23 May 2013
When I was a little girl, I read this quote written at my school entrance, “Education is not INFORMATION, its FORMATION”.
I never understood at that time what it really meant, but now, after many years when I have entered into this field, I have realized the true significance and value of this one phrase.
I see school-going kids carrying huge bags full of books on their backs. After daily carrying this huge load on their frail backs, their back-bone just bends and their posture is ruined for the rest of their lives. I stare at all those kids while dropping off my daughter to school and wonder what kind of education are we really imparting; this torture starts in KG 1 & 11 and then continues for the next 10-11 years of their school life.
I meet parents at the end of term parent-teacher meetings and listen to them complaining to the teachers that their kid did not get an “A” or an “A+” in one subject or the other though he/she has been studying so hard. I frown at them and think, what kind of parents are they: don’t they know that all children are different with different learning abilities, capacities to grasp a subject. As parents, it is their job to know what are the strengths and weaknesses of their child and what are his/her limitations. Why are our expectations so high from our kids. They are not computers or is it what we are striving to make them. They should have an excellent memory to retain what has been taught to them and reproduce with perfection.
I would like to draw the attention of my readers,, who are parents already and those who are going to be, to a few points:
1) Our children are our future.
Please do not ruin their mental faculties my making them cramming machines. This makes them develop tunnel-vision; they lose all their ability to question things, to ponder upon facts, to apply their own minds at the information being fed to them.
By this attitude, how can we even think we’ll be able to produce scientists, leaders, thinkers, visionaries.
2) All children are born with different mental capabilities.
If one of our kids is an A+ student, we cannot expect all our children to be like him/her. Some children are quick to grasp things, some need more time and a lot of patience by the parent or the teacher to make them understand.
It is our job to understand our each child and make things easier and interesting for him/her to understand. We need to inspire and motivate them to study rather than make them hate their books or a particular subject.
3) Please do not develop very high expectations from all your kids or set very high goals or standards. This can result in childhood depression, physical illnesses and very unhappy children.
Life is tough as it is; let them enjoy and cherish their childhood. Only happy children make happy, successful adults.