Everyone says that children are the best learners. I couldn't agree more...infact they are also amongst the best teachers. With their simple honest ways of reasoning and expressing themselves, consciously or unconsciously, they come up with explanations that quite often adults would find difficult to even imagine.
My 10 year old has always been a curious child, and is a foodie -she loves tasting new dishes, learning new recipes, enjoys experimenting with ingredients and is very happy donning the chef cap. Very often on Sundays, we are treated to li'l delights prepared by her-she loves giving us surprises-conspiring with the maid the evening before, she gets her mise-a`-plat done. Then she wakes up early the next morning and lays out her surprise preparations on the breakfast table :-)
Recently she moved from junior school to middle school and was asked to choose amongst the optional subjects and activities. So when 'home science' was an option, we assumed naturally, that she would opt for that. We were however astonished that she had decided to take up music and art...(she is not a singer, nor does she consider herself an artist where painting and drawing are concerned). Her classmates laughed at her choice, some openly making fun of her. Her friends and teachers advised her not to take those options warning her that she would not manage good grades. She came home that day visibly upset and when asked the reason for her consternation, she explained that she had had a tough day at school with her classmates making fun of her choice of optional subjects. Like her teachers and friends, our first reaction was also to advise her to go for "Home Science" but she had her mind made-up and refused to change her option. Not wanting to sound too harsh, and definitely not wanting her to be subjected to more jeering at school, I decided I needed to reason with her and so, I started by asking her what made her choose a subject that wasn't exactly her forte -without hesitation she replied: "Everyone makes fun of my singing and drawing-even the teachers. I am not good at music or art and that's exactly why I need to join those classes and learn! What will I do in Home Science? I already know how to cook!"
For an instant I was stunned at her reply...and then I had to admit that her reasoning was in fact more correct than any reasoning we follow. I told her instantly that she had made the best choice possible and that I was proud of her- that was enough to cheer her up. She hugged me and happily ran off to bring out the list of things that were required for her new classes.
Caught up in the race to get good grades and have a shining report card we forget at times the very basic purpose of going to a class-that of learning! I have been a teacher and a teacher-trainer and often advise my students (the would-be-teachers) to encourage students-especially the slower ones- to learn...to pay extra attention to those who are lagging behind...but it's easy to forget to do that It's all too comfortable to just follow the ones who are bright and have a quick grasp.
When teachers in schools tend to select children for various activities: recitation, reading, play-acting etc- and they just choose the students who are good at these activities leaving behind the ones who are not, they actually take away an opportunity to let the others improve. They tend to create a mind-set: "this one is good at this", "that one can't do anything"...how easily these remarks remain stuck in a child's mind, how easily they can prevent a child from making that li'l effort to improve.
We all know these things in theory and yet, we often forget to put them into practice-I can only thank my li'l girl to have reminded me. It takes courage to go and make the choice she made and I am so proud of her! :-)
N.S. 7 April 2009
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