Letting kids learn, naturally

Over the last few weeks I have been drawn into the affairs of my daughter’s school which is located on the outer fringes of Secunderabad. What started out innocently as an interaction between like-minded parents has now become something of an education for me. I have now become a sort of half baked expert who can tell you what is right or wrong with education - or more specifically how things can go wrong with an educational institution. But more of the negative stuff later. Right now, I would like to talk about the positives.

Today’s Indian parents have got one thing right – they seem to know where their kid needs. Or rather they seem to know. They would like to go any lengths to ensure that their kid gets the right kind of education so that he or she would do exactly what they wanted. So when the institution that seeks to provide this enlightenment misses the mark by a few notches, all hell breaks loose. Personal agenda comes to the fore, and parents vent their anger at what they perceive are the failings of the institution.

A few weeks ago, the boss of the school who is a name to reckon with in the field of education flew down to Hyderabad to understand the problem first hand. He spoke to the local school management, the mentors (that’s what the school calls its teachers) and of course – the parents. For him this was an education of sorts, for he got to hear many things which he did not know. The mentors complained that parents were crossing the ‘Lakshman rekha’, and telling them that they did not know how to teach.

The parents on the other hand were up in arms on what they considered was a major deviation from the philosophy of the school. What that the philosophy is akin to the way six blind men describe an elephant. In between was caught the school management which did not want to displease both the warring parties. Luckily, this school has parents who are committed to a cause, and that in itself is a blessing.

So a couple of weekends ago, a few of the staffers from the corporate office in Delhi came down to Hyderabad to make understand parents on the school’s take on education. It was an interesting session, complete with a discussion on Taare Zameen Par, a movie that has set a lot of patents thinking on the kind of pressure and expectations that we are setting out for our children. Three hours of power point presentation, coffee and a frank discussion and those present seemed to agree with the philosophy of education that we need to impart to our kids.

I for one am happy with what my daughter is learning at the school. It is not a slave shop which abounds in the city that whips students into text bookish morons and whose parents don’t think there is life beyond IIT. My kid has no pretensions of being a doctor or an engineer. Her choice keeps fluctuating, one day she wants to be an airhostess and the next day she wants to be a Miss India contestant. As parents, our job is to guide our children into realizing their strengths and then provide them with options. Many parents think that they know what is good for their kids, and the poor child is not asked what he or she wants to be. It’s time we made a change. A change for the better.