[IAEP] [bytesforall_readers] Learning skills, not degrees, will do

[Edward Cherlin]

On Mon, Dec 8, 2008 at 8:37 PM, Anil Jaggi <jaggianil at gmail.com> wrote:
> Pls.  follow this  links to understand the  present ongoing  education
> systems  and mental  status o parents like me.
> http://www.tribuneindia.com/2008/20081209/dplus1.htm
>
>
> appreciate to get your comments, feedback
>
> Happy reading
> Anil
> --------------------------------------------

At the Program for the Future conference in honor of Doug Engelbart on
the 40th anniversary of The Mother of All Demos (Look him and it up on
Wikipedia), I made the following statement.

"Eleanor Roosevelt said that first-rate minds discuss ideas,
second-rate minds discuss events, and third-rate minds discuss people.
All of the history we teach in schools is about events and people, and
not about ideas at all. All of what we do in schools is about getting
the officially-approved Right Answer, but the most important questions
don't have Right Answers. What is real? (Ontology) What is true, and
how do we determine what to believe, what to reject, and what to
withhold judgment on? (Epistemology) What should we do, even if we
don't want to? (Ethics) All of politics, philosophy, and religion is
about questions that do not have Right Answers. But as long as we only
test children on having the Right Answers, they cannot learn anything
else. How can we fix the schools in this situation?"

Everybody agreed that this is the dilemma, but nobody had answers.
Well, it's my question, and I have an answer to it. My organization,
Earth Treasury (named for Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva, protector of
children) is preparing to write the new textbooks for this revolution
in the schools, textbooks that will embed software to teach ideas and
understanding, not just Right Answers, and mastery of skills, not just
recipes for getting Right Answers. And the school textbook committees
will not be able to keep them out of classrooms, nor will Ministries
of Education or anybody else, because we will give these electronic
textbooks away for free! Not only that, but we will license them so
that any community can translate them to its own language and adapt
them to its own needs. We will recruit the children themselves to tell
us what works and what doesn't for teaching them, and get them to
contribute to the next improved version, and the next one after that.

There will be obstacles. It is a lot of work, and even if the books
are free, the computers to run them will still cost money. Many
countries do not have the political will to spend this money on
children, especially not on poor children. Parties and politicians may
resist even when you can prove that educated children will grow up to
create new industries that will pay many times more than enough in
taxes to make it a profitable investment. We will face opposition,
too. The fiercest opposition will come from those who believe, or
pretend to believe, that they do have all of the Right Anwers (all of
them that matter, anyway): ideologues, charlatans, and the
self-deluded of many kinds, political, pseudo-scientific,
pseudo-economic, and pseudo-religious. They will say, and they do say,
that those who seek the Truth are the charlatans; that those who work
for the betterment of mankind are the charlatans; that those who plead
for the widow and the orphan are the charlatans.

As Gandhi-ji said, "First they laugh at you, then they fight you, then
you win," and I add, then they claim it was their idea all along.
Well, Harry Truman in the US said, "You can get a lot done if you
don't mind who gets the credit." I'm not here for credit, I'm here to
make it happen. Every one of you can play a part, because we need
every kind of knowledge and skill that the children should know about.
Even if you can't write software or textbooks, or translate them, you
can try them out and show them to other people. You can tell the
politicians that you want real education for your children and
grandchildren.

Never ask, "What can I do all alone?" You are not alone. Take the
trouble to find out who is with you, and work on your goals together.
You do not create a movement alone. You do it by finding the others
who wish they could do something, and showing them how they can, just
as you are doing.

