In previous blog, we discussed about the diversity of constituent fields in education and its manifests in different forms. We continue our journey in understanding the concept of education in this blog too.
Education, as we know is the process of gaining knowledge and technical competency; in addition to this it is also about inculcating moral values, ethics. This formal process of education begins with kindergarten, through primary, secondary and higher education and ends only when the individual dies.
To imbibe proper conduct in a student, understanding its psychology is quite essential given it varies from child to child.
A child in its earlier age questions each and everything it observes, but as it grows up; its inquisitiveness and curiosity diminishes!
There could be two possible reasons, either that child understands the concepts very well as it matures or it accepts the inputs it gets as unquestionable gospel.The later of the two is really disturbing as it retards the thinking, reasoning capacities of a child!!!
If teaching is based on the child’s thought process, right since its formative stages, then it would strengthen its innate ability to independently understand and think. Even though it seems impractical in a class constituting many students, and equal if not more lines of thought; there is definitely a lot of generality a teacher could introduce say through the use of pictures, modeling etc that clarifies the concept better. This enhances their learning experience too.
In a class, there are definitely some children needing special attention, the teacher could identify such students and take care of them, ensuring that they too have an opportunity to gain knowledge. Encouraging a child to generate ideas nurtures its inquisitiveness and curiosity; which is any day better than just merely feeding the facts.
Abraham Lincoln, the former President of United States of America puts it very distinctly in his letter to the head master of his son’s school, where he states - “Teach him to have faith in his own idea, even if anyone else tell him they are wrong….” this highlights the importance of originality over being a clone of others' ideas..
