"Education is the passport to the future,
for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today."
- Malcolm X
We all try to make our children understand the importance and value of education. However, we conveniently tend to forget our childhood when most of us hated studying.
Surely, we all have some great memories from our school life, but that is primarily due to our peers and the overall childhood experience. Not many of us have been lucky enough to cherish memories of learning new ideas that left us in awe of how the world works.
And if education cannot have that jaw-dropping effect on your child, is it worth their time and your money? Or is education, in today's world of information, just a mass cultural delusion that we collectively participate in?
The answer to this question depends on your idea of education.
What are the objectives that you hope your kid achieves once they have completed their formal education?
If it secures an attractive job and builds a secure career, formal education is the safest way to proceed. Without a formal education, one cannot create a successful career, but having a degree smoothens and boosts the process. This can be a viable goal for a child who is the eldest born in their family to attend formal schooling.
Their immediate goal might be securing their survival, which demands a consistently rewarding work opportunity. But for the more privileged classes in our society wherein risk-taking is a financially viable option, education should ideally mean more than securing a career.
Education in such a case could act as a tool that allows students to explore their inherent curiosity. Instead of being fed information through books and media, students could be allowed an opportunity to explore the world around them, let them organically ask questions about their surroundings, and nudge them in the right direction so that they can find their answers. Not only can this exercise empower students to think and analyse situations critically, but it can also allow them to enjoy learning and experience the true essence of education.
However, irrespective of which path you decide to take, a solid educational foundation is the most elementary requirement in achieving both of these objectives.
How are Fears Built-in Academics?
"I am terrible at Mathematics" has become a new catchphrase that people socially bond over, possibly because it is true for many individuals. But before we started hating or fearing maths, there was a point where it engaged us. We put our 100% focus while carrying over those digits to the thousands place while solving "advanced" subtraction problems.
We understood what subtraction in practical essence meant.
What changed?
For a lot of us, it was the introduction of alphabets (or variables) in Mathematics.
For some, it was Trigonometry and Calculus. But the core idea is, we transitioned to topics that we did not understand the essence of. Most students who have completed senior school Mathematics still do not understand what the use of Calculus is. And when we struggle through topics under academic pressure and rigid exam dictated schedules, we tend to forget the intention behind studying the core ideas.
Our sole intention while studying these topics is to pass our most immediate examination. Once we are successfully done with that, we bury the topic for good, relieved that we do not have to revisit it. This is where the seeds of fear are sown.
Next academic year, when we are taught a more advanced concept based on the foundations of the topic we skipped last year, we instantly start getting averse to that subject.
However, the assembly line which manufactures graduates and degree holders does not stop because of your resentment. It keeps moving on, churning out products (students) with lots of information and zero application.
What is the solution?
As long as you do not have the authority to change the system, you have to work within the system to get the best results out of your education. The most fundamental way to achieve that is to keep strengthening your core concepts as they come.
Strengthening your core concepts does not just mean understanding the idea and solving questions on those ideas. Sure, that is important, but empathising with the subject matter has more to do with your ability to dig in deeper and understand the essence of the topic that you are being taught.
Some questions that you can ask yourself could be -
Why am I being taught this topic?
How did this idea first originate?
What was the inventor/theorist going through in their life when they came up with this idea?
Where can I find the applications of this idea in my personal life?
Your schools wouldn’t reward you for spending time and finding answers to these questions. But your life definitely would.
Conclusion
There is a very significant difference between collecting information and learning. It is incredible to see how students, who have an opportunity of exploring the world that they live in and serve their curiosity, find the process a burden. The primary reason for it is how we perceive education.
SSSi Online Tutoring Service is one of India’s leading online educational platforms and aspires to transform the landscape of Indian education by strengthening the core academic values of each of our students.
While enrolling in our online courses will also help you see a boost in the tangible academic parameters of your child (i.e., the grades they score in their exams), our primary focus will always be to help children see education in a way they've never experienced before.
We focus on the fundamental essence of every topic and approach every subject holistically so that the students can easily connect the dots, relate to the ideas, and build a solid academic foundation for themselves.
Visit sssi.in to book your FREE one-on-one LIVE demo tutoring session for a subject of your choice TODAY!!
