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Journalism of Courage
Ever wonder why some schools and colleges are better than others? What is it, after all, that makes the big difference? There are a number of things 8212; quality of life in school, existing teaching standards and, believe it or not, even things like location of the institution and the kind of people who send their children to study there.
It8217;s a common enough thing to hear parents bragging at a social gathering, My daughter studies in the same class as so-n-so8217;s son.8217; But technically, however, things that make an educational institution worthy of attending operate at a far more basic level. Apart from the kind of staff in who8217;s hands you leave your child, there8217;s also that little thing known as quality education.
And it does not just comprise high averages and a stunning first-class record. The other factors that come into play here are ones that people usually term as secondary 8212; extra-curricular activities.
Generally, most parents are least concerned about checking whether their children are involvedin anything apart from their books. But then, as someone once said, acirc;euro;tilde;What is childhood for, if not fun and games?8217;
In today8217;s hectic world, this certainly holds true. With the level of competitiveness shooting up with each passing day, you never know what your child might need to reach the profession or job of their dreams. And all you can do is help, with whatever resources are available.
A good example is that of Shyla Gomez, who joined a Russian company as a sales manager a couple of years ago. They barely asked me job-related questions. They checked my resume and, with my record in athletics, all they wanted to know was about the games I had played and how well I could operate at a team-level 8212; things like that.
What the interviewers did was translate my behaviour in that sphere into the kind of personality I have, and decide whether I was good enough for the job. Apparently, I was,8217; she says happily.
The general view is that people who excel at things other than studies have greater chancesof making it big than the bookworm kinds. After all, it is not just how well you have done at studies that works towards giving an individual a well-developed personality,8217; says Professor Canteenwala of Sophia College, who handles the literary events there.
Your level of participation and success at these activities also adds to the process of socialisation and interaction, which are necessary attributes in any field,8217; she adds. A lot of parents agree with this. Says Hetal Shah, mother of two teen-age girls, I have never stopped my daughters from participating in any activity they seemed interested in. Sometimes, I even helped them out.
As a result of this, they have not only done well at studies, but have also learnt a lot of things books cannot teach. Besides, they are a lot more focused about what they want.8217; One of her daughters, Sejal, is a gym instructor at the age of 18. My keen interest in gymnastics became an important a part of my life. It landed me this job, and I also plan to make acareer in the field of fitness.8217;
Moreover, it is also not always necessary that students will find their niche only in the field of academics. There are always other dimensions to a person, apart from studies. These need to be discovered,8217; says Professor Canteenwala.
While there is the motley group of parents who feel that extra-curricular activities only serve to burden an already over-burdened child at the school level at least, there are also those who insist that their children utilise their vacations doing something more constructive.
And the earlier, the better, it would appear. Because even pre-schoolers attend play-school, where the focus lies in discovering their sociability, leadership and teamwork qualities.
Uma Oberoi, who ran a pre-schoolers play-school called Kiddy8217;s Corner, describes the experience as acirc;euro;tilde;necessary8217;. Once children start going to school, they get so over-burdened with homework and studies, there is no time left to do anything else. If they learn earlier, it8217;s alwaysbetter,8217; she says.
A mother of two herself, she reminisces about the time she was in school when there was more of acirc;euro;tilde;going down and play8217; than there is now. Currently, parents are more worried about whether their child has completed his homework, to give them too much time to play,8217; she emphasises.
Professor Canteenwala agrees. I think the syllabus is taxing, not leaving time to do things outside it.8217;
The number of hard-core professionals, in several top-level jobs today, are dropouts with a singular affinity for their chosen profession. How then, do you explain the one-track approach to education?
Says the creative director of a leading advertising agency, who prefers to remain anonymous, I never got past my HSc.; studies just bored me endlessly. And for a person with a lifelong academic average of 45 per cent, I don8217;t think I have done too badly for myself.8217;
There are a lot more success stories of the same kind to put forth as examples. So what is the message here? That education should be anexperience whereby you not only add to your wells of wisdom, but also learn to stop and smell the roses along the path of life. The only way it can be done is, probably, to enforce these activities as part of the syllabus.
Maybe if my son8217;s average and passing out depends on how well he does in dramatics, he would pay more attention to those things,8217; quips Heeral Thakur, mother of a 14-year-old, who believes that anything which doesn8217;t add to your marks is not worth looking at.
Are some authorities out there listening?
