Though I am just 12, I feel education system is not
really “Ideal” for future generation; us. I mean the way teachers behave,
teach, preach students is what they catch up in no time and believe this is
what right and ‘ideal’ for me to do. And you know, this begins from a really
very young age. (Hey, are you taking my words as a very “serious, studious,
spectacle-wearing book worm who ponders over books whole day and talks like a
philosopher? Then you judge me wrong! Read ahead!! You will come to understand
how really I am! *By the way, I wear spectacles!!). (Back to my point!!) Taking
an example, in junior KGs many teachers scold tiny totts for being
wrong, I don’t mean scolding is wrong for correcting, but a child in KGs!! What
does he know about this world, its wrong and rights, its been only five years
since he has seen things, discovered ‘em! He is just learning alphabets!!
Though exceptions remain, not all teachers are like that, but yes, a number of
them exist.
Okay, from this you must have known a little about
what am I going to talk.. I see many of my teachers not an idol I seek for in
the school (I am not disrespecting them anyway! It is because of them that I
learnt to write and read and expressing my views today!). Of course I know
idols are not only school teachers, but you have to agree the point that if you
are hearing, seeing, observing a person from 2 to 3 years or more (and that too on an average 4 hours a day!), it gives an impact on your thinking, believe or
not, it really forces you to think that way. Agreed? Now, fix your teacher
instead of that “person” I used. Will you be in the same situation? Yup! Sure!
So, if your teacher has a scolding nature (probably every time) would your
thought process (for example if it is polite and sweet) diverts towards trying
the so called “New way” (which is staying angry)?? You know we like to try new
things, right!! So, now this not only impacted on your thought process and
nature but your behaviour too (you see they all are interconnected!)....
So you saw how minor things impact you in many ways,
okey dokey! now let’s look at another thing, oh wait, wait, wait! Before moving
there, I forgot to nail that this what I am gonna share next (and of course you
are gonna read next!!) is broken into two parts, let’s dive looking into what
they are!
1.What
are we cramming today?
2.Changing
them- uh, tough! Changing you- Oh, yes! (why didn’t that come to my mind
earlier anyway!)
Easy peasy to understand! Let’s go!! (Attention here!
whatever I am gonna talk about is about schools on an average, not all
schools!)
Point 1. What are we cramming today?
Uhm, uhm! This is what I want the most people to
listen and think upon, what are we learning today? Are we aware of the fact
that some things become a question whether they are worth cramming or not? (of
course you feel that before your exams! But not that, I am talking about the
things which I think are not much useful, and are taught to us and we learn
them as parrots, without understanding why we need to learn them!)
The best example I take for this (and I really feel it..) is my least favourite subject History..(I respect it, the books, its authors, my history teachers and other things related to history. But the reason behind it is my least favourite is that I don’t get the reason why am I learning some things in History which don’t have any reason for learning!)
To
start with, I asked my History teacher yesterday why do we study history? ( I
really gathered up courage to do so!! ) And as my question was asked online,
she had two options, if she finds the question sensible, she replies and if
not, she would not reply!! 99.99% chances were that she would not reply.. And
as predicted, that’s what happened!! You too think my question is does not make
any sense? But read it again, and try to find its answer, why do you study
history? Probably two instant answers pop in your mind. One, because my mother
sends me school to learn every subject present there, and two, because my teacher makes me learn it, and as per my mom, I need to accept learning it.. But have you
thought what benefit you will get by studying it?? Hmm.. Nope?? See, we go to
school to learn things that benefit in our life in future, to know what are the
rules and inventions of this world, to learn life lessons and a number of
things that would ultimately come in use someday! But, you know, this kind of
study is declining.. I mean, just think what would you get remembering the date
when Taj Mahal was built? Nothing except marks in exam, you may win a fastest
finger first in KBC, get one question correct in UPSE exam and lastly you can boast yourself in front of your friends
telling you know much about history and will top this year.. Anything else?
Nah.. But you must be wondering, isn’t this enough, I get marks in exam to make
my parents proud, I get a chance on TV and to meet my favourite actor Mr. Amitabh
Bacchan ji, and I can boast the fact that I have learnt the most dreaded
subject and confidently I say that I am gonna top that this year! You see, no
harm!!
