TIME FOR SORROW & TIME FOR CHANGE

My emotions are ranging from helplessness to shock, incapacitation, anger and a sense of being let down by my government by the recent turn of events at Mumbai. I am horrified at our lack of preparedness and response to a tragedy of the magnitude of the tragedy at Mumbai.

One shudders to think that were it not for the Marcos and the NSG Commandos the extent of tragedy would have been much greater. Prior to the NSG moving in and taking charge the  so called elite Anti Terrorist Squad was practically incapacitated owing to the killing of its top cop, an ACP and encounter specialist.

Add to it a bumbling ineffective sycophant heading the Home Ministry who sucks up big time to his political masters. An utterly incompetent man who robbed the NSG operation of a critical element of surprise by disclosing their movement plans. Not to forget the wonderful coverage by our TV Channels getting us live coverage and exclusive stories in a bid to give us first hand information, live and breaking news as it happened even at the cost of risking their lives.

The finest coverage, however, was provided by ace journalist Barkha Dutt who wanted to take the lead and ensured a few more innocent civilian casualties. Those who missed it live may please read http://ckunte.com/archives/shoddy-journalism. Even at the time of the Kargil war she did manage to goof up big time by helping the enemy in learning of the positions of our troops. She’s an old hand at it! Hats off to her journalistic wisdom.

Truly wonderful has been the ever vocal Mr. RR Patil who goes on record to say that it cannot be called a total intelligence failure since one or two incidents such as this can happen in a big city. Only to clarify later that he has perhaps been misinterpreted.

The UPA Government has failed us in more ways than one and the common man is the biggest casualty of this blundering governance.

Narendra Modi is accused of politicising the issue when he says that the government has failed. I think it is perfectly justified and more such questions must be asked and the Government and the UPA Chairperson must answer them. Bear it in mind that be it Mr. Modi or any other opposition leader, they are also democratically  elected representatives of the people and all questions asked by them are also on behalf of the common man. The answers must be given. It is time that the government must be held accountable.

 

It is time that the ruling party comes out with some honest answers to some very direct, blunt and uncomfortable questions. What has it done to safeguard the common man’s constitutionally guaranteed fundamental right: the right to life?

While we applaud and pay the highest tributes to the men who laid down their lives in keeping us safe let us spare a thought for all the unsung heroes of this tragedy as well.

I salute all the heroes who didn’t wear khakhi or battle fatigues like the maintence engineer in the Taj who took a bullet trying to save a couple, the General Manager of the Taj Hotel who stood outside the hotel with a bottle of water for the released hostages despite having lost his entire family, to the waiters and the hotel staff who were operating by their credo of guests first, the Nanny of the Rabbi’s Kid who saved him and the many more such unsung heroes whose names or identity will never be plastered across the televisions screens and national dailies.

Having said all of the above, it is time that we sat down and equipped ourselves better to handle more such situations. They are an inescapable part of our contemporary reality. The government must get out of its mode of denial, complacence and laid back lackadaisical functioning, forget the vote banks and look after the nation. It is elected to do so after spending huge amounts of the tax payers' money. It runs on the same too and must be held accountable for its acts of omissions and commission at all times. We do not need a parliament that is marked by not work and all pay/perks. They must perform.

 

In the same vein, we must prepare our road map for the future and implement it. It is time that we had a unified federal agency that handles counterinsurgency/counter terrorist operations. It is most essential.

 

Each state must have its own Crisis Response Team or SWAT Team. This team must have a free hand and must be liberated of political clutches. They must be answerable to the political leadership at the Centre but operating under the Commissioner Police or the DGP.  We cannot have them looking after the politicians.

We need to equip and train our police forces in more ways than one. The World War II discarded 303 rifles and the SLR’s must go. We need to provide them state of the art weapon systems like the AK Series or INSAS assault rifles, night vision glasses, Kevlar Bullet Proof Vests, rigorous training in intelligence gathering, search and seizure operations, covert operations, counter insurgency/counter terrorist measures, hostage situations. We need to learn from Israel, from the US, UK, France and other nations that are dealing a little more successfully with the problem. 

