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Why do pencils have erasers?

 

So we have switched to online schooling and we will be switching back to regular school very soon.

Now, what I am going to write about may not go well with a lot of parents , but this is something that I wanted to put out there .

I am beginning to imagine that a lot of parents have been closer to their child's education through the online schooling situation. I do not know if parents have had a chance to have some basic conversations on what this system will be like. Or probably have an understanding of what the protocol should be.

In general, sometimes in our system of education(which is likely to go get a positive spin soon ) and parenting there may certain patterns , given a certain kind of culture that makes us want our children to excel or be perfectionists. We cannot see them failing.

Somehow the fact that a child is average does not sit well with all parents. I am saying this from years of interacting with children and being an educator.


We tend to push our children to grow up to be doctors and engineers. A path that has been designed , defined depending on the part of the country you come from . That's a stereotype, of course . But we all know that our ambition has always been driven by the desires of parents in most cases. Or just sadly we weren't exposed to anything else.

 

Coming back to online education . When a child is given a test , parents may feel the need to help the child with answers or clues . From a perspective of being helpful or protective, you may be actually dampening the child's own ability to differentiate between right and wrong . There is a potential down stream impact and I am going to try to deep dive into some of the aspects .


  • The child will end up believing that tests mean good grades . That tests are eventually the deciding factor on the ability of the child. A test, in the true sense of the word should actually mean what the child has understood and  is meant to test the comprehension skills.
  • More from a perspective of conceptual understanding and not rote learning. More from a place of application than not understanding the concept .The question you need to ask is: Does my child understand the concept? If yes, can he/she apply in real life instead of just worrying about how much the child has scored.
  • The child may grow up to have a false sense of confidence or the other extreme - lose confidence and have self esteem issues.  The child may end up believing that they know it all and can juggle questions or for want of a better word "cheat". This is when cheating becomes a normalcy . This would reflect in other aspects of child's understanding and growth . The child may be end up losing grip of the subject and resort to using google or other media to get answers instead of understanding the true sense of what is being taught.
  • We need to stop drawing comparisons with our peers and the children of our peers or peers of our children. At some point children need to look at education as a learning and not a burden . 
  • They need to experience learning as fun and not get bogged down by the testing mechanism. They need to be sensitized to failure .  You are allowed to fall and rise up again .
  • Make it normal for children to understand that everyone makes mistakes and life is not about having a perfect score. We can continue to strive for perfection but that does not mean that path ahead is always going to be smooth .
  • They need to understand it's OKAY to make a mistake and that’s why pencils have erasers .



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