But, actually first think why is this question giving
you opportunity to do all this? Why is it necessary to learn it, what knowledge
does it provide which becomes so useful? After thinking upon these, you must
have understood that this all has come because of “Education System” that
continues to teach something that isn’t worth teaching, since the beginning of the year in today's world. I
am not saying that I don’t respect what history teachers and books teach, but I
am upset about the fact that they contain many “Not-so-useful” things to
remember and they don’t contain some things that I feel should be included in
the learning course of a growing child.
Back to my question, why do we study history? Even
though my teacher didn’t reply to my so-called #silly question, I have
discovered it myself. To begin with, I think firstly it is necessary to study
our pasts to know how this present has come. And secondly, to learn from
mistakes that people made in the past and find an alternative in the same
situation. Now, I think my history book satisfies the fact to make me
understand how am I living such a comfortable, digital life, how were the
things without all this and how all this was discovered, in brief, to know how
my present came.. From hunters-gatherers to farmers-kings to prime ministers
and countries!!... But, it does not fulfil the second reason for which I think
knowing history is important, i.e, so that we get to know what mistakes we made
in the past and not repeat them today instead find another way to do it..(certainly, it tells the mistake, but not as a mistake that has to be improved, but a sentence that has to be learned..!!)
Even though small incidents tell us about this, but I
have rarely found them when I flip the pages of my History book. In school, we
are just taught the lesson, told to memorise it and we’re made to write some
Questions and Answers on the basis of understanding the lesson. Don’t you think
same is the case with our English subject? So, what difference remains between
the two? Is History book just a “Story-book” that has to be memorised and after
that forgotten at the end of the year? (That’s what my mind does every year!)
The answer to these questions are No, but Yes..
No because History cannot be same as English anyway,
it has different lessons from that of English and they really took place
in the past, while the lessons of English are just stories or maybe
sometimes biographies. And Yes because, these questions are true sentences, (which I told in the above paragraph) that
describe a History book in brief in a student’s mind!! Today, I see hardly 10%
difference in my History book and my English literature reader (That 10% refers
to difference in lessons and nothing else though!!).. Second thing, I really
feel instead of “learning from History” we are made “to learn History”. And
that is not the mistake of our teachers, it is of the book that is published!!
(umm, yes, and a bit of our teachers too)... (Again I say, these are just my
views, no intension to hurt anyone or anything!) Do you want to know how? See,
the teachers will teach whatever is in the course, and really what so ever it
is, they have to teach it, because it is their duty to do so (But I feel that
they can include epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana which contain the core of
living in studying side by side. They do not do so, so I find it is a bit
unfair to say that only that book does not teach us many worthy things. Ya, I
know, going to school is not a philosophy class but isn’t it true that we go to
school to learn? And learning all this doesn’t harm anyway, instead we can
learn the art of living from our scriptures!!) The authors of our course book
have the power to mould the next generation, because they are writing what we
are reading today.
