What kind of children do we want?

How do or children become what they are? It is a simple question. But most of us do not know the answer. Some of us know and do not care. Only some of us know the answer to this question and care. These are the children who grow up to be the Apple of their parents eyes.

Success mind you it's not the criteria here. Attila the Hun was a successful person, Genghis khan is successful by some standards, but when you call a child the Apple of parents eyes you mean that soon or daughter turned out all right. She was educated and she improved her knowledge. She was given a set of standards and she set them right and proved herself worthy. She set the bar high and she made it look achievable. In other words she has the personality of a winner. She may not be the CEO of an MNC but whoever knows her swears by her intensity and integrity. She may not be a political leader but people are willing to do what she tells them. Now that's what we want our children to be.

Every father wants his children to be successful in terms of money but when the child takes him to an old age home when he doesn't have time for him he realises his mistake. Every mother wants a mama's boy but when the boy follows another girl she wants to compete for his affections.

Every selfish desire turns out to be wrong in the long run. So what would we like our children to be like.
1) Happy? We would definitely like then to be happy. So teach them to find happiness wherever they are.
2) Achieve? We want then to be achievers. So make them people who get up after every defeat and fight fit what they believe in.
3) Never to lie to you. Then teach them not to lie to anyone.
4) To be there when you near your end. Teach them to be good to everyone regardless of their differences.

Education making technology work for you.

The biggest pain points of Indian education are lack of resources, you can read that as  'Qualified teachers' and 'time' for these teachers so that they can help children in need of guidance. Any parent whose child is not performing in school will tell you the reason - the teacher doesn't pay attention to my child.  Teachers have become people who tell the child what to study at home, when it is their job to explain concepts. Teachers have become people who make ridiculous demands for projects which they have never taught their students and know that parents will eventually make the projects before submitting it to the school. In short teachers are to blame for students spending so much time in school but not learning anything.

But are the teachers really to blame or are we setting them up to fail?

We have put teachers in such a position that they are bound to fail. We want then to complete the curriculum. Give and assess projects. Design, take and assess tests. Do other admin work. And also help children learn. And the priorities are not defined. Like any other good employee they prioritise according to the demands of the administration. No wonder they fail! They are doing what they are held accountable for and the responsibility to teach is never a priority unless the school decides that's what they want to do. That is why we have good schools and bad schools. Good schools take responsibility of the teaching and make sure students learn and that's why you hear things like xyz is a good school and a bad school does the opposite, that's why you hear people criticizing the school. Why is that when the curriculum is the same for both the schools?

We should try and give the teachers more time with the students.

How? Thank fully the education ministry probably after realising the need of the hour has decided to use technology. How they are going to do it i honestly do not know, but as a teacher I certainly have some suggestions.  The government with its vast resources and funding can record lectures and programmes of concepts that are taught in school. There are enough studies floating around and experts who are authorities in the field of education and learning who can guide us with learning methods and outcomes. Test design and assessments can also be handled by technology today leaving the teacher free to concentrate on individual weaknesses of the students.

A teacher in Finland where they firmly believe that children should have fun while learning implements what they call learning to learn style of teaching. She usually devotes around three hours per student. However, school days in Finland are short. Although we can definitely ease up on our students, they can spend time in school learning new skills rather than simply knowing what to study for the exams.

Standardised tests should be given, not to differentiate between students but rather to make it easy for them to learn at their own pace. That is the advantage of technology we should use to the maximum. The teacher too can let her hair down literally and have fun teaching the students - actually teaching the students and the school with is resources can aim at the holistic growth of the child than simply going through the motions of finishing the curriculum.

Does nationalism mean killing one community

Zealots in whatever form they come are dangerous to humans. That is because they will try to prove themselves right at whatever cost. The world is going through a crisis at the moment. It seems that it is the era of extremists and idealists. While the name ISIS Comes to mind immediately we believe we are safe in our own countries away from the middle east where they are recognised as clear and present danger. However, what is worrying is that there is a new breed of zealots present in the form of nationalists. 

Nationalists would like us to believe that they are lovers of a nation or patriots - a word they like to throw around very much. We have found that this may not be the case. They are usually haters of everything that is not them. In other words - extremists. We see Muslim extremists and quickly condemn them. But what about the people who play on our fears to sell themselves as leaders and saviors.

Somewhere in the arms race, world domination and controlling the natural resources of other countries, an organisation called the All Qaeeda was created. This organisation existed as long as the Bush administration, then faded away. It was replaced by ISIS a more vicious and deadly force seeking revenge of western atrocities on Muslim nations. However, for some reasons it has proceeded to exact revenge from other Muslims rather than the western powers it had sought. Muslims started being discriminated against in the name of this new organisation and openly being called terrorists.

 
In the history of unfolding events which is being witnessed by everyone, Muslims suddenly became the reason for everything wrong. They even started being disowned by countries where they have lived in for centuries.

 
France started a systematic persecution of Muslims by every kind of ban it could think of. The leader elected to France was elected with a promise of ridding the country of its problems and the aim being the country would be Christian again. 

In Burma, Buddhists, the icons of peace started killing Muslims indiscriminately in a form of ethnic cleansing. In Central Africa, a clash of Christian and Muslims has left many Muslims homeless or dead. In India, forces that had been allowed to poison minds of countless Hindus who should be worried about basic necessities like water scarcity, education and development now are thinking of getting rid of Muslims and making India a Hindu nation. 

The irony is that the very rights each state claims to be protecting, it is taking away from other citizens. This is not new and one community has always sought the upper hand over another through violence. The violence usually justified through some rationale and most often it is a case of turned tables. Earlier it was conquering land, then it was spreading religion now it has taken the garb of nationalism.