> Learning skills, not degrees, will do
> Anil Jaggi
>
> A few years back, when I invited my cousins to a small family function, I
> was advised by them to either postpone the function or excuse them for their
> absence as their kids were headed for school unit tests. They did not attend
> the function. Of course, I was not happy with their response.
>
> Rather, I was surprised and asked myself why they could'nt spare a few hours
> for the function? Why was the whole family busy preparing the kids for
> merely school unit tests, and that too for primary classes?
>
> Many years have passed since that episode and now I find myself face a
> similar dilemma. I have to reschedule my personal/official programmes on the
> basis of my kids school exams, unit tests etc.
>
> The family atmosphere becomes tense during the examdays, with every family
> member rescheduling his/her programme for the sake of a better school
> progress report.
>
> The matter is treated more serious than anyone falling sick in the family.
>
> Tension runs high between husband and wife with unending arguments as to who
> should shoulder the responsibility of preparing the children for the tests.
> In most cases, it is the mother.
>
> The father often takes refuge in official meetings and professional
> commitment.
>
> My cousin was in a government job, so it was easy for him to take "sarkari
> off" and give 100 per cent to his kids' exams. But for me and many more
> parents like me who are self-employed, in private jobs or business, taking
> off during exams is unthinkable.
>
> I feel pity for helpless parents like us, always under unseen pressures and
> tension. Last month my son fell ill and like any other responsible father, I
> took him to the best doctors in town.
>
> He had to go through various tests, including ultra-sound and many more
> blood tests. To my surprise, the doctors told me that there was no medical
> problem with the child; it was just exam fever.
>
> The doctors said many young kids suffering from fear of failure and exam
> phobia showed up at their clinics.
>
> The doctors advised me that my son, Shubhang, did not need treatment but
> must be taken out for sports/physical activities or to a movie to soothe his
> nerves.
>
> Being an active sportsman during school/college days, I realised the power
> of physical activity in developing a child's personality and decided to
> include this in my children's daily routine.
>
> There are many voiceless Shubhangs in every house, who are becoming victims
> of their parents' aspirations, going to the so-called best schools.
>
> Whenever I get time to sit with Shubhang for his studies, who is in Class
> VIII, I find difficult to teach him despite being a science postgraduate.
>
> The syllabi is mostly vast and irrelevant. Government agencies, responsible
> for standardisation and checking of the syllabi seem either helpless or
> ignorant about these developments.
>
> A publisher from Daryaganj, New Delhi, ties up with schools, selling
> expensive books printed on glossy paper for the larger profit of the
> company, making the poor students sick and frustrated with overloaded
> schoolbags.
>
> Many schools in Dehradun have introduced Class IX syllabus in Class VIII for
> better results in the Class X board exams. Education is no longer
> learning-centric but result-oreiented.
>
> Why are we speechless? Why don't we question these schools on their decision
> to impose unwanted burden on young shoulders without considering the
> consequences on child's mental, emotional and physical well-being?
>
> Are school principals the final authority on the matter? Just for the sake
> of cent per cent results to showcase achievement to the media, should these
> children be burdened? During any get-together, kids' education/result remain
> the dominant topic, with parents always blaming kids for not performing up
> to the mark, but do not dare to speak about the present school system.
> Children are not treated as human but mere score machines.
>
> How many parents are really concerned about the physical, mental, social,
> moral, emotional, spiritual development of their kids? Even if they are, the
> burdensome education system, leaves the children with little time for
> anything else.
>
> That our future generation is not able to cope with the growing pressures is
> indicated by the growing number of suicide cases, even in prestigious
> institutes like the IITs, IIMs and the IMA.
>
> In this 21st century, when business models, governance and social fabric are
> changing, why can't we have different schooling or evaluation system for our
> kids? As said by leading educationist CS Lewis: "The task of the modern
> educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts".
>
> Let us wakeup-parents and educators-we have to demand child-centric,
> integrated and inclusive education with lifelong learning skills, not mere
> degrees and certificates.
>
> The writer is ICT consultant
>
>
>
> --
> Anil Jaggi
> Cell:   +91-9412009273  __._,_.___
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-- 
Silent Thunder (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) is my name
And Children are my nation.
The Cosmos is my dwelling place, The Truth my destination.
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/User:Mokurai