Editor,
The letter published with the subject line ‘Degeneration of a Public school,’ was disheartening. Being an academician myself I wish to convey a few points with regard to this. First and foremost it is against the basic tenets of education to blame an institution completely and sigh at its glorious past. A school is an outcome of multiple variants – teachers, sponsors, parents, students, aptitude for competition, social and political environment, industry awareness and much more. In current times we address this as belonging to the cloud – a term taken from the internet. A parent cannot consider himself or herself different from this ecosystem and accuse the school solely.
We should stop being too protective about our children. Certain school events should be taken with a pinch of salt. It is not uncommon to have head boy or head girl portray a bit of a bully side to get things in order. If we teach our children right from kindergarten days the meaning of sportsmanship then usually such complains never go beyond the classroom. Team building, sharing, group studies, active interest in sports, music, literature and ability to listen are some of the natural ways to build that spirit such that the child knows when, where and whom to speak up when the time comes. I have no intention to dilute the concern raised. I am fully aware that there is a certain gap in the educational system as a whole. It is not just Pine Mount School. If we open our eyes the gap is obvious everywhere. My only fear is that these things are common and one cannot just change a system overnight with a magic wand or even by complaining in a newspaper. No score is settled that way.
It is but natural to expect appreciation from teachers on projects and assignments done to get motivated but then consider examples like Sachin Tendulkar who was once reprimanded by his coach on his balling capabilities that disappointed him bitterly but eventually turned him into a legend that history is never going to forget.
On another thought why should we even do our SUPW projects, assignments with the intention of being appreciated? Do we ever read the objectives of these projects as laid out in the syllabus book ? The ICSE syllabus or any curriculum that subscribes to projects has only one intention and that is the student should become practically aware of for the benefits of his or her own knowledge. Seriously a student is doing no favour to anyone except herself while doing a project. It is her experimental way to understand intricacies of various subjects. Teachers and parents can at best be guides but the benefit is of that of the student only. If a teacher appreciates it’s sweet of her, if she does not then just move on.
Many parents have this syndrome of comparing their children with other children. It begins with comparing report cards and extends to projects as well. Curious parents are eager to know whether their children have been appreciated for their work in comparison to others. Rather, as parents if we question our children how much they learned from the project; where this knowledge can be applied in real life and what they have learned from projects done by other classmates, it would totally change the perspective .
Of all complaints I found the one about too many assignments during Puja vacations to be really off-track. Being a resident of Pune I am a witness to how schools overload students with assignments be it Diwali, Ganapati festival or even summer vacations. However, students have found creative ways to deal with this. For instance this year’s all India ICSE topper is from Pune. One should read her interview, how she and her friends studied and worked for projects as a group during all vacations. Study pressure is going to be high given that India is extremely competitive. We cannot complain about it. All top notch schools in India have a system of giving assignments so much so there are just two alternatives. One is to go with the flow and oblige with all the assignments eating into play, fun and personal time and the other way out is to be innovative. There is no particular method for being innovative. Some students prefer doing group studies, some prefer to smartly use the internet while some have a mixed bag of teacher, parents, friends ,internet and not to forget even going to places like Crossroads or Landmark ( where libraries are rare).
My aunt, mother, cousins and sisters were all ex-students of PMS. They had their own share of good and bad times but surely it was only between their peers and classmates and it would rarely reach beyond the school premises. Somehow people of that bygone era knew where to draw the line and parents were looked upon as guidance rather than a complaint register. To be honest, life is all about problems and our approach towards them. At the end of the day, all that matters is have our children learn to comprehend the meaning of life. Have they learned to complain or find positive solutions to their problems?
Yours etc.,
Barnali Chatterjee,
Pune
