A comment posted on my post, Career Choices was hearfelt enough that I thought I would give it a bit more prominence. (By the way, I do hope that many more of you are seeing the blog these days... Please do tell other parents also, especially the ones who are not either aware or net-savvy. Thanks!)
S/he writes It is amazing as to how many of us are so concerned about the career choices, the Board Exams, subjects to be "counted" and dropped and other such issues for our small children.
Have we ever taken a step back and seen if we really love them, care about them, are interested in what they really want to do. Do we care about what they eat, what they play, what they do on the net - and how they are releasing their energies? Has any of us ever done anything to really get some happiness in their lives - have we ever bought any joy to them - have we ever played with them - have we spent quality time with them to do something that the children really enjoy doing? Is it really about concern for them or is it about our petty egos?
All we are bothered about is that they get "good" marks - "good" meaning better then their friends, their class mates and winning the rat race.
What we do not look at is that ninety percent of them are bound to fail as they require at least 95% marks to get into a college like St. Stephens. Anything less is considered a failure. But most of us are flogging our children to death to make sure that they get that 95% - even if in our hearts we know that they are incapable of it.
All children are different - each child cannot be a topper. Instead of realising this fact most of us parents still spend all of our time and energy to make our children top the Board exams.
Can we all take a step back to think why we made our child join this School rather than any other School - because we thought that this was the best School. Can we look back at the progress the School has made in the fields of art, music, debates and sports - do we remember that this School was once the best in these areas - and this was one of the main factors why we considered ourselves so lucky to get our children into this School.
I really thought that this was the best School - I am no longer sure. It is very fast on the way to becoming like any other School. Is the management aware of what is happening and do they really care?
I would be very glad if the parents can take this debate forward. I am not too sure if the management of the School is taking steps in the right direction - or whether they have a game plan for this institution that The Mother had blessed.
OK. Some of it is extreme (few of us actually flog our children to death, and not all of us are quite so insensitive to our childrens' individualities), but the sentiment is in resonance with what I have heard many parents say often...
Please do discuss this more, and also let the management know. They do care, this much I can vouchsafe. How they will respond, I cannot tell.
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2 comments:
I was reading the hindustan times on sunday morning and an 8
column article with a very bold headline saying FAILED STUDENTS ASKED TO LEAVE caught my eye. Another headline saying PARENTS CLAIM MOTHERS INTERNATIONAL DOESNT WANT TO PROMOTE WEAK STUDENTS prompted a shocked me to read the full article and then read it again and again.
I have never seen so much of nonsense written in an article.
Mothers international school will never ruin the life of a child for the sake of looking good in some petty exams.
ours is not some petty mohalla school.Our children are the best
not only in their behavior but also in sports debating music and any other activity you can think of.And all this is not out of some spirit of competition but out of a true spirit of learning.
The school is perfectly right in detaining children who are not ready to go to the next class.or offering them subjects that they would do well in after the required talk with the parents but to accuse the school of expelling the students just because the failed some stupid maths test-----nonsense---lies and mischief mongering.
let me strongly state that this article has just played around with words to show the school in a bad light.
We have a principal who has been around for so many years .to accuse her of saying that under pressure i will promote some children.But they will be depressed and misrable in class12 if they are unable to cope .come on ----have a heart.
she knows that ours is the school that puts one of the least amount of pressure on studies and still gets one of the best results.This is just because our school has the ability to develop well rounded personalities who excell not just in studies.And please dont forget that we share the campus with Mirambika.
I am sure that this issue is going to be sorted out in a day or two.
You must not forget that our Chairman of the board belongs to one of the most illustrious families ---he cannot allow this evil to take place.
And you must not forget that the fantastic team of Mrs Indu pillai and Tara Didi are still showering their blessings on the School.
This is for tomorrow's meeting of the smaller group. First, I must tell that:
a) It is very nice of the School management to call for a meeting of parents.
b) Given the supply-demand mismatch (we were comparing only among 5-6 schools in Saturday's GBM), even if the schol demands a hike of 3000 rupees, a few parents (the most powerful ones, "BIG" bureaucrat, businessman, etc.) may pull their ward out. However, most would have to continue.
c) Given the legal pace, cases would go on and would not be beneficial to anybody.
d) Now, since the sub-committee is looking into the issue again, I would like to include the follwoing in their terms of reference (a popular jargon at present):
i) What should be the new fee so that the better teachers would continue to stay in the school and feel motivated enough to teach well (their expected hike may be linked to performance of students and market condition)
ii) What should be the fee that would give a high chance that a student gets enough material in school and need not go to Kalu Sarai even for "Target IIT" type things? Should there be differential fee (those who wish to avail this service pay extra, like the NTSE coaching; or it would be for all)
iii) Is it possible to recomend a structure of fees for next 2-3 years at least? (There would not be another pay commission till 2016 and, market would at best be flat till 2011) This is to prevent shocks for the guardians. This would also enable the school management to plan in advance.
P. K. Banerjee, Parent
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