Our NSG and the Marcos should also be provided better weapon systems like the M4 A1, MP5K A4, TAVOR 21, HECKLER AND KOCH MAchine Pistols and Assault RIFLES, MINIMI M249 PARA, CORNERSHOT, WEAPON SYSTEMS FROM STEYR MANNLICHER and such like, Thermal Sensors, Night Vision Goggles,  Designated Aircraft/ Choppers,  and other means of transport. If need be they may be sent for further information sharing and training with the SAS, SOF, SEALS, GIPN, GSG 9, ISAYERET, SWAT and such like.

Last but not the least, we must now prepare to have SWAT team in practically all metropolitan cities and other high risk establishments to begin with.

We must also train the civilian population in crisis management and providing paramedical assistance in case of any such eventuality. The information gathering must also be improved by coordinating closely with the local population.

It is high time we did it. We must do it no matter what it takes. If today we fail, then our society and the greater future society will fail. Whatever it costs, the price of failure will be greater than the price of freedom. Let us not let our kids live in fear and under the shadow of a terrorist’s gun. Our nation is worth it. And our children are worth it.  

 PS. In case you are wondering about my knowledge of weapon systems, it helps being a defence officer’s son who likes to watch Discovery Channel’s Future Weapons.  

 

 

 

EXAMS, INSTRUCTION, CURRICULUM & EDUCATION

Have you ever sat back to consider what exactly is an examination? What does it test? How effective is it? An examination is essentially a system for monitoring the progress of a learner by testing his retention, recall and reproduction of curricular material. Now this really is being unfair to a learner, because a curriculum essentially is a pre-specified set of conditions that must be met in order to make the grade. Failure to do so will not enable the learner to make the grade. Another interesting point that must be taken into cognizance is the fact that nowhere does this system consider testing acquired skills. Neither learning nor justice is promoted by schooling because educators insist on packaging instruction with certification. Learning and the assignment of social roles are melted into schooling. Yet to learn means to acquire a new skill or insight, while promotion depends on an opinion that others have formed. Learning frequently is the result of instruction, but selection for a role or category in the job market increasingly depends on mere length of attendance.

Instruction is the choice of circumstances that facilitate learning. Roles are assigned by setting a curriculum of conditions that the candidate must meet if he is to make the grade. School links instruction-but not learning-to these roles. This is neither reasonable nor liberating. It is not reasonable because it does not link relevant qualities or competences to roles, but rather the process by which such qualities are supposed to be acquired. It is not liberating or educational because school reserves instruction to those whose every step in learning fits previously approved measures of social control.

Another major illusion on which the school system rests is that most learning is the result of teaching. Teaching, it is true, may contribute to certain kinds of learning under certain circumstances. But most people acquire most of their knowledge outside school, and in school only insofar as school, in a few rich countries, has become their place of confinement during an increasing part of their lives.

Most learning happens casually, and even most intentional learning is not the result of programmed instruction. Normal children learn their first language casually, although faster if their parents pay attention to them. Most people who learn a second language well do so as a result of odd circumstances and not of sequential teaching. They go to live with their grandparents, they travel, or they fall in love with a foreigner. Fluency in reading is also more often than not a result of such extracurricular activities. Most people, who read widely, and with pleasure, merely believe that they learned to do so in school; when challenged, they easily discard this illusion.

But the fact that a great deal of learning even now seems to happen casually and as a by-product of some other activity defined as work or leisure does not mean that planned learning does not benefit from planned instruction and that both do not stand in need of improvement. The strongly motivated student who is faced with the task of acquiring a new and complex skill may benefit greatly from the discipline now associated with the old-fashioned schoolmaster who taught reading, or multiplication by rote etc.
School has now made this kind of drill teaching rare and disreputable, yet there are many skills that a motivated student with normal aptitude can master in a matter of a few months if taught in this traditional way.
Opportunities for skill learning can be vastly multiplied if we open the "market." This depends on matching the right teacher with the right student when he is highly motivated in an intelligent program, without the constraint of curriculum.

We must have a fair recognition of the two-faced nature of learning. An insistence on skill drill alone could be a disaster; equal emphasis must be placed on other kinds of learning. But if schools are the wrong places for learning a skill, they are even worse places for getting an education. School does both tasks badly, partly because it does not distinguish between them. School is inefficient in skill instruction especially because it is curricular. In most schools a program that is meant to improve one skill is chained always to another irrelevant task. History is tied to advancement in math, and class attendance to the right to use the playground.

