WORTH READING 31 Mar 2006

If You Are A Parent
- by Azim H Premji

If you are a parent, you have many aspirations for your child that may
include him or her becoming a doctor, an engineer, scientist or another
kind
of successful professional. I believe these aspirations are driven by
your
thinking about your child's future, and her centrality in your life.

Since good education is often the passport to a good future, I presume
it
leads you to getting your child admitted to a good school. Then you
encourage your child to study hard and do well in the school exams. To
bolster this, you send him or her for tuition classes. This would have
primed your child for board exam and entrance exams, thereby leading to
admission into a good professional course. Doing well at college
increases
the probability of landing a good job. And a good job means the child's
future is ensured.

I am neither a psychologist nor an educationist, and what I will now
state
may seem counter-intuitive. I think that these aspirations and actions
might
be doing more harm than good to your child. To understand why ; we need
to
re-examine some of our fundamental assumptions.

In the first place, I have seen time and again that living : for some
distant future goal also means you do not live in the present. The
distant
goal will always translate into an external measure of success, such as
exams. And most exam - focused children start forgetting what it means
to be
a child, to be curious, mischievous, exploring, falling, getting up,
relating, discovering, inventing, doing, playing.

Childhood is very precious; precious enough not be wasted by the
artificial
pressures of contrived competition, by too many hours of bookish study ;
and
by school report cards that simplistically wrap up an entire human being
in
numbers.

The second assumption is that education is merely a ticket to
socio-economic
success. Give the state of our country ; this reality cannot be ignored.
But
restricting education to only this aspect is, I think, a very limiting
notion of the aim of good education. The primary purpose of a school is
to
guide the child in her discovery of herself and her world, and to
identify
and nurture the child's talents. Just as every seed contains the future
tree, each child is born with infinite potential. Imagine a school which
sees children as seeds to be nurtured - here the teacher is a gardener
who
helps to bring out the potential already present in the child.

This is very different from the current view which sees the child as
clay to
be molded - where the teacher and parents are potters deciding what
shape
the clay should take. There is an old (and forgotten) Chinese saying :
"Give
a seed to a potter, and you will get a bonsai".

Even in a commercial organization, to make profits we do not have to
chase
profits. Rather, we need to build an institution that gives every
employee
an opportunity to do meaningful and fulfilling work.

Create an organization driven by values of innovation, integrity,
customer
centricity and care. And as you practice these values everyday and
moment,
you will see the profits take care of themselves.

Similarly ; dear parent, this is my request to you. Do not give up your
child's present to secure his or her future. Give your child the freedom
to
truly explore life with abandon. In doing this, you will see your child
flower into a creative and sensitive human being. And when this happens,
everything else - money ; social success, security - will fall into
place
automatically.

Let your child be a child.

------------------------------------------------------------------
YOUR WORTH READING, IS JUST A BLOG AWAY @
http://readingtimefolks.blogspot.com/
SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE FOR THIS MAILING LIST @
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/WorthReading

ALSO PLAYING AT A MAILING LIST NEAR YOU ::

QUOTATION OF THE DAY
--------------------
They inspire, they motivate and at times they tickle your funny bone.
But they never miss to touch your heart. Your daily supply of chosen
gems from the world of literature, ancient proverbs, poetry and sayings
from great leaders.

Join the Quote A Day mailing list @
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/QuotationOfTheDay
Or simply Blog it @
http://quotationoftheday.blogspot.com/

JOKE OF THE DAY
----------------
As wise men say, a joke a day keeps the doctor away. So step into the
health zone by sharing a hearty laugh. A variety of jokes that are
ludicrous and trivial, witty and wacky, spontaneous and sportive.
Wishing you a laugh riot.

Join the Joke of the Day mailing list @
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/JokeOfTheDay
Or simply go Blogging @
http://joketimefolks.blogspot.com/

18++
----
Indulge your dirty mind with some outright hilarious adult jokes. They
could be expletive or subtle but they are definitely rated - XXX.
Statutory Warning - 18++ may be injurious if your mommy sees it,
subscribe at your own risk.

Join the 18++ mailing list @
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/18PlusPlus
Or simply go Blogging @
http://18plusplus.blogspot.com/

********************** Legal Disclaimer ****************************
"This email may contain confidential and privileged material for the sole use of the intended recipient. Any unauthorized review, use or distribution by others is strictly prohibited. If you have received the message in error, please advise the sender by reply email and delete the message. Thank you."
**********************************************************************