Right to Education: I think it is admirable that the Indian government has determined that education falls under the constitutional right to freedom. In guaranteeing free and compulsory education, the government has taken steps toward addressing the persistence of poverty that illiteracy maintains. Unfortunately, this right is difficult to maintain, especially in India. There are far too many children to ensure that each has access to education. Moreover, the system is such that an education in English is necessary to attend college or gain a well-paying job after school. The free schools teach in Hindi, Bengali, or other local languages. This perpetrates a system where generations maintain either wealth or poverty with limited room for economic movement. Anyone with money sends children to private, English-medium schools. Those without must be content without English. The desire to educate everyone recognizes excellent goals, but the system leaves room for improvement. Then again, the United States has encountered some similar but less visible challenges.
Loreto Day Sealdah: As per a required service-learning class, I have been volunteering this semester with a private girls’ school. Loreto Day Sealdah has taken huge steps towards addressing some of the issues in India’s education. Half of its students live in poverty and attend the English-medium school for free. This provides opportunities for children to potentially attend college on scholarship or at least qualify for better jobs than their parents’ jobs. The school also has a program to house street children so that they can attend school (some in English, some in Bengali), with results similar to that with the children from slums. In addition, a Barefoot Teacher Training program and makeshift schools in brickfields, along railroad tracks, and elsewhere with limited access to education help to reach those children who otherwise would not even receive a minimal education. The list I have provided is not exhaustive, but you get the picture. As these programs grow and other schools work to provide similar efforts, India is working actively to improve the current education system.
Villages: I have been to a few villages around West Bengal, and the schools continue to amaze me. Children I have met are unlikely to ever leave their villages, and yet they take the time to learn reading, writing, math, and more. Some even learn English, leaving me astounded to speak with children half my age who can hold conversations in Bengali, Hindi, and English depending on the situation. This also speaks to the power of education without technology. Certainly, the Internet and other technologies help students to learn. We have developed very high standards for students in the United States because there is access to billions of documents at the click of a button. But when a student needs to know how to speak in a second language or how to sign their name, determined teachers can do without SmartBoards.
Facts: Now onto a subject that deeply frustrates me. My education has been one based primarily on ideas with the mindset that a good foundation of fundamental concepts and a thorough knowledge of how to seek information on my own combine to give me the skills necessary to remain well-informed for the rest of my life. India, from my limited experience, places more emphasis on memorization of facts. It bothers me to see that my classmates at St. Xavier’s College place all emphasis on learning for exams. Teachers spend entire class periods dictating notes for students to copy word-for-word. Then, when the teachers try to expand on the topics and students don’t take notes. An attempt to hold a class discussion the other day resulted in half of the students skipping class because they are not accustomed to sharing their thoughts on issues…in a political science class. I, on the other hand, have been fortunate enough to attend a college where many of my classes expect us to learn through discussion. It forces us to consider other perspectives and to be aware of the arguments used for or against certain positions. I try hard to understand the reasoning behind a primarily fact-based system (classes too large for discussion, students lack the excellent pool of academic resources that CSB/SJU provides, etc.), but it is very difficult. I do not want to memorize that capitalism is bad or even that it is good. I want to understand its successes and flaws. Guide me to a thorough understanding of all arguments, from which I can form an educated opinion. But maybe that’s just something that the individualistic American culture has instilled in us without our awareness. I was prepared for lecture, just not for hearing, “I am not suggesting anything. These are important facts for you to know,” for something I call an opinion.
Wow, this became long! Sorry about that! I guess I should not have held these thoughts in for three months, letting them build day-by-day. But I wanted to share some of these reflections. As a student studying for a minor in secondary education, I have put quite a bit of thought into opinions regarding the purpose and methods of a good education. India has shown me things that inspire me as well as a philosophy that is glaringly different from my own. I hope that this hyperawareness of my own preferences and my continuous attempts to understand another view will help me to become a more effective teacher when I begin student teaching next spring.
No comments:
Post a Comment