Schools are even less efficient in the arrangement of the circumstances that encourage the open-ended, exploratory use of acquired skills, for which let us reserve the term "liberal education." The main reason for this is that school is obligatory and becomes schooling for schooling's sake: an enforced stay in the company of teachers, which pays off in the doubtful privilege of more such company. Just as skill instruction must be freed from curricular restraints, so must liberal education be dissociated from obligatory attendance. Both skill learning and education for inventive and creative behavior can be aided by institutional arrangement, but they are of a different, frequently opposed nature.

Education in the exploratory and creative use of skills, however, cannot rely on drills. Education relies on the relationship between partners who already have some of the keys that give access to memories stored in and by the community. It relies on the critical intent of all those who use memories creatively. It relies on the surprise of the unexpected question that opens new doors for the inquirer and his partner.
P.S. It is truly inspiring to read DESCHOOLING SOCIETY by IVAN ILLICH and I share with others his powerful influence upon my psyche as well. The above piece does borrow from the above mentioned text.

Beyond Classrooms

In my last entry I had talked of trying to devise strategies that help children grow and go beyond classrooms. 

Take a look at the normal classroom and you find that it is the teacher who is most active in the class and not the learner. Passivity is a bane for a child’s mind. Learning is directly proportional to the degree of involvement in the task to be learnt. The critical question here is: How involved is the entire classroom during a normal classroom session? Believe you me, Ladies and Gentlemen, not much.  Giving due consideration to the practical problems faced by the teacher especially the practically unmanageable Teacher Student Ratios, we must seriously consider evolving strategies to break free of the traditional antipathies of a normal classroom situation and make the learner more active as against the teacher.

I was fortunate enough to have worked with an Educationist giant the Late Lt. Col. P.S. Satsangi VSM who always held the view that each and every child can be improved, developed and groomed through school education if given the right inputs. His methods have produced toppers, absolute turnaround cases from the previous underachievers that they tended to be. The man was a thinker beyond his years and ahead of his times. 

We did an experiment on Self Learning and were rewarded with exceptional results.

By redesigning Macro- classroom processes and allowing flexibility for different ability groups, one can easily shift the responsibility of learning from the teacher to the learner. Self-Learning amongst students can be achieved through Self Goal Setting with planning for Teacher Inputs, Self Study and Self Testing within Small Groups and Discussion and Teaching of Peers.

Also, by freeing the teacher of the routine responsibility of spoon feeding students, one can easily enable the teacher to concentrate on MOTIVATIONAL INTERVENTIONS & INPUS, to make the learning process more enjoyable, contemporary and discovery oriented. Thus we can achieve spectacular results in not only boosting average academic performance greatly, but also break down traditional antipathies between the School and the Students, with each student internalizing values of Learning being a constructive, ceaseless, self directed quest in which they have to participate and cooperate with all elements concerned.

1.                  THE STRUCTURE: The Typical classroom has 

a.      Average Students who view academic work as dreary, drudgery and are largely unable to comprehend the reason to learn or gain knowledge. They have little ambition of striving for much and drift through school as through life and prefer to live on a day-to-day basis. They often look around for Leaders to follow, have little opinions or convictions for anything and are easily swayable.

b.      Bright Academic Underachievers who view academic knowledge in books as abstract nonsense which is impractical and non workable in the Real World. They enjoy action and dabble in pursuits that give them a sense of realizing their dynamism – Business, Music, Socializing or just plain Mischief Mongering. More often than not, they perceive teachers as objects of ridicule and amusement, failures of the real world who try and impose their alien and conservative thinking upon them. These kids generally hail from well to do business families.

c.      Academic Achievers who are the quiet simpletons, obedient and conformist with a strong career sense and an over riding goal of becoming professionals – Doctors, Engineers, Software Programmers, MBA’s etc. They generally hail from professional families where academic achievement is looked up to and valued. These kids are individualistic in their study outlook and do their own major academic work with an individual interaction with the teacher.

d.      All Rounder who are smart strategists and time managers indulging in a variety of activities but know how to manage time, energy, effort and resources to determined ends, be it academics, sports or dramatics. They function well in a given structure of activities. They can lead the class group well but are generally involved in motivated mischief making with the normal classroom but tactfully protecting their own performance individualistically.

