SKILLS / ERRORS

   17       PICKING UP SKILLS                                                  

Life is a theatre full of opportunities to groom or doom one self.  Yes, the choice rests with the individual. Like in a drama, things unfold ‘later’, by which time the individual is too committed to change course. Pursuing the right course is a superior option to attempting mid-course corrections. My earlier reference to ‘decision-making’ [through analysis and evaluation] holds answers to such predicaments, if we stick to objective assessment. So, the first ever skill to be acquired relates to analysis-based evaluation. It comes by getting to details that may not meet the eye. Yes, it is a process of going beyond the face value. Objectivity requires deciphering the intent as much as the content. It is a skill vested in humans to read all information deep. Those who avail of this skill stand better chances of reading things clearly. Grooming the young minds to ‘process’ information in an objective way is the strategy for all life. Children have enough skills to observe and learn; elders should avoid interpreting ideas and bias the thinking of kids. The kids may err in judgment to start with; soon they would come to terms with items of immediate relevance to them.  Permitting them to tumble and gather themselves up is the exercise of learning by trial. Things personally learnt last longer and serve reminders to avoid pitfalls of judgment.

Having said so, it stands to logic to suggest what the parents need to do. Every parent wishes that the child comes up good in life. So, monitoring the child for his or her associates on or off school is essential. Often it is the social company that shapes taste, attitude and disposition. Personal skills must be ably supported by positive attitudes – helping others or reaching out. These need inculcation from childhood. At this juncture, it is relevant to consider the aspects of learning that hold the key to skill-building.

18     ERRORS IN LEARNING

Certainly, the culture in learning has shifted focus. Yes, scoring marks is deemed a priority over those of skill and knowledge acquisition. The euphoria of ‘scores’ has reached a crescendo that young boys and girls are endlessly tormented by parents, teachers, schools and training centres to focus on cornering all the marks prescribed for a paper. From the day the candidate enters X standard,[s]he finds self surrounded by ‘ring masters’ of varied hues, ready to crack the whip; it is an effort of forcing the child achieve ‘what they say’.  The ‘bandwagon’ approach to scores has made deep inroads destroying the natural abilities of grasp, comprehension, assessment and appreciation. The volume of matter to be studied is vast enough to overwhelm any one. LEARNING shall be by PLEASURE and not by PRESSURE.  Pressure is a kind of duress, making mechanized approaches which ruin grasp and deliberation.  The blind adoration of ‘scores’, ignoring the fine nuances of mind building is not the spirit of learning. Slowly, the culture has percolated down and parents assume that the low-scoring child is an idiot [honestly the parent seems to be one] and put pressure on him /her by resorting to special coaching [tuition]. In plain terms, some parents believe that ‘extra coaching’ helps the ward to learn. The paradox is the parent is more eager of ward’s high scores than the ward’s correct learning. Overzealous efforts of pushing lessons down the throat of the student begin and keep growing by the day. With the ‘round the clock’ vigil, the boy or girl resorts to ‘memorizing’ words, formulae, steps of derivation of answers to problems, without realizing the logic behind any of these. If the memory serves right, [s]he manages tall score to make it to profession studies. But, unfailingly fails at higher levels. So, gross errors of learning methodology need to be rectified forthwith, lest should generate ill-equipped crowd of graduates, who have not gathered or bothered of ‘comprehension’-the vital tool of learning.