School Issues

Yesterday morning, an unheard of incident occurred in school. Unheard of in America, that is. at Assembly time, most days, after the prayers and chanting of the Om, one or two students will present a talk on a topic previously assigned. Well, that morning, two young men were to talk about the Indian flag. And they were horrible! I mean, they really were bad. First of all, the speech has to be memorized. These two young men couldn't even properly read what was on their paper! They made mistakes after mistakes, they muffled their words (is there such a word?!)
I mean it was a real disaster! Well, one old bird on the staff, (whom I admire tremendously! Will talk of her again I am sure) got on the stage, after their presentation and told them flat out, I am paraphrasing here, “You were taught better and you ought to know better. You will do your presentation again because you had some very valuable information to give to us that will help us all learn.” She went on to explain very clearly what was wrong with their speech, what had to be changed and that was that. Now this is right there in front of the whole student body! Brilliant!! I can’t imagine this happening in the States! No way Jose! What about the child’s ego?! You would have those parents demanding your head on a platter! But you see it wasn’t made in the mind to hurt the child’s ego. It was an open and frank way of calling a spade a spade. The day after, those two young men came back on stage and said their speech the right way; she congratulated them on a job well done. And that was that.
The Indian school system has its good points and some terrible bad points. Now, let me make sure I state unequivocally, that this is MY opinion and MY experience only. This is not going to be a “Good Points – Bad Points” writing. Because, often I find what they have that works in one way doesn’t work in another. The way that they do their lab practical, I’ve mentioned before is totally cookbook. The kids prepare the labs they are responsible for the year, and when you come to that part of the curriculum, you come with them to the lab, it’s all prepared for you, they follow the recipe and leave. They write up the results, you collect the notebooks, check what they’ve done, no grade is assigned for it, or is there?! I am not really sure! Lab safety issues are non-existent. No goggles, aprons, teachers could be in sandals. As they walk in the lab, if they are to use the flame, all Bunsen burners are turned on by the lab assistant and left on throughout the lab whether they are at their station or not. On the other hand the students have a confidence about handling of the equipments, analyzing a result that I hardly see in the American student! Shouldn’t we expect the opposite, since in America, the curriculum is much more inquiry-based? They should have much more ownership of their work. To the end of the year you will have students who will not touch the Bunsen burner if their life depended on it (or their grade, for that matter!) I know I am going to make less of an issue about safety. Not to say I will do it like they do it here, but I will try my best to not let them have this unhealthy fear of everything that touches the lab. Am I heading for disaster?!! I don’t think so. Time will tell!
Let me go back to a comment I made earlier. I am not sure if a grade is given for the labs the students do, that’s after 2 months working in the system! What I think happens is, in the 10th and 12th grades, where they have to pass the States’ Exams, there is a practical portion for their final marks and that practical will be one of these labs that they have done. What about the other grade levels? I have no idea. The Indian system is not very friendly to outsiders. Notice I said, the “system”, not the individual teachers. You see they were born in it! That’s all they know. So they truly don’t get what my questions are! When you couple that with the fact that they use different terminologies, we’re talking major communication issues!! So after I’ve asked 2-3 times about the grade given for the lab and they’ve answered about the marks, I feel totally uneasy asking again!! Because of the exams, you really have to teach the students the proper materials. Again they’ve been teaching the same materials over and over again, so they know it also by heart! And they have apparently old students’ notebooks that they use as back up since the curriculum doesn’t change much. A few times, in the beginning, the department Chair asked them to find me one of these old notebooks. That has never materialized. Now I’ve put it to rest and go through the book, meticulously, hoping I will touch upon everything I have to teach. It will be interesting to see how my students fare at the end! Actually, not to worry really, because they check from time to time my students’ notes to make sure I am feeding them the right stuff!! As I haven’t heard any comments, I must be doing it right! See, it is totally a close system, made by Indians and for Indians. Again and again, it seems to work for them! According to teachers here, it certainly works for the 2% minority that has it all and can afford the numerous tutoring hours to prepare them for the exams. The rest, oh, well, they’ll continue what their parents have done for years and years and their chances for advancement are nil or close to that. Is that fair? Not really. Are they complaining? Apparently not. One student, the other day, was telling me how unfair it is that according to the caste they are from, their salary will be different and that wasn’t right. So they’re thinking about it.
Complicated, India.