You cannot only blame schools and teachers. Parents are equally guilty for the poor state of our children’s education

I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think
— Socrates

Often conversations spark thoughts you never imagined you were capable of having. This is especially true when talking to young adults. Their ways of doing things are different than the way we did them when we were their age. This is especially true when it comes to studying. Their main concern today is passing exams. They don’t care if they understand the underlying concepts or not. They get hold of guess papers and memorize the answers, sit in exams and scramble to score pass marks, and be done with it. As a result, they don’t feel confident when they get into the professional world. Today, even those with Masters in English struggle to write correctly in English. So who is to be blamed for this?  

No, you cannot blame the teachers and the schools, because schools and teachers are not always right. So parents are equally guilty for this poor state of our children’s education. I am not pointing fingers at anyone in particular. It’s just that the young generation is gradually forgetting that they do have common sense and a brain that is perfectly usable. Our children are becoming lazy and have started thinking, ‘If we can pass by memorizing some answers, why spend more time on it?’ Schools have also started teaching for the exams. They think their school’s reputation depends on the number of students that ace their exams. Parents too like their children to get the highest marks, regardless of how they get it.  

After all we are working to create a next generation of scientists, engineers and doctors and enable them to build a better and safer world: invent new modes of transport, cure diseases and overcome scientific boundaries. At the same time our aim is to make our children ethically-responsible human beings. Thus we start teaching our children morality, right from the beginning. Yes, some of you are thinking, ‘it’s easier said than done’. I can understand your dilemma. It is quite a job to teach children to differentiate between right and wrong. While raising our children we do it in a flow. Things just happen one after another. The majority of our steps are either guided by the way our parents treated us or by intuitions or even information we might have read. Internet is a powerful tool in this day and age. 

The other day I was reading something regarding teaching and I came across this quote by Margaret Mead, “Children must be taught how to think, not what to think”. That stopped me in my tracks and I started to think. All this thinking took me back several years when my children were small. My parenting was basically a combination of my intuitions and memories. I believed in instructing children early on things that are useful in their later life. Knowingly or unknowingly, I guided my children to learn to think. My choice of books for them, or toys, all made them think. They were fortunate enough to find books asking them to ‘make your own story’ to stimulate their thinking. As they grew, I introduced them to Legos, which later became their favorite toys. Then, gradually, came computer games that taught them strategy, planning and logic. You must be thinking, ‘it is not possible to teach children to be thinkers’. 

It is natural for parents to think that way, but just keep in mind that your child might be smarter than you expect. But the common belief is that a child is either born smart or not at all, and there is nothing one can do about it. Well parents, you can’t be more wrong.  Creativity and critical thinking are skills to be acquired; no child is born with them. I know at this point parents are thinking, ‘Okay, so how do we go about teaching our children to think and not what to think’.   

There are a few things you can do to help your child along on this path. You can teach them to defend their ideas and answers. They need to understand how they came to their answers and why they think those are the right answers. Children need to understand that it is okay to be confused. Encourage them to ask questions to clarify their confusions. At the same time they also need to learn to research facts for accuracy and not always agree with others. Teach them the importance of relevance by discussing other topics that relate to the discussion or the problem they are currently facing. At the same time the ability to be logical is also of advantage. While doing all these things, make sure they learn to be fair. Always remember, they will model after you!

Finally, keep in mind that critical thinking consists of different skills that help us make decisions. It means to evaluate information, to find out if they are right or wrong, to be open-minded while looking at problems and consider alternate ways of solving them. To be a good thinker, a child needs to believe thinking is something fun so that they want to be good at it. Parents for their part need to follow the guidance of Socrates and understand that, ‘Education is a kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel’.  

I can understand, raising a child is challenging. Then again you can make sure your children are not naïve enough to believe that they do not have to think, because you do the thinking for them. They need to be careful and not believe everything they hear or see on TV and think that their friends are the best source of information. Teach them to confidently ask questions and not go along with what their friends decide. But also make sure that your children don’t grow up to be selfish. Now that is not so difficult, right parents?

The author is an educationist and author of several children’s books

usha@pokharel.net

 
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