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I shall begin with an oft-repeated tale. This is about two public figures, alumni of the same reputed school in north India. On the school’s founder’s day in a jubilee year, one of them had written rather sentimentally in the visitors’ book, “Whatever I am today, I owe to this institution,” or words to that effect. The very next entry by the other public figure, who is known for his wit and sarcasm, was, “Why blame the school?”
We are amused each time we hear this tale but it also leads to serious reflection. To loyal and grateful alumni, their alma mater could do no wrong. They claim that it is their school that shaped them and had been responsible for their success in life. Others feel that their school could have prepared them better for higher studies and certainly better for life.
The process of admission into college itself demands certain basic skills such as filling up forms correctly, procuring the required documents, requesting appropriate recommendations and tackling online tests effectively. Students are often tempted to give more information than is necessary or they omit something that would have strengthened their case. Indeed, I have to advise students that there is absolutely no need to include the Camlin colouring contest certificate they received in Class V or mention the medal they won for the potato and spoon race in Class VI when they are applying for college admission. Bulk and volume cannot replace relevance and quality. Some have a strange penchant for giving names of ‘VIP’ referees who have neither the time nor the inclination to give any worthwhile information about the candidate. I remember a particular application for a teaching job. The applicant had mentioned the vice-president of India as referee and entered ‘intimate’ in the column meant to indicate her relationship with the referee mentioned.
To take the issue of preparation for higher studies, no sooner is the ordeal of college admission over and students have started attending classes than they discover their shortcomings. They find that they are sadly wanting in some important areas such as taking notes, reading and writing skills, carrying out research and presenting a paper. Study skills are sometimes dealt with in school. They are useful for even younger students, especially if they are taught with individual learning styles in mind. Reading skills, however, are rarely dealt with after the primary level. Although we know how a favourite novel is ruined when it is prescribed for an examination, students would benefit enormously if they were demonstrated the reading technique formula SQ3R (survey, question, read, recite, revise) and were made aware of the different functions of skimming, scanning, detailed reading, speed reading and browsing. Reading for enjoyment is of course another matter — a person should have complete freedom to read a book any which way she wants.
Most students simply do not acquire the skills that are needed in college. The current school examination pattern of multiple-choice, objective and ‘short answer’ questions do not require students to write at length. Even then, teachers worry about faulty grammar and syntax and despair that most high school students are incapable of communicating ideas in a clear and organized manner or of presenting a sustained argument backed by solid evidence. Writing exercises in school are usually limited to supporting or refuting established opinions and this, too, is gleaned from readymade material. The extended essay of 4,000 words required by the International Baccalaureate is a useful device to prepare students for higher studies. Schools would do well to introduce this, irrespective of the examination board they are affiliated to.
Boards for school examinations are expected to redesign the curriculum to suit the requirements of changing times. As a consequence, they are found introducing, withdrawing and reintroducing new courses, subjects or papers, often within a short span. These changes in turn generate a flurry of frenzied activity among schools, tutors and publishers. With the broad goal of preparing young people for life, subjects such as disaster management, environmental science, work education, socially useful productive work (better known as SUPW) and community service have been included in the syllabus over the years. Students have their own full form for SUPW. They feel that ‘Some Useful Periods Wasted’ describes the course more accurately. Yet we hear adults complaining that it would have been useful for them if they had been taught certain basic life skills in school in addition to calculus and the digestive system of the earthworm. These skills are variously mentioned as follows: cooking, hemming skirts or pants, stitching on buttons and hooks and using bank facilities effectively.
So far as financial literacy is concerned, all school-leaving students must know how to write a cheque. They must also know the difference between a bearer’s cheque and a crossed one, a bill and a receipt, and be able to deposit money in and withdraw it from a bank. They must understand the importance of a budget and maintain simple accounts in order to manage their money wisely. Wise parents, I have heard, gift their children with special piggy banks. You may have heard that 21st-century piggy banks have four slots and corresponding compartments to receive money separately for saving, spending, donating and investing. In these times of heady consumerism, it would be a good idea to discuss plastic money in class and the pros and cons of using debit or credit cards along with the dangers of debt traps.
Sex education is another urgent issue to be addressed. Apart from the safety angle, which is uppermost in our minds today, it is important to deal with sex and sexuality at an appropriate time, openly and honestly, and not leave children to pick up information for themselves. It is unfortunate and, in fact, quite ridiculous, that in India we are still debating whether sex education should be included in the school syllabus. Teaching students the functioning of the reproductive system as part of their biology syllabus is certainly not sex education. But it would of course be disastrous to make sex education yet another paper with grades and marks. I find it quite objectionable that a student’s values are assessed through CBSE examination papers these days. Many parents approach us to take sex-education sessions with young children simply because they are exposed to all kinds of sexually-loaded images and explicit newspaper reports of violent sex crimes. We have to accept that today it is impossible to monitor what children read or watch or listen to. Therefore, it makes sense for carefully selected teachers to discuss relevant issues in age-appropriate ways.
Many schools offer some practical courses to prepare young people for life. Teaching them about safety measures and how to respond to emergencies in a structured manner and to make students aware of the principles of disaster management are all steps in this direction. But these lessons are of no real use if they are limited to the classroom. We must observe whether the learning has been assimilated and is applied as and when required. I am delighted when I hear from parents that their children have become extremely conservation-conscious and are prompt to turn off lights and fans and are particular about not wasting water. Similarly, I cannot help feeling dismayed each time I see a student crossing the street while talking on her mobile phone or a pillion-riding child without a helmet.
In England, a course named citizenship has been included in the curriculum. Its aim is to prepare students for “an effective role in public life”. I feel that our civics syllabuses are wholly inadequate in fulfilling such an aim. More and more young people should be engaged in active citizenship and not jump straight into party politics in college. Another useful course in the national curriculum in England is PSHEE or personal, social, health and economic education, which focuses on “personal wellbeing, economic wellbeing and financial capability”.
Having spelt out some of the things that schools can attempt to teach, it is important to emphasize that there will always be many things that cannot be taught in school. Mark McCormack expresses this in the introduction to his bestselling book, What They Don’t Teach at Harvard Business School: Notes from a Street-Smart Executive. “To be fair to the Harvard business school,” he writes, “what they don’t teach is what they can’t teach.” McCormack goes on to share the ‘street knowledge’ that he gained while running a business.
It is these educational gaps in school that publishers attempt to fill through a proliferation of self-help books. Bookshops are just bursting with them. Recently, I was quite amazed to see that a book fair in Hyderabad hardly had any fiction or general non-fiction. Most of the books on display were either school or college textbooks or self-help titles. I was told that people nowadays were mostly interested in furthering their careers. So even titles such as How to Buy a Self-help Book and How to Make People Like You in 90 Seconds sell extremely well along with ‘useful’ practical guides to almost anything you wish to learn. The question is, to what extent do self-help books really help?
An anguished blogger who excelled at calculus in school, writes, “I feel I have useless superpowers in some areas and not enough power in others where I super need it.” But even ‘super schools’ or ‘super moms and dads’ cannot prepare young people for all of life’s demands. Many lessons will have to be learnt from life itself.
