Choosing A School  - Part 3 - The Process of Decision Making

In the first two parts of this series, we discussed the different types of school and their value systems and the role of a school in scripting your child’s character. A child centric school has strong value systems and script our children in ways to make them winners in life.  In the concluding part of the series we look at the process of decision making itself.

Am I or the System to Blame?

A lot of us parents have grown up blaming our education system and our schools for the various problems they created in our lives. Some of us have gone through the trauma of insensitive teachers who took the life out of a subject, or the huge demands of a stressful examination culture which sacrificed true learning at the altar of marks.
As parents, our own school experience is behind us,  but we do have the responsibility in making a crucial choice for our children.  These choices should be an outcome of  highly involved decision making. This awareness is very important.  If your child doesn’t enjoy his schooling, will you be able to blame the system? Perhaps not.

Decision Making : Who Holds The Remote Control?
There is a very dangerous trend in the brand conscious consumerist  Indian society today when it comes to choosing schools.  We want social reaffirmation for the choice of school they make. We want to be seen as sporting the right brand. Many a times, the need is to show to others that I too can afford a expensive school. Often we use our adult world views to decide our children’s schools - the notions of 5 star ambience, air-conditioned classrooms etc tend to dominate the decision making process.

Many parents see their children as a instrument of winning social approval by claiming that their child goes to so-and-so school. In my interactions with a group of parents I was once told that a certain family had chosen a school which was very  expensive and far away because his company director sends his kids there!

There are also some parents who over simplify the school selection process. After all most schools are just the same, they claim. Many a times parents see themselves as successful products of a imperfect system and think my child will also come out successful if I merely repeat the experience. Many such parents are left ruing their decisions when the results turnout otherwise in this rather complex game of life and education.

A lot of times parents hand over the most critical decision of a school based on other peoples judgements. Come to think of it, most parents obsess over every little thing that they choose for their kids (including their spouses in adulthood!) but blindly go with the herd when it comes to choosing a school. We must be aware that the choice of the school must be made with great degree of awareness of schools and their motive centers and the need of my child (refer to the articles part 1 and 2 of this series)

As a responsible parent, I must do the due dilligence, my own personal research and firmly hold on to my remote control. My remote control must be wired to respond to my values and understanding of my child and my personal vision for the child. The remote control should surely not be linked to my adult notion of comfort and social esteem. Least of all must I allow the ‘education system’ to take its own course in my child’s life.


When My Child Grows Up...

For most parents who are choosing a school for their child in the entry stages, it will be a good decade and a half before the fruits of your child’s education will be tested in the real world. The skills and attitudes I equip my child with today must be capable of holding their own in the 21st century.

It is pertinent to ask what subjects and skills will be relevant most in the next couple of decades. The generation of parents who are successful today are typically professionals, who are technically skilled and possess managerial skills. Most have become successful because they were most adept in dealing with the fact based education systems which tested our abilities to reproduce facts. The current generation has also by and large thrived on the left brain - math and logical reasoning  being the most highly sought after skills - the gateways to careers in IT, management, law, medicine and research. The combination of fact based knowledge testing and left brain (logical thinking) strengths have been sure formula to success.

When we look ahead for the future of the kids, we must ask questions of ourselves and of the schools what is the right balance of skills we need. Most education systems tend to be stuck in their own paradigms and Indian systems notoriously so. A lot of research in the field of education have pointed out the weaknesses of fact based systems of education. The tech support person who troubleshoots your hung laptop or helps you set up the advanced features of your cell phone   is not a ‘real’ engineer. The person you have called is merely enabled with a gigantic  decision support system which knows more than the best engineer.  The internet and host of technology innovations have zeroed the gaps between the fact haves and have nots. Our children when they grow up will no longer win just because they knew more facts than the next person. Still our schools continue to obsess over knowledge and fact, and not the ability to create knowledge and acquire  facts.

New age thinkers like Daniel Pink have already proclaimed that the right brainers will rule the next decades, with their superior creativity skills, ability to relate to people and to do big picture thinking. This kind of research is a huge pointer to what we must do with our kids. A school has to stroke and develop right brained thinking in a deliberate way - a huge shift in the ways our schools think. The choices the schools make in the importance they give to music, arts, dance and creativity will make a world of a difference to our children and their preparation for  the life ahead.

