"Schooling may improve short-term memory, metacognitive skills, and knowledge in certain domains; it does not fundamentally change the way children think but rather influences their performance on school-like tasks." Our reading this week at Brewing Knowledge threw me back into a conundrum – will this child in front of me be able to not just make a living but lead a happy, fulfilling life? Will students be able to discover what they truly enjoy doing and learn how to be by themselves while living in a community? Is there anything that I am bringing as a teacher to the classroom that is contributing to their life in a meaningful way?
I have stopped feeling sad about these questions, like I used to; I let them sit with me. I let these questions make me feel the way I do. I want to learn more, and this is the only way – to be stuck with questions that move me. My work as a teacher should involve considering all the lives I encounter and engage with. Ms Kamala Mukunda's chapter on Nature and Nurture is beautiful. It leads you to believe there is no point to school, and then you start asking your own questions. Then she brings you back to the reasons why it might be a learning and enriching space for children. But the question is, what do we want them to learn? How? Why? As a language teacher, I was thinking, can critical reasoning be built or encouraged without schooling? I am sure it can be. Literature can. It connects us with ourselves, the world and the text itself..
Some reflections from our teachers from Brewing Knowledge-
हमे अपने वातावरण में सीखने के लिए सिर्फ किताबें ही नहीं चाहिए होतीं बल्कि अच्छे अनुभव, अच्छे लोग, प्रकृति, और सबसे महत्वपूर्ण है कि हमारे मन में सीखने की इच्छा होनी चाहिए l हम अक्सर अपने आसपास की हर चीज़ से कुछ न कुछ सीख सकते हैं- जैसे माता- पिता से व्यवहार, दोस्तों से सहयोग, पेड़- पौधों से धैर्य, और जानवरों से प्रेम आदि l - Swati (Arthur Foot Academy)
Minimum one skill honi chahiye humare paas. Special emotional intelligence. Students ko only syllabus centered na rakha jaye wo bhull hi jate hai. Focus on holistic development of every child. Real life learning di jani chahiye schools main- Priyanka, Abohar