Compare this mixed group of learners with one solitary teacher whose prime focus is on teaching and not learning. As a subject expert he shoulders the entire responsibility of:

a.                  Taking Classes

b.                  Making Lesson Plans/ Academic Planning

c.                  Checking Assignments

d.                  Managing Examinations

e.                  Completing the Syllabus.

The teacher is so hard pressed spoon feeding the entire syllabus that there is no time for:

a.                  Making the syllabus relevant, contemporary, enriched and discovery oriented

b.                  Plan and provide Psychological and Motivational Inputs

c.                  Provide and cater to Individual differences of students in ability, knowledge and level of motivation.

This in turn affects the entire process leaving the learners isolated and nonplussed and left to their own resources. This leads to a further segregation of the Classroom with

a.                  Academic achievers feeling isolated while the process becomes non glamorous but remote for the average class.

b.                  The bright underachievers and all rounders becoming leaders and influencing the class by providing glamour and action through distracting/ destructive activities and coming in direct confrontation with the school authorities who perceive them as having anti establishment tendencies.

c.                  The all rounder tactfully switching sides for academic effort at the time of the examination

d.                  Average left to own devices until last minute- too late to do anything at the time of the examination

What can be done to turn around this situation?

a.                  A think tank be created amongst the academic achievers

b.                  All responsibility of learning for the class be shifted from the teacher to this think tank

c.                  An experimental canvas be provided to them to create a united plan and action for themselves and the class

d.                  Responsibility and authority be vested in this group by accepting it as the representative body of the whole class

e.                  Dynamics of co-operative learning, discussion and teaching the rest of the class be followed

f.                   Gradual integration of bright under achievers into the think tank

g.                  Individual attention to each member of the class

 

HOW IS IT DONE

1.                  The entire class is subdivided into groups (Syndicates) of four to five under the Supervision of an Individual Member of the Think Tank (Super Syndicate)

2.                  The Think Tank in conjunction with the Teachers do the Academic Planning for themselves and the class.

3.                  As per the Plan, the Think Tanks studies throughout the day. The system of Flexi – time is followed in which each member is can plan time to study individually.

4.                  The entire class goes through the academic schedule planned by the think tank with the help of the teacher.

5.                  During the evening, the think tank brainstorms and discusses whatever they studied during the day while the teacher facilitates the discussions.

6.                  Thereafter the Think Tank members teach their respective Syndicate for about four hours.

7.                  The Think tank members, through rotation, amongst themselves, conduct daily testing.

8.                  The respective Super Syndicate does daily follow up for syndicate members.

 

Implications- Immediate Results Experienced

For the Academic Achiever

a.                  Brings on the center stage of the class, where they start getting respect for their achievements, gaining confidence

b.                  Realise the immense potential of learning through co-operation with class mates- methods of discussion and teaching peers serve as concept clarifiers

c.                  Start assuming responsibility outside themselves- learning the crucial art of managing people and situations

d.                  Understand the need and function of education structure and process by experimenting with different forms the role of curriculum periods, sessions time-tabling and examinations

For the Sub-Average/ Average Students

a.                  Positive leadership by example of think tank members creating unified force for triggering action/ effort/ motivation- filling leadership vacuum

b.                  Individual attention by friends who tailor instruction/ knowledge to their

·        Past knowledge

·        Level and speed of understanding

c.                  Can share with friends problems which they would hesitate to confide in their teachers

For the Bright Academic Under Achiever

a.                  Initially resist cultural change, but all of a sudden realize respect for academic achievers by the average class making them want to become members of the think tank- belong to the new order

b.                  Teachers being able to devote time and effort to establish a personal rapport to bring them into the mainstream

c.                  Uniqueness and openness of methodology appeals to their non-conformist tendencies- canvas to experiment within bounds

d.                  Gradually transform and become a part of the think tank

For the All Rounder

a.                  Realize the effectiveness of integrating their all round leading capability with academic management, that actually gives real life situations to spell a visible difference in fellow students

b.                  Perceive the importance of transparency in leading classmates; not selfishly do their own work and mislead others. Share their skill of varied application with fellow students once placed in a position to do so

For the Teachers

a.                  Freed of routine teaching responsibility the teacher can concentrate on becoming a manager and facilitator of learning

