There are three things related to the learning process: Education, Learning, and Skills. Here are a few perspectives on these terms..
Education in itself has got two values: Intrinsic and Extrinsic
Intrinsic value deals with the pleasure of learning, knowing, and understanding. The process of getting educated in a certain field brings joy. So this intrinsic value gets attached to the education.
Extrinsic value means the utility value. As the person gets educated, he gains certain skills, he can use the education to do something worthwhile which is useful to him or the society at large. Utilizing one’s education to earn a living also attaches the utility value to the education.
The primary aim of the teacher should be to make students feel the joy of learning. Unfolding the subject, showing the intricacies, and arousing curiosity to know more are the ways to facilitate learning. ‘Curiosity’ is the word which is very much essential to make student life long learner. How do you make students curious? Asking right sort of questions! Not giving them answers, but make them find the answers…
An ability to ask right questions is the most unique gift you can provide to a child. This will make him problem solver as well. Problem-solving, logical analysis, critical thinking are the most sought after skills in job market. So how do you develop these skills in students? Asking questions, encouraging to find answers, and also inspiring to ask right sort of questions!
Developing small projects and asking them to formulate their strategies to execute the project is one of the ways to make children curious about solving real-time problems. Recurrent projects execution will make them prepared for 21st-century work assignments. It will also make them confident about their abilities. But project execution is not the job of parents as it is the case in many schools nowadays. It is obvious that the current age level of the students must be taken into consideration to design the projects.
There are certain basic skills which a person can possess in order to be successful in his life. Reading skills, writing skills, speaking skills, arithmetic skills , IT skills. We will take a look at them one by one.
Every student should strive to get the ability to read better and comprehend the text. Reading extensively is the only way to gain this skill. So reading sessions are very much important in the school calendar. After reading, students can be asked to summarize the text. This way they will pay attention to comprehension. Having access to good books in the library, encouraging the students to read apart from textbooks is necessary.
An ability to write our own thoughts precisely is a skill. Students can gain this skill only through practice. Assignments on writing about various subjects,project reports, essays, emails/letters, travelogues, daily diary can be formulated. Writing using keywords for search engine optimization can also be encouraged as a 21st-century skill. Most futile exercise that a teacher can do is to dictate the answers of questions to students and students filling pages of the notebooks. In this whole exercise, the student fails to put answers in his own words by knowing the subject. The student tries to remember the answer by rot memory and after the examination is over he forgets the answer.
To communicate one’s thought verbally in cohesive manner is an ability which is of prime importance. Few people are blessed with good speaking skills, while others need to work at it. So topics discussion, elocution,conducting various kinds of meetings, encouraging presentation of projects can be the ways to enhance speaking skills.
Basic arithmetic skills seem difficult to many. But right teacher can make it easy. There are many activities which can be taken up to provide basic skills in Arithmetic. When 1st standard student solves the question of addition on fingers, the teacher can devise ways to make him do mental calculations. This can be done by unfolding the beauty of numbers. Students fear Mathematics at early age when they fail to do simple arithmetic operations. This subject is very vast in itself on how students can be made at ease with arithmetic. It’s just question of techniques to arouse the interest in the subject. Arithmetic is beauty in itself. Once students start to understand this beauty, they will not look back.
This is an information technology age. Right sort of exposure to technology is a must for students. So basic IT skills like making word documents, preparing powerpoint presentations, knowing excel functions and preparing excel sheets are the basic skills which students may acquire. Writing assignments can be aligned with documenting on Word. Various real-time problems can be designed to know functions of excels. Presentations on the report can be prepared on powerpoint. So IT skills need not be taught isolated, they can be incorporated in other teachings.
In foreign countries, coding with various IT languages is taught at early age. So, it is the job of IT teacher to read on the subject and learn how to teach coding which can be a different kind of fun for the kids and will also help in developing logical and analytical skills.
Right sort of emphasis on skills and knowledge can make the experience of education worthwhile. Self learning has immense power. So the job of teacher may not be to teach every little thing to students. Reading, thinking, questioning, practicing can help the student gain knowledge on his own. The teacher’s job is to facilitate learning! And anyway student will learn the things in which he is really interested... rest he is bound to forget!
Apart from skills and knowledge, another important aspect of getting educated is to be empathetic, compassionate, caring human being. The essence of education is to reach a point to know ourselves better. It also means to understand the environment and the world we live in and being grateful towards it. Unfortunately, the current education system is involved in developing self-centered humans who have little regard for the environment or the problems faced by others. Few initiatives are needed by the education system to change this scenario. It could be an exposure to real life case studies of people who have made a difference...
At the end, J Krishnamurti has put forth very essence of education:
