Mumma :: "So, K~. If you add this square to the left window, how will it look?"
K~ :: "Mumma, how do I use my fingers?"
Mumma :: "Addition does not mean that you keep using your fingers all the time. It means logically counting two things together. Do cheezon ko milaana ..... "
K~ :: "Matlab, mujhe iss window ke saath iss chotu square ko milaana hai?" (Refer to picture 1 - "Add")
Mumma :: "Haan."
K~ was finally able to do it. The subtraction was difficult initially (infact she got the first one wrong - refer to picture 2 - "Subtract").
The above exercise set me thinking ...... my girl was doing subtraction and addition error-free, but only on her fingers, just the way I taught her. Pity! that I never went around explaining her why do we do it? How will she use it use it in her real life. I immediately went to the garden, plucked a flower from a plant with 4 flowers and asked her "K~, what is 4-1=?" and pat came the reply - "3". Opened the pack of 10 biscuits, made her eat 4, asked for the balance, and there was my baby, replying with complete understanding. I wish I could express the excitement in her eyes through words.
Starting now, I have decided that before I begin with any teaching, I will first make her understand the application of it in our lives.
I continued ......
Mumma :: "K~, why do we write alphabets?"
K~ :: "Ummmm....."
Mumma :: "So that we can write things like books, letters which help us to tell others what we are thinking. So that you can know about interesting places without visiting them. So that we can make babies learn when they grow up...."
K~ :: "And also because we can read poems ..... hai na?"
Mumma :: "Right."
We discussed at length about the real reason behind learning things together like colours, stories, puzzles etc. etc.
We in India take pride in being the best brains in the world. We make our children write at age 3 when the rest of the world does not allow kids to hold the pencil before age 5. We are done with Differential and Integral Calculus in Std.XII, whereas it should be a Masters subject. We force our children to take up Maths, Biology or Commerce even if her heart is in Fine Arts. Thousands of Civil Engineers pass out each year from premier Engineering colleges and not one perfect highway in our country! Hundreds of MBAs are churned out by the best B-schools walking away with a jaw-dropping moolah, none of them actually knowing how to manage their own lives! Civil servants, the self-proclaimed creme-de-la-creme of the society supposedly work for their country without making an iota of difference in the life of even one citizen of the country, leave aside the nation at large.
It is because our fundamentals of education are RIGHT ..... but INCOMPLETE.
K~, this is for you ...........
Today, I want you to know that I do not expect you to become anything great in life. You do not have to do BIG things in life, but do SMALL things in a BIG way! I set you free from any of the parental ambitions or aspirations. I have not been a great academician or scholar myself and I do not expect you to do that bit for me. I will not entertain anybody who will come enquiring about your marks in the final examination followed by an unsolicited remark - whether good or bad with you listening from behind the doors. I refuse to DECIDE for what is best for you and your future. The very fact that I gave birth to you makes you special. You do not have to prove worthy of it.
Go my precious ..... follow your heart, chase your dreams! Discover your true passion. I am here to shield you from the rest of the society!!
I think this should be read by "leading educationists" in our country
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