One has had the privilege of being in school for over 25 years, sitting on the side of the table from where problems are expected to return with solutions.
Many years ago, two very successful doctors, parents of a child, sought admission in Class 11 at the school where I worked. The parents were clear that their son had to take Physics, Chemistry and Biology since he had to study Medicine and take over or participate in the parents’ practice. He liked Biology, but also liked History and Art. In fact, he was a good artist. After a round of discussion at school, we informed the parents that we would be happy to offer their son Biology, History and Art, but not Physics and Chemistry. You can imagine the scene! “It cannot be! What will happen to our practice?”
In the middle of the exchanges, one parent said quietly to the other, “Why are we pushing our choice on him?” The tide turned. The boy grew in smiles, went on to become a designer of eminence. For years afterwards, the parents thanked us for having stood our ground.
Schools do have space to make good choices, when backed with clear intention, choices that are good for the students, parents and as teachers. Are schools willing to stand on this soil?
We realised at The School, about two decades ago, that the straight line from school to college, into closed ended high risk choices, does not suit everyone. Considering that India offers one of the most extensive Distance Education and Certification possibilities, we crafted a programme called PHE (Programme of Higher Education) at The School in 1996. This programme involved had three components: enquiry on the basis of the teachings of J. Krishnamurti through dialogues and readings, pursuit of one or more areas of personal significance and a third requirement was enrolling in a distance education programme for a degree. A few students took the PHE route, defined their own path, had a flexible routine, engaged in and explored all things that interested them. I have had the privilege of guiding a few students who explored, experimented and educated themselves in multidimensional ways and also got a degree. One student wrote a book. (Learning the Heart Way by G. Samyukta, Published by the Other India Press).
Except Medicine and Architecture, almost all major areas can be studied and certified through distance education. AMIE (Associate Member of Institution of Engineers) offers a good platform for study of Engineering. An extreme example is the certification to be a Chartered Accountant. The college route does not exist. The Institute of Chartered Accountants is the only certifying body and requires a series of steps to certification.
Life-long learning is the process and direction, is there a way of certifying oneself in a humane, strengthening way, one that will help one acquire skills for the unpredictable future? And perhaps, build the inner resources and stamina for learning itself? For this to happen, we must learn to value the child for who s/he is and not measure her/him with easy measures of accomplishment. Unfortunately parents and adults, all too easily forget that the relationship of affection demands that we do not measure....
Poet Nida Fazli writes: Woh sitara hai, chamakne do usse yun hi ankhon me/ Kya zaroori hai usse jism banakar dekho...The child is like the faraway star, let him shine in your eyes,/ Is it at all necessary to reduce it to view the child as a shape...?
In the conversations in this case study, one hears the oft repeated dead end statements.
—‘I took sciences because my parents forced me!’
‘Some of these subject choices are irreversible!’
—‘I had asked for Music, Dance, Physics and Math in Grade 9. But my choice was rejected. Why can’t schools offer such combinations?’
—‘I don’t want to be a doctor or an engineer or a chartered accountant. I want to do Retail and Marketing. Why can’t my parents understand?’
—‘Here is where she needs to step up her effort in Physics. 70 per cent is dangerous. It will pull down her average. She needs to get to 99 per cent, 100 per cent. Have you seen colleges in Delhi? The cut off is 100. How will Lakshmi get admission? What will happen to her?’
It is interesting how class and background are buried in these comments. Few from the upper classes talk of working with one’s hands, or with the earth. The whole system reeks of fitting in mindlessly and flowing with the tide. The fear of being left behind, not belonging to a secure recognisable group is what school and college seem to breed. If not, schools run the risk of being called bad, inefficient.
As a student I need to step away from this refrain to retain my sanity, to not get sucked into its morbid undertow. Life is not lost if one cannot get into A, B or C college. One does not sink if one does not get 99 per cent... if one loves Physics, one can study it and be certified at IGNOU or other distance courses. One can simultaneously be an apprentice somewhere and learn to apply what one has learnt.
Is life not about making individual choices, in the face of uncertainties? Is life not about finding balance and passion together? Is there no risk in the traditional approach of hurrying from college to the secure bastions of a well-known college? The risk of deep and growing boredom, of cynical acceptance? And is this, finding one’s own path, better than being pushed and prodded into riding the yellow bus for an hour each way, everyday, sitting in an anonymous, full lecture hall and gathering in the canteen for relief and refreshment? Surely the student must decide!
It is easier to purchase an iPhone than remember that the ‘dots connect only backwards’! What has happened to all the racial memory embedded in the stories of Jabala, Ekalavya and many others? Why don’t they become food for the adventure that life is?
How does that ritual of school and hanging on to one group, not making individual choices, become so important? The answer possibly is buried in another mythology. You are doomed if you are not part of the upwardly mobile crowd. Success is money, house, car and club membership! You are lost if you are ‘left behind’!
I now narrate two inspiring stories both debunking the myth of the irreversible choice. A young man born into a business family studied to become a chartered accountant. Some years later he found his passion was to become a doctor. He dropped accounting and qualified as a medical doctor. He founded a hospital and lived a happy, productive life. The next story is of a student who chose to study History, Environmental Studies and Chemistry in school. After three years in college, she discovered that she wanted to be an ayurvedic doctor. And her school courses made her ineligible. Undaunted, she wrote the 12th exam again and went on to become an Ayurvedic doctor.
I rest on the side of varying starting points in the journey of lifelong learning, autonomous effort and inner wellbeing. I reiterate that each child is precious and that I do not know what he or she should do. But I do know that the here and now is significant. Can the adult’s meeting with the child be filled with hope and possibility rather than fear and dread of the future?
The meandering stream is the most efficient, not the arrow-straight waterway! The search for security of a certain kind, an obsession with it, breeds fear and takes away energy to explore and discover a path with heart and a rhythm all its own. I would say to the young as I have done all my life with senior students, the words of Mohammad Iqbal:
Chand taron ke aage jahaan aur bhi hain/ Ki tere makaan aur bhi hain./ Rojo shab me ulajh ke na rah ja/ Tere imtehaan aur bhi hain/ Shaheen hai tu, Parvaaz hai kaam tera / Chand taron ke aage nishaan aur bhi hain…/ Many are the worlds beyond the moon, beyond the stars,/ Many a destination awaits you!
Don’t remain lost, enmeshed in the daily chores, / Many a challenge awaits you!/ Fledgling eagle art thou! / And soaring is your birthright!! / ... many are the worlds beyond the moon, beyond the stars….
if choice is about freedom, then compulsions, both inner and outer, seem to do exactly the opposite. There are two issues particular to India that drive our current choices. One, the stigma of starting at the bottom if you are from a well-to-do family. Two, the many young people who certify at great cost and find themselves unemployed and unemployable. What would people say if the son of an engineer was to become a carpenter, or a gardener, or a teacher? Conversely, if I dream and have an idea, do I have the space to persist, see where it leads me?
We want education to help young persons to soar, but do we inadvertently clip their wings? In India, we suffer not from lack of opportunity, but curbed initiative.
Also Read: Weighed Down By A System | Rehmatullah Sheikh | Pranita LeleThe writer is the Director-Secretary of the Palar Centre for Learning (PCFL - KFI) comprising Pathashaala school, Outreach programmes and a Krishnamurti study centre. He was Principal of The School, KFI from 1991-2009
