The one thing that’s holding schools back from teaching the important things
There’s a particular page in Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman Vol. 9 that always brings me to the central problem with education in India.
Although this list is in the context of the United States, I can tell you through firsthand experience that it is true of India too.
Schools don’t teach the important things in life.
Of course, Gaiman’s list is a little too fantastical, but there are things that need to be taught and aren’t.
- Confidence, self-esteem, self-awareness
- Empathy, sensitivity, compassion
- Grit, resourcefulness, problem-solving
- Cooperation, teamwork, leadership
I can go on and on…
There is hardly any emotional education, any proper physical education, any education of the arts in the schools.
And here’s the second part to this issue.
Everyone knows this.
The students know this, the parents know this, the teachers know this, the administrators know this, the boards know this, the governments know this and all the thought-leaders in the world who talk about education know this.
I am sure you know this too.
Then why does it continue to be a problem?
Why don’t schools teach the important things in life?
Over the last year and a half, I have asked this question to a lot of people whose job it is to care about education.
Most of the times, I asked them in casual settings: over dinner, at a wedding, on a walk, on WhatsApp, on a “hey, long time no talk” call. Why? Because they are usually more frank, more open and more honest when I ask this of them casually. When I ask them in official capacity, they usually give me long-winding, prevaricated statements that mean nothing at all.
So what did I hear from them?
A lot of them (Sorry for going Trump on you; I really don’t have the exact numbers here) had one thing to say:
“Schools can hardly finish the topics in the board’s syllabus. When will we make time for all the other things?”
And that right there is the problem. Everyone understands that these “other things” are important, but somehow they are not important enough.
Somehow, they are second string to the syllabus.
As to why the syllabus doesn’t have them, that’s one big Pandora’s box that I will try to open some other day. But simply because these are not covered in the syllabus doesn’t make it less important. You know that too.
“But what can I do? I am just one person.”
One, stop complaining about it. Stop talking about these things sitting on your armchair or holding a drink in your hand. Stop grumbling about it at parent-teacher meetings. Use that time to do something. You can.
If you are a student, you can raise your hand in class and ask questions. If your teacher calls you an idiot, you can try again. And again.
If you are a parent, you can teach your kids at home. You can come together with other parents to help all the children in your kids’ class. You can pool in the resources and hold events after school. Or at the very least, you can simply spend some time with your kids to let them know you are there for them.
If you are a teacher, you can keep one class a week to talk about these things. If you are a science teacher, talk about emotions from the physiological point of view. If you are a sports teacher, conduct one class to build teamwork. If you are a civics teacher, talk about how public policy needs to be shaped to be inclusive of all.
If you are an administrator, you can allocate 5–10 minutes of the morning assembly to this. Or, you can organise training for your teachers and workshops for the students. There are enough people out there who can help you with this. You only need to ask.
If you are a policy-maker, you can run pilot studies to convince your peers. If you don’t have the budget, invest your own time to visit schools and hold sessions with students and teachers. Be your own intervention. That is, if you care.
If you are a thought-leader, you can…well, you know your shit. I don’t have to tell you.
You can do this and a thousand other things. If you just start thinking about it, I am sure you can come up with ten things right now.
But you need to shift gears in your mind. You have to start believing that emotions, arts, relationships aren’t second string to the “subjects in the syllabus”. They are the real deal. The really important stuff.
And that you’re the one who has to do it.
There’s no cavalry coming.
No deus ex machina.
You.
