Teaching, Educating and Learning Do not let your schooling come in the way!
By Miguel Braganza The Higher Secondary School results are just out and the SSC results will soon follow. By the end of this month, what will be later remembered as the "best years of our lives" will be over for many thousand individuals in Goa and for millions of students throughout India. The school years are the formative years. Yet, the least attention is paid to school education in our mad rush for admission to "professional" courses. My guru for school level education is Fr.C.P.Varkey, SJ. As the name suggests, he is a Jesuit priest of Malayali extraction. He has risen above such parochial contexts to experience education and write a book entitled "Gently and Firmly". Priced just Rs.40/- and available at any St.Paul's Books store [there is one near Bombay Bazaar on 18 June Road, Panaji], this book should be read by every teacher, school administrator and School Board member at the beginning of every academic year. Parents of school-going children would also do well to read it. Those who have read the book, first published in 1995 and reprinted six times since, have benefited tremendously form it. I have had the occasion to quote from this book to my teachers, who now teach my children in the same school in almost the same way .three decades later! There is one change for the better: the corporal punishment has decreased considerably. This is no mean achievement in an all-boys' school. The introduction to the book is simple, "This book is written with only one goal: to help schools and teachers bring out the best in the children who come to their schools." Equally simple is the message on the back cover. "What a child becomes during his/her life in the school depends, to a great extent, on his/her teachers." The teachers have a greater responsibility then just completing the 'portion' of the syllabus allotted to them to teach in class. The teachers make or break the child who is their captive audience, spectator, hostage or even victim for the better part of the waking hours of each day. I am member of two school-linked Net-groups created by a friend to keep former classmates and fellow school students in touch, wherever they may be and whatever their present station in life. Ever so often the 'thread' picks up discussion about teachers, their strengths, their contribution to the learning process and character building, foibles, and sometimes of their obvious sadism couched in the garb of discipline. There is a teacher who would lift up little boys by locking his hands over either ear of the unfortunate student, another who would insert a pencil between the index and the middle finger of the student and crush the little fingers together around the pencil. Guantanamo Bay detention centre, Siberia, Tihar and other camps for hardened criminals might have faced investigation for similar human rights violations. In schools, no one even bothers to acknowledge such things can happen, let alone accept that it happens in their own school. The difference between discipline and sheer terror tactics is lost on many a self-proclaimed educationist or school administrator. Discipline is the euphemism that serves them well. Many of my school mates, who have had the occasion to be 'disciplined', try to emulate Mark Twain who wrote thus, "I never let my schooling interfere with my education." Others just repeat the process when they become teachers or administrators. Fr. C. P. Varkey quotes a Chinese proverb, "It is not the cry, but the flight of the wild duck that leads the flock to fly and follow." No student of my school will remember the hugely acclaimed and oft repeated Jesuit Education Paradigm [JEP] that emphasizes that 'the student is at the center of education". He may not even remember physics, chemistry, geography or even the exercises of mass P.T. in school. Mention the name of a teacher and at least one episode or characteristic or nickname of the teacher will spill out spontaneously. It is the flight of the duck, not his or her teaching or screams that make the students to follow. It is the example. Many of our teachers are waddling, nay, sitting ducks. How can they inspire their students to fly? There is an information explosion. With the advent of the internet and the increase in affluence one has an access to endless amount of information. Today, the difficulty is in screening information for what one needs, collating it and making sense of it all. The 'learning by rote' system of instruction [as distinct from education], the emphasis on memory instead of discernment and application of knowledge, prepares the student for nothing that a computer cannot do better and at a lower cost. An IT professional who has to spell check through an application for leave of absence, a sub-editor who does not know the difference between 'accept' and 'except' when the choice is offered by spell check, or a person who says "If I do not get into medicine, I will do engineering." on completion of Standard XII, has learnt nothing that is really useful. More often than not, this is the product of our 'education' system. Fortunately, we have Mrs. Ranjana Kakodkar [EMAIL PROTECTED] , ph.2736635] in Margao and Sr. Theresa Soares at Nirmala Niketan, Altinho-Panaji, to guide students in a choice of ability- linked courses. May their tribe increase. However, the teacher as a source of inspiration is often missing in our system. Socrates, the great philosopher, said "My life is my message." Teachers like Fr. Nicolau 'Pop' Pereira,Ph.D. and James Fernandes [both of St. Xavier's College-Mapusa], 'Guruji' Pandurang M. Naik, Fr. Theo de Sales SJ and Ashok Velguemkar [all three of St.Britto HS-Mapusa], Dr. S.G.Torne [of Chowgule College and Goa University], Dr. S.G. Deo and Dr. Paknikar [both of Goa University] are some teachers who have lived their message. How many more can lay claim to this? 'Best Teacher' awards given by the Government and associations are no benchmarks. The mark left by his/her life as a teacher is the only mark that the student remembers. The marks that the teacher gives to the student are of little consequence in the scale of life. (ENDS) Miguel Braganza's column at: http://www.goanet.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=482 ============================================================================== The above article appeared in the May 20, 2006 edition of Gomantak Times, Goa _____________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. Goanet mailing list (Goanet@goanet.org)
