I am amused when I see fantastic statistics on how well Indian students are doing internationally and predictions that Indian and Chinese students will overtake the world.
Chinese kids I don’t know much about, but Indian kids have a really long way to go -
- Untrained Teachers - India needs to invest a lot more in educating teachers today. Most teachers were educated like us-in schools that focussed on rote and paid little attention to creativity. And because teachers don’t have the correct skill set, they are unable to help children think out of the box too. At a recent science fair submission, a couple of kids decided to do a project on the sub-conscious and conscious mind with some interesting hypotheses...the teacher shot it down saying it was too boring!
- Poor Infrastructure - How many schools have good labs and good teachers who can demonstrate concepts? Good museums that help children assimilate classroom learnings are just not there. Not all kids can go to apno London to see the Natural History Museum or the Science Museum to understand how things work. A visit to the heritage sites is a lesson on good storytelling gone bad. Nishna came back terribly disappointed from a trip to Lothal, an Indus Valley site - they were shown a boring audio visual presentation and the guide who accompanied them was not clued on.
- Connecting the real and book worlds - Have you ever noticed how boring the Civics lessons in Indian school text books are? Civics might be the most important subject for our kids and us, because it tells us how our country is governed and what the roles and responsibilities of the government are? So if schools can organise a trip to a biscuit factory, they can also connect with the local panchayat or gram parishad and take children for a trip there. How about a trip to the Police Station? Or a government hospital? How else can we make learning valuable for our kids?
- Pursuit of perfection - we just don’t have it. Indians do chalu , chalta hai type jobs and no one has patience to learn something really well. I have to stifle a guffaw when kids get their black belts in martial arts or top honours in piano and ballet, because they don’t have the right reference points. One viewing of Jaden Smith’s Karate Kid was enough to make me aware how sorely lacking we are in the pursuit of perfection.
Lost opportunities - Brought on, for instance, by over zealous parents who out-source simple school projects that the child presents as his own. Or bolstering the letter of intent in college applications by waxing eloquent about great deeds done in Community Action Service. Kids bask in the glory of work that is not their own - these are opportunities lost as the child has not worked towards acquiring a skill set. And sooner or later all these things will come back to haunt us - And we will be the world’s most populous country with a poor skill set and no way out!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Woman Power
Kanimozhi is quite a delight to watch! She is a corrupt politician who has built wealth on her father’s gains but is also a WOMAN.
I love the way Kanimozhi does what most of us women do when confronted with disaster. We weep copious tears, look appropriately pathetic and whine that we are mothers and need to get back home to our kids. Kanimozhi ofcourse has bigger issues .She does not want to spend time in the jail because like every working woman she leads a tough life - she works during the day, she has to run errands, cook dinner for the family and put her kids to bed after singing them a lullaby.
Now is she to blame? Ofcourse not! She is only doing what most of us women excel at. Bad mood - blame it on PMS; depressed after a baby - post partum blues ;putting on weight - it's the hormones; feeling low and fatigued - mid life crisis; angry at husband - well, a woman’s life is a bitch!
When we get caught skipping a red light, each one of us can act demure and coy in front of the traffic guy and while bargaining hard,a little flirtatious behaviour with the seller never hurt anyone .But when we are caught out at something, our moral indignation is very high - I am a woman, why would I do something like that?I am a wife, a mother. I am an honourable woman - how dare you cast aspersions on my milky white character?I am not that type of a woman!
Only we women know what nasty bitches we can be. We are as good as men when it comes to lying, cheating, siphoning money off, gossiping, deceiving and other vices! But if we are the weaker sex, why should we not shed tears, resort to hysteria and use all womanly wiles to ease out of a situation? Way to go Kanimozhi - you are on the right track woman!
I love the way Kanimozhi does what most of us women do when confronted with disaster. We weep copious tears, look appropriately pathetic and whine that we are mothers and need to get back home to our kids. Kanimozhi ofcourse has bigger issues .She does not want to spend time in the jail because like every working woman she leads a tough life - she works during the day, she has to run errands, cook dinner for the family and put her kids to bed after singing them a lullaby.
Now is she to blame? Ofcourse not! She is only doing what most of us women excel at. Bad mood - blame it on PMS; depressed after a baby - post partum blues ;putting on weight - it's the hormones; feeling low and fatigued - mid life crisis; angry at husband - well, a woman’s life is a bitch!