As per I have read in my history book till now, it is
all about invasions in India, what loots and plunders were done, what was the
system in the past for maintaining law and order by kings, how was the life of
kings different from that of ordinary men and peasants (that is about the
lifestyle of the former and latter), what were the “drastic changes” that is
that affected the lives of people drastically! (like use of Persian wheel in
irrigation, spinning wheel in weaving, steam engine, etc etc.) Many more like
these, like when Muhammad Ghori attacked and destroyed many things and by which
“profound ruler” was he killed, but none mention there were many so-called
small people (here I mean people who were not as popular as Prithviraj 3, who
killed Muhammad Ghori) they too have done many sacrifices in the “yajna”
(pronounciation “yagy”, is a Sanskrit word which literally means ‘Sacrifice,
devotion, worship, offering’.) of independence. But they remain unsung, we come
to know about them from folk-tales of the native area of the fighter and also
from some local people who pass these stories from generation to generation,
and that too, only when we go on researching. I am reading a book which
describes these things in detail. Sometimes I wonder why aren’t these books
part of our school course? They must teach kids that when Muhammad Ghori came
to attack our country, how could he be left after creating such a nuisance and
plundering thousands of families? Why don’t they teach that a woman, Naika
Devi, the Gujarati Queen from Goa, has her name on the list of the people who
defeated him? Our school’s book teaches, Mughals invaded India, created a lot
of disturbance to our people and forced them to accept Islam, why don’t they
take the name of the Gharwal Queen, Rani Karnavati, who is known by a very few,
but had saffron swords in her hands. She defeated the Mughal army in 1640 and
is called ‘Naak kati Rani’ or she is more popular with the name ‘Naak kaatne
waali rani’ (means the queen who cut the noses) by the locals. She really and literally
cut the noses of many invaders which gives the reason for calling her by
this name. I wonder why have we not been taught that not only invaders who were
powerful but our India was always more than them but only we didn’t have much
resources and had much traitors. I ask you this question today, why doesn’t our
education system include all this? Why are we taught the history, civics,
geography, biography, autobiography and science of invaders and traitors? I
know, schools teach about who was Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, and other freedom warriors
but they do not contain much detail about their praising and sacrificing work
(Well, not as much as they contain of invaders!). You know, Indian history
teaches us innumerable lessons, even from the smallest of incidents, but, they
are not taught to kids today. This is what I feel is going wrong. Many foreign
practices are followed in India today, many of them have side effects. If we
were to look in our history, correct and healthy living was our lifestyle. But
as the invasions were successful in making us realise the fake fact that we are
inferior, we started to adopt their lifestyle to look more “updated”. But, the
invaders, say British, always preferred comfortable lifestyle without thinking
about the repercussion of the same. To give an example, today most of us use
aluminium utensils to cook food. Reason? Light, easy to handle and affordable.
But are you aware that prisoners in the past were given to eat in aluminium
utensils? It is because aluminium is called “slow poison!”. When we cook
food in aluminium utensils, the food absorbs a bit of aluminium which then goes
in our body and harms us. Though it goes in small quantity, but increases day by
day, and same is the case with aluminium foils. On the contrary, ancient Indians
used to cook food in iron or clay utensils. By using iron utensils, iron was
mixed a bit with the food, and we Indians were not prone to diseases on
deficiency of iron like anaemia. Adopting Clay utensils to cook food was another
way to healthy eating. Clay is alkaline (basic) in nature and interacts with
acidity in the food, neutralising the pH balance, eventually making the food
healthier. Moreover, I feel there is no metal that can give food tastier than
clay pots!! (try them whenever you visit your village, especially curd,
yumm!!!) Though these are difficult to
manage and handle but, in return, they give you a healthy lifestyle.
We are not taught this in school, we are not taught
that we are moving away from our culture, where every custom or ritual has a
scientific reason behind it. Of course I know, teaching this to us is not only
the school’s responsibility, but as thousands of kids study in a school, by
just saying, “kids, we are moving away from our culture” and by saying few
lines on how rich our culture is in our school assembly, at least you can
influence a hundred out of a thousand kids. (they will tell to their relatives
and friends, and then the chain continues!) This way they can groom our
generation into a responsible one, which will try to bring our culture back.
This was all about what we are learning today in
schools and what we are not (which should actually be included!). Now we shall
jump upon the next topic, which is also the end for my today’s blog:
Point 2. Changing them- uh, tough! Changing you- oh,
yes!
Ah ha! This is a teeny-weeny thing I want to tell you
at last after so much of chitter-chatting!
See, what I conveyed to you is a big thingy to work
upon, though, it can be done! Remember? Nothing is impossible! but yes, things
can be difficult! (very difficult, indeed!) So, question arises what to do now?
(Only if you want to bring a change after reading all this!) You remember, once
a great personality said, “Be the change you want to see in the world”. So be
it!! Never forget:
IT
STARTS FROM YOU !!
COURTESY AND GRATITUDE: My
Mom and Dad.
WRITTEN BY: Pihu
LOTS OF LOVE TO: My younger sis.
Thankyou!! Hope you had fun reading!🌸
OC OF PIHUKUHU PITARA
So proud to have you as a friend 👏🏼👏🏼👍🏼
ReplyDelete