Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
NEW DELHI, INDIA, June 26, 2010: (The following is an essay by Madhu Purnima Kishwar.) On the wake of tragic results caused by corporal punishment in India, we can reflect on the fact that despite their avant-garde pretensions, many of our elite English-medium schools have not outgrown the moral dictum of their Victorian founding fathers: “Spare the rod and spoil the child.”
Today’s notions of child upbringing among the educated middle class demand constant disciplining, constant nagging, and teaching children to behave themselves to fit into the supposedly orderly world of adults. To this is added the maddening pressure to “succeed” in a highly competitive world with tests and exams starting from nursery onwards which subject tender minds to robotic academic discipline, with every child expected to be equally good in all standard subjects taught in highly regimented school classrooms irrespective of the child’s abilities, inclinations, desires or talents.
Traditional notions of bringing up children in India make far greater allowance for the unique privileges of childhood and the liberties children are entitled to. For example, in most traditional and semi-traditional families in India, expectant mothers hang a portrait of Bal Gopal right opposite their beds so that they can see baby Krishna’s visage first thing in the morning as an aid to having their prayers for a Krishna-like child rewarded. To see an image of baby Krishna in each child is to recognize the divinity of every child. But was Krishna the robotic student that most mothers wish for these days?
Children don’t need air-conditioned classrooms, expensive schools, toys and exotic entertainment to make them happy. They need unconditional love and a sense of security from the adults responsible for their well-being. They are as happy playing with mud or sand, chasing butterflies or simply running around, jumping up and down.
While a few lucky ones come out successful, most of our modern-day baby Krishnas just manage to get by while a large number are simply crushed under the burden of living up to the neurotic expectations of adults. Our education system is making nervous wrecks out of otherwise perfectly healthy individuals by privileging robotic learning and cut-throat competition which takes all joy out of learning and makes children slaves to the insane world we have created under the pretense of promoting excellence and rewarding merit.