When we get caught skipping a red light, each one of us can act demure and coy in front of the traffic guy and while bargaining hard,a little flirtatious behaviour with the seller never hurt anyone .But when we are caught out at something, our moral indignation is very high - I am a woman, why would I do something like that?I am a wife, a mother. I am an honourable woman - how dare you cast aspersions on my milky white character?I am not that type of a woman!
Only we women know what nasty bitches we can be. We are as good as men when it comes to lying, cheating, siphoning money off, gossiping, deceiving and other vices! But if we are the weaker sex, why should we not shed tears, resort to hysteria and use all womanly wiles to ease out of a situation? Way to go Kanimozhi - you are on the right track woman!
Monday, May 2, 2011
Jivo Jivo Pakistan
Jivo Jivo Pakistan
At the Wagah Border between India and Pakistan, during the fancy change-of-guard ceremony every evening, the Pakistani crowd lustily chants ‘Jivo Jivo Pakistan’.
Boy am I glad India got partitioned in 1947. The problems that Pakistan faces are horrendous and I shudder to think that those problems could have been ours too. Sometimes, just sometimes I feel sorry for them..the tribals are difficult to handle, the Taliban is a nuisance and there are terrorist attacks all across Pakistan.They have killed their leaders for reasons ranging from gender to religion.They attack visiting cricket teams and their poor cricketers are trying to make a fast buck out of match fixing. They are Don Quixotic - suing Twitter for one million dollars and blaming India for almost everything.
Most of their problems are their own doing. When religion takes precedence over governance, and religious leaders become more powerful, the fabric of the society is bound to change.And when there is less regard for its citizens there is a free for all.
And what a shame to have the US carry out attacks in Pakistan to flush out a terrorist! I would have been mortified and angered if the Americans did it in my country!
Most of us, especially from North India have this romantic notion of Pakistan and a hidden yearning that Pakistan should still belong to India. My grandparents grew up there, married there and then escaped to India to save their lives. They would tell us of the lush countryside and the local folklore of Rawalpindi and Sukho. As a Sardarni I would love the freedom to visit Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Nanak. There was so much shared culture in literature, food, clothing and rituals. Then ofcourse the lovely Mohenjo-daro and Harappa are also in Pakistan.
But there is nothing romantic in the notion of Pakistan. Anyone who has any money is leaving the country to never go back. Who would want to bring up their kids in a country where everything is so bizarre! Where my friend says you would not want to go to a beauty parlour for fear of a bomb attack.A country that is always bleating about its good intentions that everyone doubts anyways!
I am glad Pakistan is a buffer for India (never mind if it focuses its negativity on us!)And I am glad it got formed and hope it remains a country forever.
Jivo Jivo Pakistan.
At the Wagah Border between India and Pakistan, during the fancy change-of-guard ceremony every evening, the Pakistani crowd lustily chants ‘Jivo Jivo Pakistan’.
Boy am I glad India got partitioned in 1947. The problems that Pakistan faces are horrendous and I shudder to think that those problems could have been ours too. Sometimes, just sometimes I feel sorry for them..the tribals are difficult to handle, the Taliban is a nuisance and there are terrorist attacks all across Pakistan.They have killed their leaders for reasons ranging from gender to religion.They attack visiting cricket teams and their poor cricketers are trying to make a fast buck out of match fixing. They are Don Quixotic - suing Twitter for one million dollars and blaming India for almost everything.
Most of their problems are their own doing. When religion takes precedence over governance, and religious leaders become more powerful, the fabric of the society is bound to change.And when there is less regard for its citizens there is a free for all.
And what a shame to have the US carry out attacks in Pakistan to flush out a terrorist! I would have been mortified and angered if the Americans did it in my country!
Most of us, especially from North India have this romantic notion of Pakistan and a hidden yearning that Pakistan should still belong to India. My grandparents grew up there, married there and then escaped to India to save their lives. They would tell us of the lush countryside and the local folklore of Rawalpindi and Sukho. As a Sardarni I would love the freedom to visit Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Nanak. There was so much shared culture in literature, food, clothing and rituals. Then ofcourse the lovely Mohenjo-daro and Harappa are also in Pakistan.
But there is nothing romantic in the notion of Pakistan. Anyone who has any money is leaving the country to never go back. Who would want to bring up their kids in a country where everything is so bizarre! Where my friend says you would not want to go to a beauty parlour for fear of a bomb attack.A country that is always bleating about its good intentions that everyone doubts anyways!
I am glad Pakistan is a buffer for India (never mind if it focuses its negativity on us!)And I am glad it got formed and hope it remains a country forever.
Jivo Jivo Pakistan.
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