On 6/4/16,
we got an amazing article for discussion. I personally enjoyed a lot discussing
this article.
Here is the
link of the article:-
This article (by Nazreen Fazal) can help on how to do
reflective Thinking.
Some of the observations are very relevant to all of
us . . .
Which three thoughts u like the most?
I like
1) In school, history was firmly contained to rote
learning of dates and places. We were forced to learn the dates when wars
started and ended INSTEAD of WHY they happened or WHAT could have stopped them.
2) English was about memorizing select poems and
writing down the notes the teacher dictated INSTEAD of being asked WHAT our
INTERPRETATION was.
3) I was NOT taught . . . How to do self-guided research and review
Independent thought and how to articulate my own
opinion in speech and writing.
4) My university education became the beginning of my
un-schooling. It was where I began to love learning, where I realised that more
than one answer can exist to most questions, and that I can actually enjoy
studying history instead of falling asleep in the class. But how many of us
have this opportunity to undergo this un-schooling?
THE BLOG
The Damage Done By Indian Schools
14 March 2016
Nazreen Fazal Writer. Poet. Blogger.
Most people are surprised when I tell them that by
12th grade I’d studied in 10 different schools. Yes, 10 schools. From fancy Air
Force schools to Kendriya Vidyalayas that have students from all classes,
religions and backgrounds to a state-syllabus school in Karnataka to an Indian
embassy school in ‘the Gulf’, I have seen most of what our system has to offer.
And I’m sad to say that it is not enough. Our education system is flawed.
In school, history was firmly contained to rote
learning of dates and places. We were forced to learn the dates when wars
started and ended instead of why they happened or what could have stopped them.
Mathematics was about Sonu having more apples than he could eat, or finding
angles of triangles without being told how doing so was useful, or calculating
the speed of trains going in the opposite directions. English was about
memorizing select poems and writing down the notes the teacher dictated instead
of being asked what our interpretation was. Scoring more involved writing the
longest, most convoluted answers for simple questions. (As students all over
India are taught, answers for five mark questions should have more words than
those for other questions.)
I’ve had my books thrown at my face for not completing
my homework, had subjective answers marked down because they weren’t what the
teacher taught us...
Then there were the teachers, usually underpaid people
who took the job as a last resort. Men and women who were clearly not
interested in what and how they taught their students. While I did have some
exceptional teachers who made me fall in love with the subject, I do not
remember most other teachers fondly. Why? Because I’ve had my books thrown at
my face for not completing my homework, had subjective answers marked down
because they weren’t what the teacher taught us, was asked to solve problems
with no heed paid to whether I’d understood the concept. And this is the case
for millions of students across India.
In 14 years of school, here’s what I was NOT taught:
How to manage my finances/budget
What are taxes/how to do them
Sex-education that was not just a token chapter about
male and female genitalia and reproductive systems
How to do self-guided research and review
Independent thought and how to articulate my own
opinion in speech and writing
Other basic skills that adults require to navigate
life.
Yet, by the time I was 18 I was expected to choose a
college degree that would establish the course of my life and determine where I
end up.
Luckily, I am blessed with parents who did not care as
much about the report card as they cared about their children becoming
well-rounded individuals. This is a privilege not afforded to many. I had my
open-minded family behind me when I went off course and studied something other
than engineering/medicine. However, it was when I started studying in a
university abroad that I realised the full extent of damage done by my
schooling. For instance, in my first year I could not turn in an English
literature essay of substance. In the 12th board exams I’d scored 94 out of 100
in English because I had good handwriting and wrote exactly what the teacher
taught me. In my first year of university I got a disappointing 58 for my
literature essay. I was devastated. I’d expected that the flowery language that
my English teachers had encouraged in school could substitute independent
research and critical analysis.
How many children know algebraic equations by heart
but cower in front of real life problems? How many children’s innate curiosity
and imagination is snuffed out everyday...?
My university education became the beginning of my
un-schooling. It was where I began to love learning, where I realised that more
than one answer can exist to most questions, and that I can actually enjoy
studying history instead of falling asleep in the class. But how many of us
have this opportunity to undergo this un-schooling? I did three years of BA,
followed by a year of postgraduation studies, and I still feel the effects of
this schooling on me. So what of others?
For the parents and educators reading this, ask
yourselves:
How many of our of kids lose themselves at the
production line that is school; expected to excel in things they have no
interest or aptitude in and punished when they fall short in an arbitrary
competency marking scale? How many of our students hate books because they were
thrown at their faces for a spelling mistake or an incomplete answer? How many
children fear speaking up because every time they opened their mouths they were
told they are wrong since it isn’t in the text books? How many children know
algebraic equations by heart but cower in front of real life problems? How many
children’s innate curiosity and imagination is snuffed out everyday under the
pressure to score more than the neighbour Sharma’s kids? How many potential
writers, painters, social workers and entrepreneurs were sacrificed to amass
engineering and medical degrees? How many children sacrifice every waking hour
to realise their parents’ dream of a professional degree? How many children are
made to believe that a 9-5 desk job is the ultimate success they can achieve in
life?
Answer just this one question, if nothing else:
How many more children’s spirits will we sacrifice at
the altar of “education”?
What have we done?
What are we doing?
What can we do now?
We had to
share our views.
Here are my
views:-
This
interesting article made me look back at the days of my schooling. Everyone can
relate oneself with this article because once during our school time we must
have gone through several damages. I remember my school days, when our Maths
teacher forced us to learn tables by heart. If it is not done then, we got
beatings on palms with wooden scale. I remember those beatings and that’s the
reason I still hate tables. The disliking for any subject starts from the
attitude of the person teaching you.
Thoughts I
like the most:-
1.) In school, history was firmly contained to
rote learning of dates and places. We were forced to learn the dates when wars
started and ended instead of why they happened or what could have stopped them.
2.) Scoring more involved writing the longest,
most convoluted answers for simple questions.
3.) English was about memorizing select poems and
writing down the notes the teacher dictated instead of being asked what our
interpretation was.
4.) While I did have some exceptional teachers
who made me fall in love with the subject. ( I remember those teachers, due to
them I fall in love with my favourite subject – English)
What I was
not taught:-
1.) How to do self-guided research and review
2.) Independent thought and how to articulate my
own opinion in speech and writing. (Unlike now, we had to write what was taught
not what we felt.)
3.) Sex-education that was not just a token
chapter about male and female genitalia and reproductive systems.
Many a times
it was just the matter of scoring. “Learn this question then you can score
well” I heard that often. No one at that time told us that what will be its use
in life. How life is connected with it.
Read the
article and share your views regarding it.
Comments
Post a Comment