LEARNING -III

 

Learning- III

Monitoring the child’s progress should be a fortnightly process [by one of the parents by turns] by interacting with the teacher concerned.  It is a worthwhile strategy to adopt, as the teacher also begins to bestow attention on to such children. The child also comes under the habit of daily–reporting on the happenings in school. This can indirectly help us to realize the circle of friends or acquaintances of the child. It is very essential that we monitor the child for all its aspects of health, study, habits and manners.

Any unhealthy deviations must be corrected by telling the child as to the good and the bad. Please avoid physical reprimand. Physical discomfort promotes the habit of telling lies. The advantages of moralistic values must be properly highlighted at this stage. The parents have to practice what they preach. Every child is an excellent judge and can not be cheated. Always remember: the child repeats and reciprocates what we do. It is a clear nemesis nurtured by elders. Some people do not observe basic discipline themselves; but expect the children to shine in every sphere. Let us remember the child has ‘our genes’. It is the ambience that conditions the mind. Home and School together form the ambience.

Freedom must be given to the child to speak / play / interact. It would help the child to learn in many ways. Most children have the ability for passive learning. All their utterances are products of passive learning that goes on for ever. Even adults learn many things by casual observation in public places and media. Innumerable chances come to every one. Therefore, the child has to be taught of the value of being watchful and alert.

It should be made clear to the child – ‘not to trust strangers’ and to avoid eatables offered by them. Carefully educating the child on these prospects is an essential duty of elders. It can tune the child to be more alert.

Being more alert, their skill for passive learning gets sharpened. All these approaches / efforts can begin when the child starts going out to play. A number of benefits can arise from such training. Learning is not just reading and writing. Given these tips at an early age, the child turns analytical and picks up the right lead in most situations. It learns to distinguish ‘bad’ from good. We should also pay attention to making the child observe our traditions. These may relate to food, dress, culture and religion. Religion, if observed as a personal mental exercise can help to acquire self discipline. Discipline is the first ingredient for proper learning. These efforts will certainly pay rich dividends later.

Text books:      I feel like using very strong expressions to stress my opinion. I find a distinct deterioration in the attitudes to read Text books.  Text must be carefully analyzed, because it is the primary source. But people look for “notes”. On several occasions the notes is a mere reprint from textual passages catering to specific questions. Pitiably, several questions are framed creating the ‘looks of being exhaustive’. Often they are exhausting the learner. The scenario is dismal and despicable as no one feels shy of notes-reading. It has become a stupid fashion, since teachers [especially at the school level] resort to using notes for teaching. Enormous time and money are spent to assemble a text. But, information segmented to satisfy some questions enjoys a higher status. It is a clear expression of ill-equipped mass in schools. Students struggle to clear competitive examinations for professional courses and again run in search of notes for such examinations. Capitalizing on this euphoria many publishers of notes have sprung up catering to district level territories. It is a notes-reading population all over our land.