INTENTION

How do we help children develop good intentions and get out of their tensions?

Even a 3 year old kid today uses the word tension so naturally. "Mom, don't disturb me. I am in tension." Children pick up the lingo quite quickly from the people around. They start imitating the elders around. We all know this. All of us, at least most of us, definitely would have played the role of a teacher or mom or dad when we were young. :)

In recent times I have seen many children picking up some of the lingoes used by comedians in films. Those in Tamil Nadu would understand this better - the dialogues of Vadivelu and Vivek like 'vanduttaanya vanduttaanya!" 'risk ellam engalukku rusk sapdaramaadiri!' have become so common with the kids here. Its because the elders use it commonly and also television channels keep playing these over and over.

and so it is important for us as elders to be 'CONSCIOUS' of what world we are creating for the children and in the children.

I have especially highlighted the word CONSCIOUS because it is sad to note that many of us are not even 'aware' what impressions we are creating in children using our language and actions!

The other day I was walking through a street and I saw a man kicking a 2 year old boy. So naturally the kid is going to imitate the man!

I truly believe that children have to be exposed to good intentions. They need to experience noble intentions. take some time and ponder upon this term 'intention'. Behind every good man, behind every successful action, behind every smiling face, behind every true friend, behind every true mother what is there is this INTENTION. any action in itself is not good or bad, it is the intention that makes it good or bad. Do you agree? Think!

And these intentions are very powerful. It can change the course of any individual and even a nation! If the intention of a CEO is to make 100 Billion dollars then only money matters! If the intention of a politician is to get the minister birth, then his actions are driven by that.

So a question for all parents - What is your intention behind your child's growth? Is it that he has to take care of you when you are old? Is it that he has to be an engineer and get you good name? is it that he has to be the first always? Or is it 'LET THE CHILD BLOSSOM'?

I am leaving the blog with lot of loose ends. I have not connected all dots. It is because I have an intention behind writing this blog.

'THE world' vs 'MY world'

I saw a very interesting presentation by Devdutt Pattnaik in TED (East vs west - The Myths that mystify). He spoke on the basic cultural difference between East and west and as a result the difference in the business structure between these paradigms.

One point that really set me thinking was the way he connected the story of Ganesha and Karthikeya going around the world to get the divine fruit. while Karthikeya set out in his peacock to go around the Earth for 3 times, Ganesha just went around his parents thrice and got the divine fruit. :)

karthikeya went around 'THE WORLD' but Ganesh went around 'HIS WORLD' !!! Think!
and this is what I would call as making a 'WORLD of difference' :) Thanks to Devdutt

While most of the parents are more concerned about alighning the child to THE World, they hardly dive into the 'MY World' of a child and get to know his dreams, aspirations, values, etc, etc.

I came across the mission statement of a 'so called' good school, it read something like- ' To prepare students to fit into the society...'

lets zoom into the word 'fitting'. is fitting the students into the society the goal of a school. Then are we not completely ignoring the 'My world'of the child and only 'Moulding' them to FIT into 'THE WORLD'!

Lot of educationists also proudly claim that they 'MOULD' the children. I can only remember a potter moulding a pot! Imagine the state of the child whom every teacher is trying to 'mould' according to 'THE World' of the teacher / parent.

'Do like this. Don't do like that!'
'DO MBA. That is the 'in' thing now.'

Look around people who made a mark in the history. They are the ones who d
ared to live by 'Their World' and not 'THE world'. While the world belived that EARTH was flat one person stood by 'HIS world'. It took almost centuries to really understand his world.

While the whole world was going towards violence, one person stood by 'HIS WORLD of non-violence' and proved to the world the power of non-violence.

There are many ways to interpret the concept of 'MY world and THE world'. lets think about it.

Lets start listening to the child's world. Lets start understanding the child's world. lets start nurturing the child's world.

Lets 'LET THE CHILD BLOSSOM'

MBA / NBA ('Namesake' Business Administration)

"What is your name?"
"Me Parthasarathy"
"So you have done your MBA in HR."
"Yes"
"Please tell something about you."
and then followed a conversation that ended up strengthening my fear that a 'Namesake degree holdres' in our country is growing in number.

I really pity those youngsters who are swayed by the mob and end up fooling themselves by getting some degrees for name sake. My conversation with this guy really left me worried on the way degrees have been given so loosely. An MBA graduate who cannot speak English. A Hindi graduate who cannot speak Hindi. An engineering student who cannot engineer on his own! These are just a few. Look around the number is enormous.

I was referring to the article in ToI the other day on lack of employability skills in Indian graduates. The statistics clearly says that a huge problem is awaiting Indian graduates who would be left behind due to lack of these employability skills.

I believe the problem again boils down to lack of inspiring teachers who can model, aspire, dream, think, motivate and really inspire students to think beyond and explore the innumerable possibilities, opportunities and follow their dream.

A university rank holder and a gold medalist (Don't ask me how many students did the course along with me.. :p) I had all the time in the world during my college time, still, looking back, I feel I could have learnt much more if at all I was awakened to the 'awe'  of learning, pushed to think beyond, challenged to explore...
I feel I wasted my time and just got some degree for name sake. I too was one of the 'namesake' degree holders.

And I didn't want to continue being like that. I applied in many colleges and seeing the course material and quality of questions and assessment I feared I would again land up getting a NSD(Namesake degree) and dropped out of my masters several times.

I was eagerly waiting to see my first semester results in MBA education management from a reputed distance education college. I know how much time I had spent preparing for the exams - Hardly 2 hours for each paper! The results were out and I couldn't believe myself. I passed the semester with 56% marks!

