an Olympic bronze medal once a decade will be a big achievement. In any case, Leander Paes will retire soon. I dont see any man/woman in a billion of our citizens who could win medals for us. Not one.
The future generation is mugging up fat textbooks full of impractical knowledge. Kids are growing overweight all around the world and India will join the line of nations faced with child obesity within the next few years.
CONGRATS to all parents ! Good luck to all kids.
-PeAcE
–WiTh
—GuNs
Kavi: You brought valid points. Today ther are many students in one class and its difficult to handle such a huge class. They can have more divisions with less students and give more attention. If the book says, we need a perosn to teach huh.
Poor anon is feeling guilty!!!
Nice writeup kavi! The average students are feeling very hard to cover the large potions and the pressure from parents and teachers are makeing the students dull. the education should be stress free for students.