rethinking education
This is from a colleague (with minor editing), she’ll be able to keep track of any responses here…
Subject: Indian Education System
…wonder about the Indian Education System. The way I see it, there are only 2 types of schools in India:
1. the traditional schools that insist on teachers writing the answers on the blackboard and expecting or rather forcing the kids to memorise them word for word and vomit them with the incorrect punctuations and grammar intact. There is intense competition for scoring high marks/ranks. Knowledge doesn’t count as much as Marks do. The peer pressure is enormous. Only high performers are rewarded. Worse still, poor performers are ridiculed and scarred for life and made sure that their self-esteem takes a deep dive. These don’t burn too deep a hole in one’s pocket though.
2. the modern, totally laid-back kind of schools with an international flavour, that places too little emphasis on academic excellence lacks discipline altogether and turn a blind eye whether the child learns or not ( no punishments or rewards ) they offer large expansive play areas, basketball courts and the like and not to forget swimming pools, horse-riding and other exotic adventures that lure parents with high-income who look for creature comforts for their
wards. Some even ask if the classes have A/C ! These cost a fortune which if invested wisely can assure a steady income for the child throughout his/her whole life (sans education )
Ideally it would be great to have a school that falls somewhere in between:
– where there is discipline but no caning or lowering-child’s-self-esteem-tactics-like-scolding-smacking-comparison etc
– but most importantly where the Learning is made all Fun and easy and interesting (proabably the Montessori system or Waldorf method of education, atleast outside India, would come close to this but that option does not exist for high-school and above in India) and
– where kids are motivated to excel in whatever they take up be it academics or arts or sports (laid-back attitude of the school is not quite the same)
1. If anyone has heard of a school that would fall in this category, please email me as I’m really curious to know if such schools exist anywhere in India, in Bangalore, in particular.
2. Secondly, I’d like to hear from those IIT-ians / BITS-ians, if any, on this forum, how did you find those education instituitions different from the traditional school environment from where you moved out of.
What makes these instituitions different from the rest ?
How do they manage to bring out the best in the students ?
What kind of environment do they foster?
Which primary and high-schools in Bangalore, do you think, come closest to provide a IIT-like environment?
Or is it all upto the individual and a school is only brick and mortar and makes no difference?
How much of a role does a school really play in shaping a kid’s life ?
My kids currently go to Valley School (regular day school in Bangalore) (KFI – Jiddu Krishnamurthy Foundation whose residential school at Rishi Valley Madanapalli is rather well known). The school fosters creativity no doubt, but encouragement towards excellence is where I find them badly lacking. And the absolute lack of discipline (which seems to be common in the high-end schools from what I hear from friends whose kids go to Vidhya Shilp, Bangalore International School etc). There is hands-on learning but very little of it. Since there are no exams till 9th standard, the kids have fun till they reach 9th and then some cope ok while others not so well. But since most parents are from high-income background, it does not concern most of them.
Of the schools in traditional category, I seem to like Kumarans, which is a well-know middle-class school, where most kids are likely to be more motivated than kids from a very rich environment.
So I’m in a dilemma.
Should I keep them at Valley or move them to Kumarans (provided they get into it, which i hear is the most difficult thing in the whole world ). I need all your valuable opinions to help me make up my mind. My kids are the usual happy-go-lucky kids who like to go for walks, observe a lizard and analyse it, kick a ball with the neighbour hoods and pester me to buy a dog as a pet, kind. Certainly not the self-motivated types who take out the maths books and work on it as their hobby ( I know some kids who do this, really..). I think they could do with a bit of kick on their butts (not literally, but what i mean here is the motivating environment where most
kids take academics and other things more seriously) which Kumarans like environment is likely to provide. I’m also worried if Kumarans would fall in the Category 1 that I’ve listed way above and if it would kill all creativity in my kids, in which case, I’d want to steer well clear of it.
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Some links from another colleague that I’ve just bookmarked here to read later:
Divasvapna – An Educator’s Reverie ~ Gijubhai Badheka (1885-1939)
Multiple Intelligence Theory ~ Dr. Armstrong
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From the This I Believe book…
Re-do education. Totally.
(Foster creativity.not uniformity.) (The noisiest classroom wins the gold.)
