Schooling or What???

They say all men are not made equal. Someone is better than many others and many others are better than most others. There is no state of not comparing in man’s life; there are highs, lows, gradients. There are sometimes small plateaus, but with sheer drops.

As part of my work, I visit and work with schools in urban and rural places. I see children trudging along in monotony, ennui and fear in many many places. Usually the schools that are looked up to in their town are the ones where children are at an unwarranted low. Children need not go through the stress at their age, to simply learn. The parents want the child to learn and develop, the school wants the child to put up a great show – at home and in the tests/exams, but what does the child want?

Children want to learn too, but without being pressurized, threatened and being abused for their personality type. Though no child can tell this like I have said, all the child wants is to have a good time at school while they grow up to be like its father or mother – good, responsible and successful.

In the traditional schooling system in India, children are classified as:
a. The Highly Intelligent – prepares for his classes, never misses an assignment, quick fire in answers, top five ranks in the class, very good memory
b. The Hard Workers – prepares for class, asks doubts, never misses an assignment, is good at recalling answers and usually a very good memory
c. The SO SO Children – usually score first class, but struggle and are quiet in class
d. The Weak Children – fail or just pass cases

The a & b types are personality types that pick up stuff by just listening and reading. They are not dependent on the school for their education, but the school is dependent on them to produce “results” and maintain the status of the school.

The c & d types are different personality types who can’t pick up concepts by just listening, reading and memorizing. They form the bulk of the school’s roster, usually from 40% to 60%. They really need their schooling to accommodate their alternative or majority learning personality. They need their schooling to prepare them for life, for competition and to become good people. Their needs are being ignored continuously, by the theory that every child is the same, (if he can score, why cant you?) and that schools are trying to produce engineers and doctors only, and not human beings.

Let us look at the typical learning experiences of the type c& d school children.

a. He is slow in the class, is usually undisciplined, could be hyperactive and/or neurotic, gets physically and mentally abused for being like this, doesn’t score marks, is continuously lying, hiding.
b. He is picking up learning experiences continuously outside school. He is good at cycling, mobile phones, computers, making clay models, etc. He is better than the a & b types in many things that may be required to be successful in life.
c. He comes to school out of fear for the parents, is going through schooling in fear for the teachers, marks and abuses, and is living through life in fear of abandonment and ostracization.
d. He may have never or seldom gone through a moment of enlightenment in school, even if he has, he won’t divulge it.

If a school makes 1 million in a year, the types c & d contribute 0.6 million, yet they are not addressed. It is a sad state of affairs with parents ignoring their unique child’s needs for the more glamorous “marks” and “career”. Nearly all c & d type children get psychologically malformed due to their schooling.

I have defined the types of children taking cues from how children are actually assessed in school. Many or most people believe that any other method of classification is impractical, blasphemous and sometimes even immoral. It is the fixated practicality of adults that is spoiling our future generations for us.

Medium Vs. Idea

Diwali is the festival to celebrate the slaying of a demon by Goddess Kali. And there are lights all around us, laughter and so much of fun.

Let me examine what Diwali means to many of us:

a. Loads of discounts on mobiles, clothes, consumer durables – and hence days of shopping
b. Some sort of a gift coupon from the office
c. Bonus and reveling in spending
d. Crackers
e. Sweets
f. Loads of movies – Diwali special programs, special movies
g. Friends get together and party

The media and industry have hijacked every festival and probably gone on and created new occasions to actualize sales forecasts and aid economic growth. Dental health week?

The pressure on an average family to celebrate these festivals in the ‘proper’ way is enormous. We see a frenzy of spending in the weeks leading up to diwali. The richer shop a week or fortnight in advance and the poor in the last week.

Diwali is the triumph of good over evil. But what evil, in myself, have I defeated this year? In the end, the medium always seems to defeat the idea. We are more worried about religion that God. More worried about how to celebrate than why to celebrate.

Even Goddess Kali is not able to set an example for us!