Comments on Hari Batti's Green Light Dhaba: What's wrong with our schools and why environmenta...

WHy don't the comments show up?

2010-07-03T22:49:56.260+05:30

WHy don't the comments show up?

@Aishwarya, At the last parent teacher meeting I w...

2009-11-13T09:14:53.000+05:30

@Aishwarya,
At the last parent teacher meeting I went to, this was one complaint I heard. That and handwriting, of course!

Encourage children to read? Fifteen years ago a co...

2009-11-12T21:15:45.000+05:30

Encourage children to read? Fifteen years ago a concerned teacher called my parents to inform them (cue tones of horror) that I'd brought a book to school to read during recess.

I agree with all of this, incidentally.

@Manasa, Thanks for stopping by! Text books coul...

2009-11-12T20:59:10.000+05:30

@Manasa, Thanks for stopping by! Text books could be improved. But so could instruction; I think students need to challenged to move beyond the set material found in the syllabus. They need to actually think about what they are learning as they are learning it. Otherwise it's just rote memory. And you are right about projects. Giving students more choice in what projects they pursue might help.
HB

The current textbooks could be blamed to an extent...

2009-11-12T19:43:15.000+05:30

The current textbooks could be blamed to an extent for the children's lack of interest in real learning. I recently found my mothers math textbooks from class 10, 11 and 12, and I must say I was surprised at the quality of content in my mother's textbook. If I had that textbook when I was in school, I wouldn't have been so bad at math as I am. Consequently, I read the chapters in the book and I feel more confident about solving those simple math problems! Current textbooks need a facelift; they really need to instill interest in the child and make the child want to know more about it.

Coming to the projects, it really would be difficult for a child to come up with a project when the child has no prior experience with projects. Children should be given simple projects to be done depending on their age right from the start of their schooling. It's only then the child would develop the kind of thinking process that projects require.

@Bhagwad, The reason I think tests should be redu...

2009-11-05T07:35:56.000+05:30

@Bhagwad, The reason I think tests should be reduced is that they motivate teachers and students to do the wrong thing: mug up. Rote memorization is far less valuable than we think, imho. People actually forget things they don't put to use in some original thinking of their own. That might be a math idea that is put to use in a problem that is interesting and challenging. It might be a statistic used in a blog post. For example, you are an expert on animal rights now, because you wrote a post about it that required you to martial ideas, evidence and arguments--you will not forget that information. My son, on the other hand, cannot remember the names of the 20 stadiums he learned for his GK test last year. In fact, he forgot them within days: memory dump. I hoped he would learn the value of hard work; he learned a much more cynical lesson: sometimes you have to learn useless stuff to get through fifth standard; the real fun starts when you past the test and can read. But the funny thing is, he does well in the science Olympiad not because he mugs up, but because his general knowledge (the real kind, not the kind you cram into your head for the exam) is strong. Why? Because he reads everything he can get his hands on.

Ah, but you are right, this is a very difficult problem and there is that reality you speak of. I do think we could let go of the telegraph writing, however! Why not just do sms? Or better still, teach the kids to tell interesting stories! Couldn't hurt! Would write more, but am in a rush!

My scheming mind can't help but feel that if p...

2009-11-05T05:58:54.000+05:30

My scheming mind can't help but feel that if parents are really doing the rainwater harvesting projects for their kids, then it's actually targeting the right people! While I agree that not much thought goes into the projects, some important concepts are inculcated into the kids. For one they'll at least be aware of what it is and even if they don't know how to do it, they'll at least understand that saving water is important.

Also, I don't think anyone ever gets to say that what he or she learnt in school was useful - heaven knows I hated school. But as Einstein said, we go to school not to learn anything but to train the mind. Mugging up a lot of junk is next to useless, but it sure shows a kid the value of hard work. The flaw of course is that people are good at different things. I could never mug anything to save my life.

But you really do have a point when you talk about originality being stifled - that's the other side of the coin. But I don't agree that tests should be reduced. As I said, I would treat schools as a place to train the mind and removing tests would simply lower the motivation. But original thinking really needs to be rewarded. Unfortunately I'm not aware of any school system that can encourage that. I think the place to reward originality is at home with parents who actually notice the kid and who really care for him or her.

After all, with the number of kids in a classroom these days, a teacher simply doesn't have time to keep track of each. That's a reality we're going to have to live with I'm afraid.

@Deepak, Thanks so much for stopping by! I look ...

2009-11-04T10:30:39.000+05:30

@Deepak, Thanks so much for stopping by! I look forward to looking at your link.

@plastic thanks for the link fix; also, you might have a point about telegraph writing!

HB

Hari Batti Green Light Dhaba Internet Telegrams v...

2009-11-04T01:41:43.000+05:30

Hari Batti Green Light Dhaba Internet

Telegrams very important to economy - stop - Will send money from abroad via Western Union - stop - Does the dhaba accept Mastercard? - end -

@Deepak something happened to your link: indiawaterportal.org

Hey, check out the schools water portal (http://...

2009-11-03T18:06:28.000+05:30

Hey,

check out the schools water portal (http://schools.indiawaterportal.org). I am associated with it, so let me know what you think :-)