Conclusion

In todays era the nuclear families are getting more and  more isolated, allowing for lesser degree of socio-emotional development of children. Children, instead of spending quality time with their grandparents, are often being left at the mercy of the televsion and in the hands of day cares or maids, or other paid sources of emotional support. Parents are always busy in their 21st century lifestyles, and perhaps the only real source of unconditional affirmations for children are becoming even more scarce. To make matters worse, children watch TV channels which  endlessly feed the Win/Lose script. Channels are  obsessed with increasingly bizarre reality shows, melodramatic family serials  and endless competitions (even children are not spared) - all of which deepen the I Win - You Lose script. A large part of the society who are nursing these win/lose scripts find succour in watching   these  programs thus completing the dangerous circle of dependence and viral growth.            

The decision is regarding choice of a school is not a easy one. We need to understand the power-centers of the schools to understand their child centricity. We further need to deeply evaluate schools and understand their potential  influence on child’s psychological scripting. The view we have the future becomes yet another big factor to decide our school choice. The choice of a school asks a question of your world view and value systems too. Do you have or aspire to have the same kind of child centric and powerful scripting force that you should seek in the school?  Your values must match those of the school if you want to have a harmonious relationship with your childs education experience over the next 15 years.  

Choosing A School  - Part 2 - Impact of a school on Child's Attitudes

All parents are responsible for the behaviour that is scripted psychologically into their children,  A child is born with some genetic or genealogical scripts and during their process of growing up, parents provide them with the new experiences or the so called psychic scripts. These scripts are picked up by children when they model their behaviour on how they see their parents and rest of the family.

The social environment further provides a child with the social scripts which determine how much my school, community, region or religion affects my attitudes. Since the school is capable of making deep impressions in a child’s mind, the role of the school in social scripting is not to be minimized.

The accumulated value of these psychological scripts determine our childrens views and attitudes. Some children grow up with a Win-Win attitude with a mentality of abundance.  Win-Win children are scripted to believe that my success is not necessarily at the expense of others and they constant seek mutual benefit in the interactions. These children grow up to be successful in the personal and professional lives and show leadership in their public and private life.

Unfortunately a majority of our social scripting is very negative. These negative scripts are those which create a  mentality of scarcity. A Win-Lose script says  ‘I Win, You Lose’. These children grow up as adults who believe that their sense of worth comes from being compared to others, that life is a competitive arena and they find it difficult to be genuinely happy for others or own successes. Their life is about possessing, comparing and competing, hence they are always insecure about themselves and do not have a deep sense of personal worth. Since their inner core is weak and insecure, they are unable to have meaningful and effective relationships with others. They usually end up being  ineffective in the workplace and in the family relationships as well.

What Script is the School Wiring in my child’s mind?

The role of the school is very important in writing these social scripts. As Covey says, the academic world naturally reinforces I Win- You Lose scripting which can be very damaging. A child begins to understand that the love and attention he receives is ‘conditional’- it depends on his performance in exams and the associated ranks, which is always in comparison to others.  

Our social systems further accentuate the problem of academics by engaging in more damaging comparisons. The child is often compared to his siblings and peers who are seen to be better in one way or the other.  Parents often see their children as instruments of winning social approval. When a child repeatedly sees his or her  intrinsic value is not recognized, and the seeds of Win/Lose scripting are deeply set.

Choosing the School With The Right Script

While choosing a school for your child it is extremely important to evaluate the schools academic practices.  Does the school have a reputation of being very demanding and setting unachievable expectations from the children and parents?  Most of us are familiar with the culture of parents trying to outdo each other’s child by doing the home projects on behalf of the child. There are schools which allow these adult intrusions into the child’s space. These practices make children feel unsure of their own worth and create negative dependence.

Is the school obsessed with results and ranks? At what age are children subject to formal examinations? Does the school try to do too much, or too fast and or subject young children to age inappropriate curriculum ? Will my child be always under scrutiny and live with guilt of underperformance? Will  a script of high self-esteem be written into my child’s mind?

How to Choose the School?

