Schools teach subjects. Who teaches children how to learn?
and that too our grown up ones
So the last week, I did a vismaykari (awesome) experiment on my Linkedin
I made some changes in my content and it exploded
but then there were these other posts, where I really had a lot of expectations, and they fall flat
and despite these content pieces plummeted, I was still equally proud of them as I was on those, that crossed a lac impression,
and I thought,
what can I do about these topics,
I thought if any such post, with less traction, is able to gather genuine interest from people,
I will write a whole post here on my newsletter.
‘Strategies of Gurukul’ happens to be that topic, where 3 people Neha Pareek, Madhumita Arolker, and Harish Arora, showed clear interest
So, I was willing to write this edition, Strategies of Gurukul, as a bigger version of my post on Linkedin.
But then I realised that the last edition itself was about ‘Missing Ancient Roots from Schools’, so writing this article will put a lot of focus on one single content bucket.
And I decided to write this time about
Schools teach subjects. Who teaches children how to learn?
because this is very close to my heart and I am building a solution (a program for school students) for this only
Imagine . .
You are a child, some 11 year old one
and you are weak at math and you are struggling in your class
Your parents have changed your tuition twice in last one year
but your performance is not improving and then
someone suggests your parents to talk to Mr Anupam Kaushik
an amazing tuition teacher for math for young children
and in just a week, you realised 2 things
that he explains so well that you understand
and your job is to just follow his instructions
3 year fast forward,
and you have got straight aces in math by now
but Anupam Sir only teach till 8th
and you are entering 9th and you are worried, how will you survive 9th
because Anupam sir, who was your strength so far is now your handicap
you are feeling, you will not be able to learn without Anupam Sir
In most tuition / coaching classes, we are teaching them subjects, but almost every place their favorite teachers are their handicaps
Same is the story in School
But in both places some teachers thrive
those who are not teachers,
these teachers are a combination of
a mentor, a coach and a Guru and a teacher
mentor - this person tells your child how to do things, for example how to learn on their own
Coach - this person asks questions to your child that helps them navigate their path of life, here they might understand the need of learning how to learn
Guru - this is the go to person for your child to solve problems, when your child has a guru, one can give them clear directions to come out of a particular situation or to go on a journey, a challenge, a solution
These are the people who are not trying to become the handicap for their students,
they are becoming their strength
If you see the typical distribution
A tuition teacher has a larger possibility to teach some tricks and techniques for learning to keep the faith of the students
but at school, that is missing in most of the teachers
But then comes a special set of teachers, although a very minuscule percentage, they are really passionate about education
these teachers really want to do the right things for children,
they are interested to develop the thinking faculties of your child, real at deep level
they are really willing to be a mentor, a coach and a Guru
but this is not easy for these teachers
They find huge challenges in executing this, because the parents, the management, and even the students, do not care/support their efforts
and ultimately all these passionate teachers struggle the most in school, both emotionally and physically.
while rest of the lot enjoy and get a pat on their shoulder for finishing syllabus in time, their notebooks are checked, the handwriting was good in notebooks,
but these passionate teachers care about thinking, about learning,
If you really want to help your children to start learning, do the following
Find such good teachers in the school and start supporting them (join our whatsapp community to learn more about how to identify them)
Start giving highest appreciation for that teacher (even when school management does not ask)
Inform us about such teachers and we will take them in our community
Stop sending your child to tuition instead find a mentor, who can teach your child how to learn
And I agree, this is not easy, we do not have straight answers and that is why we are trying to build a community for passionate progressive parents.
Would you be willing to join a whatsapp broadcast list for progressive parents?