·        Conceive new inputs to enrich syllabus

·        Develop an insight into the psychological and motivational process of individual students

b.                  Above all the teacher becomes a joint learner along with students in which not only does he encounter novel and challenging situations of curious students, but understand how they feel and behave in the threshold age of adulthood

c.                  Experience that student control does not come through coercion but through example, integrity, commitment and affection

Other Implications

The pre experimental stage typifies many problems faced by our country on a macro level- groupism, regionalism, lackadaisical attitude, and non-objective political tendencies. The post-experimental situation changes dramatically with all these manifestations subsiding in favor of the more objective ones determinate through an effective learning process. Qualities like

a.                  Self control and discipline

b.                  Co-operation

c.                  Time management

d.                  Motivation and leadership of teams

e.                  Critical thinking and convincing capability

f.                   Objectivity

g.                  Innovative and experimental outlook and above all,

h.                  Leadership through integrity and example

It is was seen that cultures and attitudes of students can be transformed even as late as the class XI-XII stage. It just needs a positive attitude and a willingness to break the confines of a traditional setup, be a non-conformist and transcend the boundaries of a normal classroom. It has to start with a willing teacher. Let us not forget, if it were not for teachers, life would have no class…

Though what we did here did not go down too well with educationists, Teachers and Principals in India (They cited numerous excuses as to how and why it could not be replicated!!!) appreciation did come in from Wes Regian of the Texas A&M. Wes has been involved with  Cognitive Sciences and is currently the Principal Knowledge Engineer at the CTC, USA. He has been working extensively on developing programmes for CAI and ICAI. ( Computer Aided Instruction and Intelligent Computer Aided Instruction).

Lots more later........

 

Wither Schooling

With the introduction and implementation of the New Education Policy, many children in India are enrolled in school each year.

 Again, recently there has been talk of raising our education standards.

What is the intended goal?

Is it to have classrooms over-flooded with children?

Is it to make sure that children know what they are supposed to know before letting them into the next grade?

Or is it to provide a good and effective learning environment and conditions?

Most of our institutions are low achieving institutions churning out children who are not performing very well, we are producing only some islands of excellence and the same does not satisfy the criterion of quality education or that of universalisation of education. It has to expand and we don’t have to be apologetic about it since in the melee of quantity, quality is bound to suffer.

The experience I have is that most of these children fail in school. They complete their schooling only because we have agreed to push them up through the grades and out of schools whether they know anything or not.

Principally, children from the time of birth upto three years have a tremendous capacity for learning, understanding, and creating. This is an ability which they are born with, and they really make full use of it during the first three years of their life. However, as they grow old and go to school, they fail to develop their capacity further at school age. Have you ever noticed that before the child is sent to school, he feels free to learn and discover things he is interested in, and sometimes seeks solutions from willing adults around him. He does so in order to create his own happy universe.

As soon as the child is enrolled in school, he finds himself being taught things that often contradict other things he has been told. Even the teachers are not as friendly as the adults at home. This makes the child afraid, bored and confused. They become afraid because they have been told they are at school in order to learn and pass exams and the fear comes when they think of failing the exams, which they know will disappoint and displease the adults around them. They get bored because they learn things, which do not interest them, and they learn them in the most monotonous and dull ways, which make such limited and narrow demands on the wide spectrum of their intelligence, capabilities and talents.  

For example let us consider the problem of boredom, children use various strategies to dodge or meet the demands put on them by adults.

Some of the strategies include:

1.         Not to agree to understand instruction no matter how plain they are.

2.         Mumbling is used when the child is not sure of the answer and is afraid of the teacher but has to raise his hand to save himself from punishment.

3.         Take advantage of pupils who don't pay attention. They know that teachers usually surprise non-listeners with questions, so these children would wave their hands in the air as if they were bursting to tell the answer whether they really know it or not. This is simply a manoeuvre to make the teacher give the answer himself.

4.         Guess work -just like the above strategy, they will answer anyhow just to irritate the teacher and force him to solve the problem for them.

 

On analyzing the interaction between children and teachers, we find that the effects of this interaction on the children's strategies and learning are very adverse. Corporal punishment is merely one bad interaction, which ruins children's appetites for learning. We as educators use quite a few ceremonies of humiliation of a child, which start as early as possible just when the children are trusting, hopeful and incapable of doing any physical harm to teachers.