In the previous article we had looked the various types of schools and the Child centric school in particular and ways to identify such schools. Child centric schools tend to produce Win-Win scripted children and it is important to be able to identify these schools during our child’s admission process. 

Here are some ways to do so.

‘Listen’ to the culture of the school. Signs of humility are a great indicator of openness and win/win scripting. Authoritarian structures are typically win/lose. Try and gauge the nature of the relationship between the children and teachers and management. Does it evoke warmth and joyfulness? Are children and teachers treated with respect? What is the schools view on discipline? Is discipline enforced by authority or is it dependent on children creating their own notion of self-discipline.  Do you see or sense unconditional love for children?

Remember, your child will be scripted for many years in the hands of the school. These scripts must be the affirmative scripts based on the universal principles of harmonious living. They will make the crucial difference in the outcome of your child’s development.
                             

Choosing a School - Part 1 : Types of Schools

School admission season is a time of the year when most parents are confronted with the horrors of school forms and admission tests and anxious waits for schools to reveal their chosen ones.  Most parents follow the familiar route - ask around, and compile the list of ‘best’ schools in their reach - location and money wise.  Then they do the rounds, collecting forms, reading the brochures and visiting the schools. Having submitted the forms, the endless wait begins. The wait for being accepted is fraught with anxiety . Once the lists are out, there is the painful part is dealing with rejection. The feeling of I haven’t made the cut or my child is not good enough.

Some parents follow a somewhat different route. They avoid the schools with history and reputation and long queues of those seeking admission. These parents are making choices of some of newer schools in the city. They too move from one new age school to another and they hear each school’s marketing speak. Every school tells you that they are the best for your child. The confusion is exacerbated by the word of mouth doing rounds in your office or social circle. Every mother and father you know has an opinion or insight to offer. Usually what they say is something they have heard from someone else.  

Unfortunately, there is very little guidance available for a parent to choose a school, other than a abundance of opinions in the social network. This series of articles will help unravel a child centric approach of choosing a school. It will hopefully equip the reader with a set of questions to which answers must be sought before making  the most important decision of their children’s lives.
In the first part let us look at the different categories of schools which exist - not categorized by the board, medium or fees, but their value systems.

Types of Schools and their Value Systems

Schools have different value systems and it is extremely important to understand the ‘motive centres’ in these schools. These motive centers give them the source of their guidance and action and shape the values they practice.

There are schools which are highly ‘Image or  Ego Centric’, whose motives are primarily centred around promoting and keeping their own self-image. ‘Children must match up to our standards’ is a typical attitude of such schools. Teachers are chosen primarily to match  the image of the school, less emphasis may be given to their instructional approach or emotional quotient. Parents need to ‘fit in’ too - that is, your background matters. Curriculum effectiveness is hardly questioned, as reputation once established is only to be maintained without much questioning.

There is another type of school which is ‘Profit Centric’. These schools are driven largely by their need to generate a surplus. Children and  parents are seen in the consumer/customer paradigm. The choice of curriculum is usually the one which fetches the highest margin and teachers are seen more as cost. These schools are highly infrastructure focused and usually abundant with creature comforts which justify higher fees. Their brochures read like fancy real estate sales pitches.  A  related cousin of  the Profit Centric school is the ‘Parent Centric’ school. These schools are built on the ‘customer is king’ promise and are quickly willing to subjugate academics and other practices to parental demands. They swing from fad to fad, and appease parents at all costs.

Child Centric schools are now making a entry in India thanks to the untiring efforts of a number of educationists inspired by  body of work which went into writing the National Curriculum Framework. These schools look at the child being the primary reason why they exist. They believe each child deserves to be educated and is unique in herself. Children are not judged or examined by their  ‘smartness’ or their parents background or net worth. Parents are seen as a equal partner in realizing their child’s potential. The curriculum and practices are  chosen to meet the need of the last child in the class.

Choosing a School With The Right Values
Many schools will fall into one or more motive centers. There are other  dominant motive centers too - a school may be Performance centric, Religion Centric, Community Centric or even Ideology centric.

