Day 22 of 30

When I was wondering what do i write for my blog..this topic came up to my mind and also was reminded of this with something i was reading my night time reading book(oh yes..i picked up another book!!!)

Education. And what has become of it. I did my schooling in the '80's and early '90's and went to a convent. It was the days when not everyone was either a engineer or a doctor, those were the days when parents wanted their kids educated unlike today where the parents monitor their kids grades with a fanatic approach. I have a couple of cousins about 12 yrs younger to me and i saw her schooling and felt very very sorry for them.

I am still not so familiar to North American approach of education, so i am talking mainly about India and specifically south India.

When i was at school, we had a subject called 'Moral Science' and i liked it a lot coz, there was no exam for this subject. It was basically to imbibe moral values in the children. How important it was, more important than maths and science. It is somehow forgotten that living with morals is as important as living as humans. As humans we are blessed with something called 'free will' and no one teaches us how to use it. One story i remember vividly even today is that of the woodcutter and the axe. what a great way to teach children that greed is no good.My cousins never had this subject. I feel sorry for them for all the valuable moral lessons they missed at the tender age, where they register in mind much faster and stay longer.

And we had 'Music' class...oh yes, and we were taught songs in different languages. Even if you sang in tune or not, it dint matter, we all at the top of voices repeated what our music teacher crooned. It was a great experience, no pressure to perform better or rather outperform others. I still remember some of the songs we learnt..one of the songs we learnt was 'eklaa chalo eklaa chalo' by rabindrantah tagore and another song is 'yee maro mathi..matti ke sumilo...'a assamese patriotic song...what a great way to introduce different languages of the country and help develop respect for all, as opposed to claiming each one's language greater than others..Oh well, my cousins did not have this class too...time is too precious to be spent singing is the motto of modern day schools

And we had another class 'SUPW/Needlework' , I don't quite remember what SUPW meant , but it was like the crafts class and yes 'needlework' meant that...everyone had to sew, no matter if you were a guy or girl...but our teacher did cut some slack and gave choice of sewing or crafts. I learnt my basic stitching skills in that class and now helps mend a broken button now and then.

And we had 'Games' class, this was to get out in the large playground we had and play a game of any choice..and no, we did have the choice to sit and talk under the trees, you had to be mobile. Thanks to that i played badminton and tried my hand at volleyball. wonderful way to keep everyone active and healthy.

We had drill every Wednesday when multiple classes were combined for the drill.
My cousin's schooling was carrying heavy books to school early in the morning and coming back home late in the evening, after Grade 7, you have no life. study all the time(mug the subjects to a point that you remember every line in the textbook), but no ability to apply it to a situation or in real life.What a waste of precious childhood and adolescence. The impression forming years are passed by without any education that will last a lifetime.

Back in my schooling days, on some days, some adventurous teachers to take the class outdoors, under the shade of the trees, my cousin's dint have that privilege, they don't even a single tree in the school premises and forget the playground.They are still not graduated yet and they have stress related problems, BP, tension and anxiety and the undue pressure of the parents to excel in maths or science is doing no good either. I was never a star student, 70% was great percentage for me, my cousins get over 95% and still are not happy and neither are their parents.

Sometimes i wonder if in the name of education, we are ruining childhoods and robbing them the opportunity to learn the life in the race to excel in maths and science. Shouldn't schools be a place a good human being is raised , shouldn't it be the place a teacher imparts knowledge in every thing essential to be a good person? Why is this little detail overlooked.

Now that i have a daughter who in a few years will be going to school, i wonder what education she would get....