It may be pertinent to point out that teachers resort to these harmful acts because they lack self-confidence in their competence. Their thinking is so dormant that they can't think of initiating new ways or changing their methods of teaching. Why don't they think of how better they can teach children to read, add or even paint? This can make their daily work as teachers extremely challenging and exciting. We as educators do not recognize the meaning of real learning. There is a difference between what children appear to know, or are expected to know and what they really want to know. However, this does not mean that each child should be taught or learn what he wants but teachers should pay attention and develop the child more in whatever talent they show to possess. Learning is not necessarily only the three R’^s, it goes much beyond.

 

It is time that we analysed strategies that schools develop and apply in teaching. These strategies do a lot of harm to children because they raise fears in children; they produce learning, which is usually fragmentary, distorted and short-lived. Generally these strategies fail to meet the real needs of children.

In simpler words, schools do not provide the knowledge that will help in the future lives of these children. Schools should be places where children learn what they most want to know and not what teachers think they ought to know. Children should be allowed to learn naturally by following their curiosity, adding to their mental model of reality so that they can keep what they need and reject without fear or guilt what they do not need. 

Thus they grow in knowledge, in the love of learning as also in their ability to learn.

We at schools must keep striving to help kids achieve their inherent potential and actualize themselves. We must seek not to school a child but to educate him.  Let us be very clear that good teachers cost more and bad teachers cost all the more.

Tomorrow I’ll write on evolving effective strategies to help deal with the various aspects of a child’s education by seeking to breakdown traditional classroom antipathies and encouraging the open ended use of acquired skills amongst children.

Long have I thought about writing what I feel and believe but never really got down to doing it for some reason or the other. I guess there comes a time when one is unable to control the dictates of one's own mind and here I am attempting to reach out to some like minded or even unlike minded folks in this world.

Having suffered the agony of the school system and being labelled a problem child I decided to change the way we teach and learn in our schools. It has taken me 16 odd years to study the system, understand it and develop my own perceptions, ideas and beliefs about what we should do instead of what we have been doing all these years.

I for one have never been able to comprehend what do our schools actually try and do.

Are we teaching kids or educating them? There is a difference between the two!!!!

Why do we only teach our kids to reply and not question?

Kids who question the system are easily labelled problem kids!!!!

What is the use of teachers if we promote dependance?

Why are schools designed to be systemcentric and not childcentric? If schools are meant for kids why is that their wellbeing and interest are not of paramount concern in the entire system.

Why do we treat our children as commodities on a production line so much so that the development and open ended use of acquired skills takes a backseat and the curriculum assumes greater significance?.

Why do we insist on packaging instruction with curriculum?

Why do we insist on teachers having a degree so as to render them "qualified" to teach?

Why do we not test and train our teachers from time to time?

Why is there an absolute mismatch between teacher skills and comptencies and current day realities?

Why is there a mismatch between curricular content and skills as needed to succeed in the world?

Why does there have to be a rigid heirarchy in schools that children must obey at all times?

Why do we assume that kids need to be under the watchful eye of the "Big Brother" at all times.? CCTV monitoring of classrooms is the latest such fad going around in schools these days!!

Why do we not take time to observe and comprehend the subtle messages that children keep giving us on a daily basis?

Why are we afraid of children asking us too many questions and why do we fear answering those questions in all honesty?

Why can't we empathise more with our kids?

In short why don't take our kids a little more seriously?

Meanwhile think and do something about the situation.

To call it a day I am just penning down some thoughts as they occur

Moving beside a silt ridden river, 

the mind hides 

A criminal afraid 

Boring lectures 

inside dull hollow minds. 

Young hungry mouths 

trying hard to satiate 

their hunger for knowledge.

Schools and Tutors 

advertising 

 customised packages 

designed to please,

Batches will be serviced by the hour, 

One on one will cost more. 

Satisfaction guaranteed, 

Come one, come all. 

Welcome to the wonderful world

 of crassly 

commercialised 

education.

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

Please make way 

for contemporary schools

 marketing their goods 

blatantly,

 aggressively yet persuasively

while 

education and children

lie gasping for breath

struggling

to somehow survive

in the

mad melee

called school.

It's time for a change............... Let us all be a part of it.