Ok here is the first post by me and hopefully the first of many if I'm not too lazy. This post is here only because a certain someone has been behind me to write something.
It's amazing how much one learns by just talking to people on a train journey. Every Friday I make a journey to Calicut from Angamaly and on Sunday I make the return trip. In the past two months of travelling I've met so many interesting people and all of them in their own way have taught me something.
I've always wondered whether a formal school education is really necessary to ensure success in life especially in the competitive world we live today. I met this incredible person who spoke five different languages and played chess like a grandmaster. This man had studied only till the 5th grade!!! His English was impeccable, Hindi- flawless, Malayalam- had its flaws but hey still good enough to put some of our TV anchors to shame, Kannada- had to be good since it was his mother tongue and French- learnt during his stay in France where he works as a travelling salesman. Pretty good for a guy who studied till the 5th grade. He spoke intellectually on almost any subject. Very well read and passionate about literature and the arts.
So this left me wondering whether our education system is all warped. We have students who reach the 9th grade and still not sure about what they want in life. I see a total lack of drive in kids today. Well there is a lot of drive when it comes to harassing teachers for higher grades but that's not where their heart should be. They need to give direction to their own lives in a different way and I don't think it is wholly the role of the educators and parents to do that. Some of it needs to come from within too.
It amazes me to see how self absorbed kids are today without a thought for the world around them. Words like empathy, compassion, social service etc are usually met with a "duh" like expression. Schools definitely need to rethink their educational strategies lest we end up producing generation after generation of shallow human beings. Parents need to instill the right values without being too preachy. And of course the students need to give meaning- a very deep meaning -to their lives. This meaning should be their raison d'etre.
Ganesh, the guy I met on the train turned out to be such a good citizen of the world because he was willing to open his mind and learn from what life itself had to offer. His lessons were learnt from the great book of life. The world was essentially his classroom. He regrets the fact that he never completed his school education and could never go to college etc. But he never let that regret get better of him and stop him from doing the things he loves doing. His reason for being was his drive to better himself in spite of all the odds stacked against him.
Children who are lucky enough to complete their formal education need to learn from this life lesson It really doesn't matter if you don't come first in everything you do. It doesn't even matter if you don't score straight A's in every subject. A, B, C, etc are just alphabets not heartbeats. They don't determine the person who you truly are nor do they determine your immense potential. If you are willing to free your mind and look- truly look- at where your life is going those alphabets would remain just that - alphabets . You could still climb every mountain you ever wished to climb if you just have a purpose in what you pursue.
“The difference between school and life? In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson.” Tom Bodett
6 comments:
"We have students who reach the 9th grade and still not sure about what they want in life. "
Oh ma'am, you really worry about us too much.:D
But In my opinion,
I think they know, but just don't want others to know, since they're too embarrassed to say so. If a teacher lectures them about how they 'should' be all the time, they won't feel like telling them anything so personal, will they? not referring to anyone specifically, since I've been in quite a few classes like that this year.
As for meeting interesting people in the train, my father was transferred to Thrissur once, and he would take train journeys like that too. Once, when he was in travelling, a girl started singing, when she had finished her song, EVERYONE on the compartment reached into their pocket to give her a few rupees for the wonderful song!True story!
lini k gopalan
read your article,i felt that this article may be a eye opening for those who go behind the grades.I do believe that the real life experience will mould an individual,than a learning experience.
@ Lini ma'am, we always get these "The grades aren't important, what's important is your character" in school. Our eyes are still closed.
Hey, Amita. I am sure that deeply, you know why your eyes are still closed. I suggest you reflect on it. I'll give you a full mark in V.E. and A1 as grade if you can give a brief reflection why that statement you gave is not accepted by students (and other people for that matter). :P
Statement: "The grades aren't important, what's important is your character."
Heyhey. I worked HARD for the V.E exam! And I've been reflecting on the same for the past year, and it's only diminished any confidence I had! As for the reply, it's in a message. But I think I got a bit off-topic. Sorry.
I guess Ganesh is an extraordinary person, one of those guys we call "street smart". He many not be formally educated but we cannot say he is uneducated. Surely he has that "Rambo" skills not only survive the dangerous forest of the world but to come out successful.
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