A MUM'S FEAR

 I am scared..really scared. Ever since my little one joined a nursery school, I have been blown over by a huge tornado of questions- “ is this school right enough for him?”  will it prepare him for the mad competition to come later in life?” “ why haven’t I put him in an international school?” “what are his hobbies…did the school have a summer camp to take care of that”..blah..blah..blah.. the list is endless. And if that was not enough, a pushy relative even asked me what his grades in play school were. As if it mattered! It does not..to me…for heaven’s sake.. he is not when still lisping and is barely 4.

 

But maybe, it does to a whole lot of people. Year after year, we see parents pushing their children to scale the heights of success..and the children do become super achievers, with alarming regularity. What else can explain a big bunch scoring a flawless 10  a la Nadia Comaneci in the Board exams. A CGPA of 10 or 100% is supposed to mean that the child has nailed it. Something that I am loathe to believe. Not because I doubt the brightness or genius of these children; being prodigies of an information society, their exposure to various vistas of knowledge is enormous. I seriously doubt the pedagogy and the system of evaluation being practiced today.

 

About 20 years earlier when I was in school, a 90% received ooohhs and aaahhs and the child getting that coveted percentage in any school exam was treated with reverence by peers. A 90% or a little more meant you are SOMETHING of an authority on the subject(s)….you are closer to the ideal type. A 100% of today means you are THE ideal type..period.  But did not Weber point out that the ideal type is just an idealistic measuring tool which does not exist in reality. Moreover, the tiny cynic in me refuses to accept that student after student can score full marks in language subjects, however creative, imaginative or fantastic he/she might be at the subject. It all seems pretty ludicrous, really.

 

 I really have nothing..absolutely nothing against the children who are doing phenomenally well in the exams and I as I said earlier…nailing it. But, I am skeptical that they are being taken for a huge ride in an amusement park which will not be so amusing in the years to come. Because first, in any exam save that of Math or the Pure Sciences, it is next to impossible to be 100% right. Then again, this perfect score pushes the child to believe he/she is simply the best and there is nothing more to achieve. Plus, the internal pressure that he/she must always be perfect in all future exams to match up to this initial achievement. Any failure or inability to do so is a perfect recipe for depression, feelings of inadequacy and a host of other psychological complications.

 

I am rather confused as to what the solution could be. But as a parent, I really wished that the teachers taught better and kept the bar a little lower. For in the years to come, I dread being the run of the mill parent scrambling in my after work hours to finish the holiday homework  and all other school tasks for the child or worse, nagging and bullying him to work his head off to score the very achievable 100%. I don’t want this future for my child, I don’t want it for myself as well. And even if some Board does evaluate him perfect, I would refuse to believe and I would not want the little one to believe..that he is purrrfect..the ideal type. And if he does not, I am petrified of the resultant despair and gloom. Gosh no! Tsshat is why I am scared..dumb scared.

 

THE CONUNDRUM OF CORRUPTION

I spent most of last month in a recruitment process for the department .Before the recruitment process began in the capital city, I was wary of the month long arduous task ahead and the accompanying drudgery; at the same time, I was curious to see the levels at which the young men and women, the very light of our country- the youth would compete with each other for the handful of government jobs at our behest. They came, they competed and they left me brimming with pessimism. Most wanted to cheat in the physical efficiency tests and did not even shy away from manipulating something as impossible as height. The most enduring trait common to the ten thousand candidates who appeared in the sundry tests was the overpowering hungry to cheat, lie and adopt all the unfair means possible to get that elusive government job. Which translated to tiptoeing during height measurements, trying to piggyback during swimming, slobbering for that ‘another last chance’ after failing to clear an event not to forget the countless calls made through the high, mighty and powerful of the society to extend specific candidates an extra helpful  ‘nudge’ to clear the exam. The justification for this entire charade would be on similar lines- the candidate specific was a destitute with the weight of a poverty stricken family/relatives on his head which apparently gave him the right to flout all norms to get employed and thus, earn a ticket to the genteel world.

 I agree and empathize with the urge to find a job and place under the sun-I had been slogging for the same half a dozen years ago and the memories of those days and nights of toil are still mint fresh in my memory. What I do not agree with at all is this justification of dishonesty in the name of poverty. Should honesty and transparency only be the shroud of the haves and be dispensed with in the case of have nots? It is actually difficult to swallow that the youth who spearheaded the anti-corruption campaign a few springs ago do not bat an eyelid when it comes to their own cases. I believe that the issue of corruption has been done to death in the public sphere and it has been quite an eye opener to see the country en masse ganging up against dishonesty, greed, unfairness, cheating and corruption. But, a good brush with field reality makes one wonder whether we are socially, ethics spouting saints, and individually, as vile and as much of a cheat as the other.

All of this made me think that there is something awry with our education system. We have not been able to modulate our pedagogy in a way to nurture healthy, upright young minds who are fired by the desire to conquer the world with their zeal, enthusiasm, sincerity and by the dint of their hard, honest efforts. Instead, we have reared armies of self defeated, crippled minds whose only wish is to manipulate and find that shortcut to success. The shame of the picture of parents/ relatives aiding their wards to cheat in school exams in Bihar should be an apt reminder for us to revisit our curriculum and pedagogy. There was a time when it was an uphill task to get children to schools and thereby, the mid-day meal scheme was introduced to lure children to schools and feed them well..so that they keep coming back. That was a welcome step in those days but we have not moved forward. I believe the next step should be taken with urgency- a step to ensure that the students are not only well fed but well schooled as well. Eggs in lunch will and cannot suffice to prepare them for the rigours of life ahead. Also, primary education needs to be sound and strong to prepare a  bedrock of good values, morals as well as sound knowledge for each and every child. And that is precisely what we are missing today. We have a huge young mass to take up striking, sloganeering and everything else to fight against corruption but who lack the zest and endeavour to make that effort to be honest and upright themselves.

 

This is not to chastise others; somewhere, as an administrator, I feel it is a personal failure when I see young boys and girls coming for a written examination with fistfuls of ‘cheat chits’ stuffed in all corners of their bodies and clothes. Somewhere, I feel I have failed to inspire and have failed to lead from the front. Its easy to put the blame on other systems…but yes, my recurring feeling is one of pessimism and abject failure. In the 21^st century, we should have a lesser degree of formal policing and more of self policing. But, what probably debunks all our claims of a young energetic nation is our excessive need for policing because somewhere, we feel that we are not equipped to look after ourselves..to be honest and sincere ourselves..we need an external enforcer. And that is where the agony begins and defeat sets in.