By Ashish Rajpal

I write “Agenda” on the board at the start of my class and turn around to see several blank faces, and quickly realize my presumptuous folly. “Ok, so how many of you know what this means?” I ask, as if that was part of the original plot. Nine year old Akash’s hand flies up into th--e air. “I know sir, I know sir.” I scan the class, then nod to Akash. He exults triumphantly: “If you are a boy or a girl, sir.”

I wish I could say that spontaneous teaching moments like this are routine in my class. That children say what they think, right or wrong, and, by doing that, open up possibilities for them to learn and for me to marvel. But after six weeks in Grade 4 this term, I am more often confronted with pleasing obedience or artful adult mind reading, than with fear-to-the-winds directness, spontaneity, and wonder. 

So, who dunnit? 

4Parents. My own view, is closest to the Tiki Taki Boxes view. That is, “little boxes” the children, are actually a lot like the big ones, their parents. Who are only to happy to make them like themselves. Parents do too much with their children, in conditioning them for “right,” “good,” “well mannered” or “please me” responses. This is done in the subtlest of ways by completing their sentences, shushing them in front of others, or pointing out role model behaviors. Children quickly learn the one ‘correct’ way to keep mum happy. 

4Parents again! Anu Roy who runs a primary school in south Delhi, says, “when I ask the children what would you like to do this summer, and they say: ‘Study, Ma’am.’” She adds, “It makes me cry.” I asked her why she thought it was so. Anu too believes its parents, but in her case, she says home for most kids is about both working parents being away, a TV set blaring, and other adults who are disinterested or critical. So the moment a class is about caring teachers who listen - the kids can’t wait to please. 

4Teachers. This is easy. “They are disinterested in the subject and the child!” Exclaims an unhappy parent. They want “perfect discipline” that avoids both, effort and uncomfortable questions. Children who conform are “good children.” The rest are trouble.

4The System. A year or so ago, in New York, I met a young professor who teaches Neuroscience at the revered University of Pennsylvania. We got talking and I figured that he had a large number of Indian students as fellows and researchers. I asked him if he experienced any differences between his Indian students and the others. He nodded and said; “Indians are great at solving problems. However, when confronted with which problem to solve, they stumble”. Not surprising if you come to think of it. The smartest kids in school were the ones who had the right answers. Not the right questions.

So, where do we look for answers? 

Consider culture. The Harvard psychologist and multiple intelligence guru, Howard Gardner has a very useful and unusual definition for ‘intelligence.” He refers to it as the capacity to create ideas or products valued in a given culture. An obedient and obeisant Brahmin boy who answers within an instant of being asked, politely, monotonically; is seen as undoubtedly clever in one culture. In another culture, being clever might be about netting a huge catch at sea, or developing a lego-based robot while playing, or composing and performing a musical piece to an applauding audience. 

Teachers can create a culture of learning in the school, and in the classroom. Irrespective of what happens at home, this is one place for asking questions - and not just answering them. It is a place for conversations around the questions. Big conversations. Small conversations. Wondrous conversations. Crazy conversations. Hard conversations. Irreverent conversations. What is democracy? How many legs does a beetle have? What if the moon was not there? What if we drank Coke upside down? What happened in Gujarat? How is your mother treated at home? The teacher must go to these places, as only she can, and open possibility beyond what is. Therein lies possibility. True thinking. Real learning. 

Culture is indeed everything. In these past weeks with Grade 4, it is apparent that our culture values pleasing and conformity so much, that we are unwilling to let our children be who they are and see the world from their own eyes. In looking for inspiration maybe we need an alternate script(ture). Irreverent Bollywood lyrics maybe. The late Bollywood actor Johnny Walker’s waltzing prescription from the 50’s does it for me: 
Churi ban, kanta ban, O my son, 
Sab kuch ban, Kissi ka chamcha nai ban! 

© mindfields 2007