Education: Time for renewal

Why does the system ignore the other achievements of a school leaving child such as his interpersonal abilities? For when board examination results were announced recently, every student's identity would have merged with the percentage of marks obtained. Spelling out a seven-point charter - relevant as the academic year has begun - S. ANANDALAKSHMY says it is a time for parents and teachers to stop and think.

School should impart both the desire for, and pleasure in, learning, the ability to learn how to learn, and intellectual curiosity.

Jacques Delors in Learning: the Treasure Within, UNESCO, 1996.

LET school principals, chairs of examining boards, curriculum experts and teacher trainers put their hands upon their hearts and say that their roles in the education of children, meet with the objectives mentioned in Delors' succinct statement. Asking for this may be seen as incurable optimism on our part. These worthies might, on the other hand, even claim that the objectives are bizarre.

Learning something would be, in the view of the majority of these eminent people, a duty to be done in the cause of the child's future, the standard of the examination system and of course, the reputation of the school. Delors suggests that the school should "impart both a desire for, and a pleasure in, learning". They might say to him, in all honesty, "You must be kidding!" Education is considered to be a necessary part of the serious business of growing up. How many occasions in a formal school setting can today's children recall, when learning something was a challenge, a heady experience that brought both joy and a sense of achievement? If anything, there seems to be a conspiracy among those who control the system, to treat education rather like a bitter medicine that is good for one's health, than something to be savoured.

As for the ability to learn how to learn, there would surely be some token lip service for the idea on the part of our educators, but the focus would invariably shift to what is to be learnt (and possibly how to learn a specific curriculum). Unless the tyranny of the heavy workload is decimated, one will not even be able to give children the time to learn the methods of seeking information, of assessing its value, of drawing inferences. For the generations that grew up in the 1940s and 1950s, in India, there was more time available to think about what was being learnt and less information to be stored.

And as for imparting intellectual curiosity, it would depend on the teacher's attitude to knowledge as well as on his genuine concern for student. Some teachers do succeed, even in inadequately equipped panchayat and corporation schools, in creating an intellectual curiosity in the children. But in the absence of materials they can access and people they can turn to, many students soon stop asking questions. There are rare teachers, from different kinds of schools, who do encourage the child to think for herself or himself. But on the whole, the system engenders the silent consensus, that thinking is a subversive activity.

What aspirations do we share as parents and other caring adults?

- We all want our children to have a good education, both academic and in sports, so that they can later have a career of their choice, which sustains them economically and also leads to achievement and fulfilment.

- We would wish that they could develop emotional and interpersonal abilities and be able to offer leadership in some fields, as well as to work as members of a team.

- We would want them to have a family and friends, people with whom they can share their closest feelings and interests.

- We would like our children to develop a sense of loyalty to their home and culture and to the institutions, which enabled them to grow, while retaining an appreciation of the connectedness of the globe and the essential oneness of all human beings.

- We would hope too that they would cultivate an aesthetic sense and have a deep and abiding love for the truly beautiful in art, music, dance, drama and literature.

- We would also want them to gently heal the earth, repairing the ravages that our generation has caused to the environment.

- And we would pray that our children develop a sense of the sacred and the cosmic, and experience the radiance that results.

If this is an approximate wish list, let us see how many of these are fulfilled by the school system and how many, by the family and the community. Ideally, the educational system and the family should be consonant in their objectives and be working together in the cause of the education of children. But we are in a world that is far from ideal. We can only hope that the goals are ultimately achieved at least in a combination of home, school and society, with each complementing the other.

Today's school systems, at their best, focus only on the cognitive and mental abilities and equip the school-leaving child with advanced literacy and numeracy skills, and a vast quantum of information, much of it in disparate bits. Children are also taught to answer questions that demand quick retrieval, rather than scientific thinking, analysis and inference. So the whole system seems geared to enabling students to pass yet more examinations, which ultimately push them into the chute for a narrowly defined success. Some of these launches are successful, others get the booster rockets burnt out before they can take off.

Of the seven "wishes" mentioned above, only the very first one is addressed in the vast majority of schools. (Some schools do not even attempt this task, but that is a whole other issue.) When the results are announced, the school-leaving child's entire identity merges with the percentage of marks given in the final examination. Even the decimal points assume an ominous significance, defining the child's visa to the course of his choice. Why does the system ignore all the other achievements of the child?

Where is the child's ability to make friends and help them out when needed? A child, with a high Emotional Quotient (a summary measure of maturity, cooperation, ability to handle feelings etc), is sure to be highly valued as a companion by his peers, but there is no entry of this in the report card. So as long as we educate the youngster to be what Herbert Marcuse called "a one-dimensional man", our assessments will also continue to be one-dimensional and we will miss out on identifying other strengths, other abilities.

As for cultivating close relationships within the family and outside, the place to begin, is with oneself. One develops intimacy in the family, learning to care and share in the most natural way. Gradually, one finds that self-interest totally overlaps with the interests of the others in the family or the relevant social group. In other words, the family setting is the crucible for the distillation of affection and concern. These emotions gradually expand to larger circles, reaching out beyond kin and community. The number of relationships, per se, is not important, but going beyond primary bonds generally characterises adulthood and maturity.

Sometimes, the family is unable to perform this function; extra- familial institutions, including the school, have to be proactive and offer help. I can think of a dozen ways, like classroom drama and puppet shows, to foster the expression of feeling, in the younger years. Likewise, the sense of loyalty to one's home and one's cultural institutions must be fostered also by the respect shown by all the members in the school system to the child's individuality and to his specific sub-culture.

As always, example works better than precept. One sees among the young, a kind of fad, a cultivated cynicism about the country. If they internalise the feeling it cannot be very good for their own sense of wellbeing. The school has to provide the information and attitudes to counter the trend.

Aesthetics seems to have dropped through a hole in the curriculum. Most schools do not even mention it. Music and dance are reserved for the famous (or infamous) school day; art work (highly stereotyped) to project work. The focus is on the stars and their performance, not on the inculcation of a sense of appreciation among all students. It is not part of the routine. Introducing students to the classical, the authentic and the excellent cannot be considered elite; rather it is a democratisation of the classical. It is a case of making the best available to all. SPIC-MACAY has served this function for some young people. One would like to see the effort multiplied a thousandfold.

Schools, which have taken up the cause of ecology and earth survival in an earnest way, have succeeded in raising the awareness levels of children in these matters. We even hear of Indian school children receiving international recognition and awards for their experiments in ecology. The children's relationship to Nature appears to be easier for teachers to communicate, than their common kinship with all people, including the very poor and those very different from themselves. In these matters, the school can make a tremendous contribution. It can also make it a point to recognise and honour the children who have demonstrated their humanity.

Every family must reserve the right to teach their child, the precepts of their faith and beliefs. But I feel strongly, that the school must reinforce the value for the sacred, whatever the specific religion of the children may be.

There is a feeling of awesomeness and immensity that comes with the first brush with the cosmos. No child must be denied this heady experience. Schools must perform the initiation into the mysteries of the Universe, for the children under its aegis.

It is up to parents, teachers and the school systems to decide, jointly and harmoniously, how they will share the wish list. It is a time for introspection, a time for renewal.

The writer is a consultant in child development and education.

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