All is Well?


Three idiots was entertaining and thought provoking. It seemed easy to stand at the sidelines and label those who follow curriculum as boring. Conversely, it seemed fascinating that one day everyone would find their calling if they followed their hearts, and become inventors, artists, thinkers and geniuses. The world would become a great place to live in with everyone doing what they’re essentially good at. The problem with this chimera seems to be, how can one reliably know that this is it. How do we figure out that this is what we are made for and there isn’t anything better to do out there? The simple answer is one probably can't and this has its own perils.
Look no further than Mumbai where a spate of suicides has taken place in the recent past by children who’ve been rejected by a system that suddenly seems to be thrusting children into all kinds of talent exploration. Some children have given up at not having won a talent contest or not having been selected for another. One could have seen this coming. Kids in the neighborhood do 7 hours of school, two hours of private tuition, an hour of karate classes, some music, sport, art and then of course home science and Japanese lessons. At the end of the day, you have a pooped, fatigued child who’d rather stick to one class- slumber. Their parents were the Chatur generation, learning by rote, mugging up texts and puking all over answer sheets. They did this with frustration, with no real choices available. They vowed every time they lost marks in Math that they would let their kid do its own thing. And they seem to; at least that’s what they think. The problem is by enrolling kids for a spate of extra curriculars, they’re subjecting kids to the same curriculum phenomenon, just that it seems to be rather broadly defined now to include all kinds of non subject junk. Keeping up with the Jones' seems to be taking on a new meaning. It might be helping some kids genuinely find their own niche, but that’s more the exception than the rule.
Parents seem to be erring on the side of caution, ensuring that they throw everything at their kids, leaving nothing out from what the neighbours might be doing. The kid doesn’t have much choice except duck in a few cases. So while its easy junking what could be learning by rote, how easy is it to define a viable relevant alternative that works? Any ideas Ranchoddas Chanchad?

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