Read it and weep, from Jordan Ayan’s book Aha!:
“My wife and I went to a [kindergarten] parent-teacher conference and were
informed that our budding refrigerator artist, Christopher, would be
receiving a grade of Unsatisfactory in art. We were shocked. How could any
child-let alone our child-receive a poor grade in art at such a young age?
His teacher informed us that he had refused to ‘color within the lines’,
which is a state requirement for demonstrating ‘grade-level motor skills.'”The school system was crafted to deliver factory slaves to Henry Ford, and
cubicle slaves to XYZ Insurers
Sanjay,
I loved reading this post (most of it written by your colleague.) Thanks a lot for putting this up. And for the links too.
I have heard from so many people that getting admissions into schools like National Public School, Kumaran’s, MES Kishore Kendra, Bishop Cotton’s, Baldwin’s and quite a few others are really next to impossible unless your child is a genius. It is not a great feat to get 100% results if you are admitting only kids who are exceptionally good. Making a smart person out of an average student is what I feel a school must do.
As to which is the best school in Bangalore, I too will keep an eye on the comments as my little fellow will be starting his schooling in about a year and a half. But I heard that for Montessori level, Hymamshu is good. It is in Malleswaram. Some told it is a good school till 10th std too. Also, I know that Kendriya Vidyalaya, Malleswaram (Central School) is really good. There is emphasis on academics as well as sports/ co-curricular activities. (But only central govt. employees’ kids can get into a Central school.)Â
I don’t believe that the school that gets the max. ranks is the best. I would see the overall development of a child in both academics and sports/ co-curricular activities.
I have always felt that for anyone to prosper in Bangalore, he/she can start a Hotel, a Temple or an Educational Institution. These are always sought after by one and all. And these are becoming more and more commercial.
Nice comments Bellur 🙂 quite agree with them esp about the overall development of a child aspect.
Bookmarking another link for further reading…
Thomas Friedman: An Innovative Approach to Math
This is not to derail the dialogue here.. but what we are talking here is not the Indian Educational System. But, probably, that of the urban middle-rich class. The overall education system in India is much too complex to categorize into two!
About IITs and BITs, I am from NITK Surathkal (KREC), and I believe it is as good (or better) than a couple of IITs. So, here is how I think our institution was different:
The high competition for the seats itself sets a high confidence in the students. Respect among peers isn’t obtained by marks alone but by intelligence and display of creativity. There are many forums wherein our talents were brought to the forefront.. (coming up with novel ways to put minimal efforts and still ace the exams to writing amazingly funny skits to play a cool tune on the guitar or to win highly bizarre quiz competitions) that give the individual the respect he desereves.
The academic demands also push students to the brink and prepares one to face challenging issues without being unnerved. Peer pressure also forces one to set high standard for himself in planning for the future.
But, I don’t believe that bringing out our best is always the outcome. Handling myself when I was at my worst is what my institution taught me the most (and at that age, I think that is more important)
I think the school doesn’t really matter but the peers do. Its them with who we mingle everyday. A good mix there, and you hit jackpot.
Shyam, my colleague was talking about primary school level education. Nice to read that you had some really good education at college! And you’re absolutely on the dot…the peers are the key… absolutely crucial!
Bookmarking Center For Learning site.
Hi Sanjay,
It was a Interesting reading about valley school.
I too want to send my kid to this school. If possible can you please ask your colleague how happy she is with Valley wheather he kids still study there ?.
This will be a great help from you.
Thanks a lot
Medha
Medha
My son went to the Valley school for two years before we had to leave Bangalore and still keeps in touch with his batchmates. the lack of discipline is very evident . the policies are very mixed up and its kind of neither here nor there. it seems to breed a pretty self indulgent kind of kid most of the time tho’ they are a very nice bunch. some who are highly motivated do extremely well. so depends upon the child and the home environment as well.
Ramakrishna and Shyam – i cannot agree with you both more.
Peers do matter a lot. And so does the home environment.
Medha, As D says, Valley is meant for self-motivated kids who can do well by themselves. If you are looking for a stress-free (exam-related) kind of school with not too much emphasis on academics, then you should check it out.
Just to make it clear that, it was not my intention to bad-mouth any school when i penned the above.
After a lot of pondering I’ve come to believe that the child, the home environment and the school – all 3 play an equally important part. And not to forget – the parents’ expectations from the school.
Sanjay’s colleague
thnaks a lot Sanjay for your time. It helped a lot to make up my mind. Appriciate your time.