Now, I could have continued my studies and could have easily got a degree and proudly say that I am an MBA graduate. But my conscience wouldn't let me do that. I didn't want to  be a NSD. I didn't want to learn some random stuff which were mostly recall type and score marks and get job!

 And what use is the mark if I don't know where I lost the rest of the marks! Of what use is the mark going to be if I do not know what strengths in me got me the 56% score! And what use is it for the company that is going to employ me by seeing my marks! What insights is this so called MBA degree going to throw open to them about me!

I would rather wait for the day when the universities in the country would offer a more constructive and higher order curriculum than wasting my money in acquiring a NSD and following the mob.

I was really feeling proud for those boys out there who made the smallest satellite and set it in the orbit. Youngsters must draw inspiration from them and learn to learn.

Hats off to those young boys who made the country and their family proud. Sure, they are not the NSD holder's who would be a burden to the country and for themselves.

LET THE CHILD BLOSSOM

?DIPUTS os yhw

When was the last time I did something new?

When was the last time I thought about my thinking?

When was the last time I really did some 'THINKING'?

When I first heard this question – 'when did you think last?' I said, of course I am thinking 24x7. What a stupid question this is! And then I REALLY started to THINK!

 

Am I really thinking or am I just……. 'Rethinking' ?

Am I really thinking or am I just……. 'recollecting'?

Am I really thinking or am I just……. 'remembering' ?

 

Am 'I' really thinking?

Am I 'really' thinking?

Am I really 'thinking'?

 

(Man! I am proud of myself, for, I remember my English lesson on 'stress'J This was one lesson I really enjoyed. How the meaning of the same sentence changes depending on the stress on a particular word! )

Edward De Bono in his book 'Why so stupid' claims that human race has never really learned to think! What an audacious statement!

'We brush, we eat, we think!' is what he says. We are not really thinking. We are just browsing our memory and doing what is being stored in there. We are most of the time remembering and recollecting than really thinking.

Thinking about 'thinking' is a PhD by itself. There is so much to think, evaluate, analyze, debate and conclude.

But it would be a valuable exercise to start thinking about these questions.

Let's begin our first step towards thinking and do this simple exercise.

1. List down 6 random words and form a story. Give the same 6 random words to few other people and see what story they form. Share over here, whether they were similar stories or were they completely different. Do it with elders and do it with children as well.
   

It's an interesting exercise right! Share your experience. We would then discuss further.

 

LET THE CHILD BLOSSOM!

GIVE ME AN OTHER CHANCE...

What a thrilling FIFA quarter finals yesterday. the BIG guys - Brazil dropping out and the last African team missing its chance for glory.

When I saw Gyan missing the last chance of penalty he had the song that hit me was -
"Give me some sun shine.. Give me some rays...
Give me an other chance I wanna grow up once again"

Na..na..na..na...

GIVE ME AN OTHER CHANCE....

Imagine the emotions that Gyan would have faced when he missed that easy opportunity! They could have easily gone to the semis and made history! The next chance they are going to get is only after 4 years! And by the time a see of change could happen!

Does this ring a bell when we connect it to education?

It definitely rings a bell for me.. But let me leave it to you to share your thoughts.

Schools that L‘EARN’!

No. I am not going to talk about whether schools are over exploiting with fees or I am also not going to talk about education becoming business. I feel educational institutions becoming more commercial is fine. But, in the process what schools need to keep in mind is what I would like to discuss here about.
First let us list some advantages of educational institutions becoming commercial. I have come across many such schools who charge fees substantially. Some positives things that I observed in this trend is that –

1. Schools are equipping themselves with more infrastructure and sophisticated learning environments
2. Schools are slowly moving beyond booking knowledge to at least positioning themselves as catering to the holistic development of a child
3. In the competition, each school is also trying to position itself as one step ahead of the other so called 'best' schools

So I am seeing development and growth because of education becoming commercial. I am not going into the negatives now. Let us keep that aside as of now.
While it is a healthy climate to see growth, what is worrying is when schools empower themselves for the sake of earning and not learning, when schools better themselves for attracting parents but not for benefitting students.
'Air conditioned classrooms.'
'Air conditioned library'
'Smart boards in every class'
It is very important for a school to equip themselves with latest technologies. But at the same time Air condition is a luxury over empowering teachers on various new methodologies of teaching! 'Project based learning' has been a buzz word in the west almost for the past 2 decades. But How many of our school heads would have tried and implemented it. How many of the schools are open to learn new things in teaching or open to bringing in a student centric approach or creating a culture of thinking in classrooms! While majority of the schools have budget allocated for books, sports equipments, teaching aids, technology, etc. it is saddening to note that not many have a budget allocated for empowering their teachers. And even if they have, it is very minimum and suffices just to put a record in the books that they are empowering teachers.
We stop learning when we feel we are full. So what would be the state of a school whose head feels he is full / his school is the best / he knows everything. The learning stops and they are no longer available for learning new things.
In the last week times of India there was a half page article on 'Innovations in education' and it stated that in a decade the world is going to face a huge crisis. The number of degree holders would be much more than the job demands. India has a greater chance but at the same time Indians face a big problem. We lack 'employability skills'. Empathy, working in teams, being a team player, motivation-all these fall under the employability skill. I have seen MBA graduates who can't speak English properly! So there are lot of youngsters out there who think they would get a job if they have a degree!
The process has to start from school. The teaching has to extend beyond textbooks to different levels of Blooms. Unfortunately, though Blooms taxonomy is taught in B.Ed. schools the application is just in examination level and teachers don't remember it beyond that.
'It is good to earn. But don't stop to learn.'
I end this blog with this punch dialogue. J
LET THE CHILD BLOSSOM


Leave your comments below.