Education and Schooling
Since childhood I have been told this preaching that “Good marks define the future” and this one sentence itself defines our school and education system.
Everyone told me that getting good grades is the path to guaranteed success and yet I have no idea what that means, if they are talking about money, or about being happy? My teacher once told me that education is not just about reading, cramming, writing and forgetting. It is actually a beautiful concept of learning and applying them when needed in life because as Nelson Mandela said “Education is the powerful weapon to change the world “.
Big iveys like IIT’s ask for advance score but why that score becomes scale to measure our lifetime success. Life changing concepts cannot be learned from textbooks because they were designed to be taught 20 years back with minor updates. Reading experiences of others about life will not help more than taking our own. I understand, there should be criteria for being accepted, scores may matter for iveys but how can that score define the level of intelligence of students in society? One accepted at a ivey college is considered as having a bright future and at the same time one not accepted is considered a waste and liability to the family.
When I Googled What is the meaning of education? “I get the result as the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university.” It is not, system’s fault but some things need to be changed with time. History has taught us the achievements of big-great rulers but do we actually need them? How a war vectored by Akbar in 1576 will help me to win my life war? but his war winning strategy may help but that is something that we never learnt. Things need to change. It’s not just about giving equality to humans anymore but today the major problem is education and how it should be. Let’s just start with the definition of education that should be “ receiving instruction to learn something “ and place doesn’t matter. System must focus on practical knowledge more than textbooks because as I know so far textbooks just have taught me to cram the concepts and pass the exam.
We work under a mechanism like machines which repeat itself every year. Humans evolved from bull-carts to self driving cars but the picture of classrooms from the 80’s is still the same. What exactly are schools and institutions preparing us for the future? or the past?
Success is becoming your true self but how many teachers or parents want their kids to do that? Becoming a true self doesn’t apply to forcing children to study hours to get a high paid job. Parents and institutions today ignore how to raise happy children and then expect us to be happy. Every college today has psychiatrists to help students get out of depression. A million motivational videos watched everyday … but do you think, do we actually need someone to tell us what is good for us? or What makes us happy? Do we actually have to watch funny videos just to be happy?
The youth today are raised up to become citizens of tomorrow. The growth is parallel to the future of the country that is reflected through the present education system also education is the foundation at which the future of one depends. Education system should primarily focus on making youth creative. In-spite of giving lectures on what to think, focus on the idea of how to think. A school must stimulate curiosity in the young and equip them with tools to be better human beings.
The shift of thoughts from textbook knowledge to knowledge of life, will bring a forth sea of change in schools. People are warmed up to the idea of education being the key to a good development, instead it is just a means to acquire degrees and monetary success in life. In this competitive world, education becomes the basic necessity for human beings after food, clothes and shelter. That is why it becomes very important to use the right method/way to educate and prepare youth for the future.
Institutions must focus on the following aspects, which will contribute immensely to the development of the young and creative minds as they step into adulthood and will help them to discover their true potential.
Mental Development
School is the foremost stair of knowledge children are exposed to. It gives them a chance to acquire knowledge on various sectors such as literature, science, mathematics, politics, and other subjects. This contributes to the cultivation in their thought process. When one is exposed to the influences coming from various cultural sources, his/her own world and existence becomes vast. It improves them the way they use to think. Instead of just focusing on teaching from text-books schools should shift towards providing practical experience more because we can forget what we read but real time experiences are hard to forget.
Social Development
School is the first avenue of socializing for a kid. Up till then, parents and family members are the only people the child has interactions with. In schools, young minds are exposed not only to new ideas but also to same aged compatriots. This instills sociable practices such as empathy, friendship, participation, assistance which turn out to be extremely important in their adulthood. Childhood is the age of opening socially whereas adults are resisted because of barriers like shame and shyness, never able to come out socially. A child should be encouraged to participate in activities that include public speaking. Not just peer-to-peer interaction but students to teacher interaction should be the priority.
Physical Development
A child goes through various physical development. While home provides a restricted environment, in school a child can channelize his energy into more sociable avenues. Studies have shown that in a familiar environment, the child is equipped to deal with sudden bursts of energy, he learns to be at his/her best behavior only when exposed to same-aged individuals. The presence of activities such as sports, music, art,craft help children direct their energy and creativity into something productive. One should be exposed to the open environment and schools should help students to find their talent.
Life is also about learning. While we can learn to a certain extent from our parents and family members. But taking education at school is also necessary for mental and social development. At school, one is exposed to various sources from whom they can imbibe immense knowledge for their mental development. Hence right procedures followed at school is necessary for children to inculcate the workings of life.
Education forms the foundation of any society. It is accountable for the social, political and economic growth. In general, the development of society, the thread of the growth today depends upon the quality of education that is being imparted. Correct education and lessons can change the future of the country. We can’t shutdown the whole system at a sudden but regular changes will make a big difference. Education can either make a human a better version of himself or can transform a human into a machine. Education can make a person practical and decisive enough to learn from his own mistakes and build his own way or can force the human to cram things and walk on already created paths. At last, It all depends on education and equally on us.