When you look at a school, look for a child centric core to it - this will ensure that the school will always put the interests of  your child first, not theirs , and not yours. Each decision in the school will be made keeping children in mind - whether it is fees, academics, bus operations, assembly,  parent involvement or teacher selection. Choosing a child centric school will ensure your child learns in an environment where they feel valued. Most schools make children feel valued but do not convey this feel to all children. The school’s development plan for your child will be in keeping with the child’s psychological development and interests, and not to satisfy the self-serving interests of the institution. This will ensure that the child has a healthy life-long love for learning and is not fatigued or burnt out by the very experience of learning.

How to Choose A Child Centric School?

For a nursery or KG parent it extremely important to get a feel if teachers expect too much from children. The argument that children must be taught to be competitive from a  young age is a sure give away of image centric or performance centric values and lack of understanding of early age learning.  Image centric schools usually have over-sanitized and picture-perfect settings - there are schools the author has visited which have beautifully decorated toy rooms, which are out of bounds to children !

When you talk to parents of existing schools, ask about their experiences as a parent in the context of the child. Inquire about the parent-teacher interaction practices - is it a warm relationship or a distant one? Do teacher’s know the parent community well?  Look for signals.

How does the school look at a child’s performance? Does it convey a ‘I am Ok, Your child is not Ok’ attitude? If a school essentially makes parents and children feel guilty about non-performance, it is not a child centric school but a performance centric school. Ask the schools for copies of previous years report cards  and read them and see if they connect to the child deeply and sensitively.

In the next part of these series of articles we will cover the role of schools in our children’s lives and the decision making process.

Do Smart Classes Make Our Children Smart?

In the past few years there has been a huge amount of attention from  governments and schools on the concept of smart classrooms. The heady mix of media rich content and  computing poweris supposed to make our children able to learn better. Many schools  have spent humongous amounts of money  in buying sophisticated hardware and software to make our classes smarter. The moot question is if this is really making our children smarter?

Seymour Papert, the father of Artificial Programming and an undisputed thought leader in the domain of education, psychology and computing,  has made some interesting observations  on this topic. In typical situations of IT usage in classrooms we let computers to put our children through various exercises at different difficulty levels. Computers are also programmed to dispense of a lot of information from a vast database.  In a certain way,  computers are programming the child's learning. Papert believes that the real learning from technology comes when the child programs the computer and not the other way around.

When a child learns to control a computer, the child is actually teaching the computer to think. And in the attempt to do so, the child explores about how he thinks, and essentially starts to learn to think about thinking. This process  (also called epistemology) is actually a very sophisticated evolution of the child's ability to acquire knowledge and build new mental models and structures for creating new learning. Evidently this process can be enabled at an early age with children with the help of technology.

A simple way to do this is by exposing children to early age programming. Nowadays there are many free software which can be installed and explored by parents and teachers who have no formal knowledge of programming at all. One of the ways working with computers enables intellectual development,  is by advancing the progression from concrete thinking, which begins at age 6,  to formal thinking processes which develops at age 12. In schools where visual programming is introduced by age 7 or 8, we often observe children  manipulating repetitive commands while trying to make a simple game involving shapes and colour combinations. Thus, combinatorial thinking (nested loops in programming parlance), which is a formal process of thinking can be advanced much earlier than otherwise possible. This can have a significant effect on the trajectory of intellectual development of the child.

Some of the simple benefits of exploring computer programming is on mathematical concepts. The concretization of  numbers concepts, understanding of  negative number spaces,  two dimension and three dimensional algebra,  geometrical shapes, distances and angles etc all become less abstract when evolved through a exciting problem solving approach by a child.

The computer culture has already given us very useful vocabulary like input, output and feedback.  For example, the concept of the 'bug' allows the child to understand that 'debugging' is a simple repeated process of error rectification, something natural and free of guilt or shame. Thus culture contributes in helping the children move to a higher level of thinking and understanding, even at an emotional level.

Parents and teachers today must try and expose their children to early experiences in programming. This will require us to break traditional curriculum and explore the usage of new age visual programming techniques such as Scratch (developed in MIT) and also fabulous products like LOGO (also MIT) which actually got the entire revolution  started in the eighties.  Technology and curriculum  choice of schools can surely make a substantial difference in the way children reflect and analyze, which is the real path to smartness, and the not the dumb consumption of multimedia entertainment in the garb of technology..